Kamzin dreamed of becoming one of the Emperor's royal explorers, the elite climbers tasked with mapping the wintry, mountainous Empire and spying on its enemies. Then River Shara, the greatest explorer ever known, arrives and demands to hire Kamzin -- not her older sister Lusha, as everyone had expected -- for his next expedition. River's mission to retrieve a rare talisman for the emperor; it means climbing Raksha, the tallest and deadliest mountain...

Two thirteen-year-old cousins are trapped in a blizzard on the same treacherous mountain in the Cascades that claimed the lives of their world-famous, mountain-climber, twin fathers exactly two years earlier.

The woodshed mystery: The Alden children are staying at the New England farmhouse where their grandfather grew up and find a surprising secret. The lighthouse mystery: When the Alden's take a summer trip to the New England coast, they have a fun place to stay: a lighthouse! Mountain top mystery: The Alden's climb a mountain and find a mystery.

"Paul, aged 10, who lives with his aunt, sets out on an expedition to the mountains with his parents’ old friend, Bruce. Having reappeared after three years of silence, Bruce is eager to keep the promise he made to Paul many years ago to take him on a three-day mountain trek. Paul, whose parents’ absence is never explained, longs for Bruce’s friendship and wants badly to prove himself. But his is also timid and unsure and Bruce...