Seventeen Parcels

"Seventeen Parcels" shares a thrilling – and unconventional – treasure hunt that will keep readers guessing with each page. In this novel, a wealthy man wills a vast fortune to his three grown children but leaves directions to it in 17 parcels hidden throughout the US. Now, the heirs must find the parcels and follow the path to their inheritance, if indeed there actually is any.

Attorney for billionaire Xander Moorhouse employs a package delivery driver to hide 17 mysterious parcels each in a different US State. Driver Austin Somerfeld does so over the course of 18 months, following a strict set of rules and earning a half-million dollars for his efforts.

Moorhouse dies 11 years later, but leaves behind directions with his attorney indicating that his grown children – Caroline, David, and Juliana – must find the hidden parcels and open them in numbered sequence only after all have been located. The three heirs participate reluctantly but warm to the on-going adventure.

This is a captivating novel for road trip-treasure hunt readers to become involved in the drama of hiding, then finding the 17 parcels with a host of attendant obstacles and difficulties along the way. Such readers will be just as confused and puzzled as the heirs when parcels are at last opened and Xander's intentions are revealed.

Mic Lowther has been a computer programmer and systems analyst for 60 years, working and living in nine different US states. Though retired (more than once), he is still self-employed and has written and published non-fiction adventure books as well as children's adventure stories.

"Seventeen Parcels" is Mic's first novel in 50 years of writing. It follows an idea that suddenly occurred one day and, unlike many other ideas, was still going strong after the first few chapters.