Joseph Monninger Books in Order

Peter's life as an accountant and suburban commuter has become stifling. Feeling distant from his children and dissatisfied with his marriage, he struggles with boredom and mounting tension before a tragedy overturns the familiar routines.

Hydrologist Noel Simpson and his wife Kathy adapt to a harsh posting in West Africa. Returning to New Hampshire, Noel reconnects with his brother Grant and faces difficult family decisions as their father approaches death from cancer.

Thirteen-year-old Max Darrigan watches his widowed father's behavior grow increasingly erratic, culminating in an obsessive backyard excavation. Taken in by relatives, Max navigates friendship, adolescence, and first love while struggling with his father's absence.

Middle-aged sporting-goods salesman Brennan McCalmont hopes to recapture the athletic confidence of his college football days. His pursuit of renewed vitality unfolds alongside his family's painful struggle with his young son's leukemia and the limits of control.

A German soldier deserts during World War II and flees to West Africa, where captivity and escape lead him to a mission of French nuns. His later reputation as a healer raises questions about faith, power, and evil.

Short essays introduce topical and controversial biological issues, then provide starting points for students' own writing. Coauthors Theodore L. Taigen and Joseph Monninger connect biological understanding with critical thinking and biology's place in society.

A serial killer stalks a New Hampshire college campus, targeting student Zelda Fitzgibbon as the new term begins. Campus investigators try to identify the threat while Zelda's vulnerability and the isolated winter surroundings intensify the danger.

Reclusive New Hampshire resident Mather Edson is summoned to New York by an old Peace Corps friend. Her estranged husband and young daughter have vanished, and a million-dollar ransom demand draws Mather into the family's troubled affairs.

Fearing that his golden retriever Nellie is seriously ill, Monninger takes her west to revisit beloved fishing waters and mountain country. Their road trip becomes a memoir of companionship, outdoor pleasures, and the years they have shared.

Monninger, his partner Wendy, her young son, and a dog move into a nineteenth-century New Hampshire barn. Renovating the enormous building brings unexpected work, new family routines, and encounters with the traditions of rural New England.

Monninger revisits the 1939 heavyweight championship fight between Tony Galento and Joe Louis. His account follows the unconventional challenger into the ring while exploring boxing, immigrant ambition, celebrity, and American life on the eve of war.

Troubled teenager Baby is placed with a New Hampshire foster couple who race sled dogs. A bond with a husky offers new possibilities, but the return of her boyfriend Bobby threatens to pull her toward her old life.

Fifteen-year-old Lolly Emmerson loves sailing in the Florida Keys, until a nighttime accident throws her into the water. An unexpected encounter with manatees gives the stranded teenager a chance to survive and a deeper connection to marine life.

Teacher Cobb meets fellow adventurer Mary while kayaking through Maine during a sabbatical. Their immediate attraction grows into a committed relationship, but Mary's fear of an inherited, incurable illness challenges the future they hope to share.

Bee wants her brother Tommy's wish-sponsored trip to swim with a great white shark to be unforgettable. Living with cystic fibrosis, Tommy faces an uncertain future, and an unexpected meeting gives both siblings a different perspective.

Best friends Hattie and Delores rescue an elderly horse scheduled to be put down and drive west to find him open rangeland. Their search for freedom also forces them to confront why they wanted to leave home.

Brothers Ed and Allard form a lasting bond with Sarah after saving her from an icy river. As their lives develop, a tragedy in Wyoming tests their connections and sends the survivors on different paths through grief.

Margaret Kennedy leaves her Maine dairy farm for a Washington ceremony honoring wounded veterans, including her husband. Her escort, Foreign Service officer Charlie King, becomes an unexpected romantic possibility, leaving Margaret torn between attraction and marital duty.

A young television adventure team crash-lands in the Alaskan wilderness with limited supplies and no way to contact help. Divided over whether to wait or move, the survivors must contend with hunger, cold, and unfamiliar terrain.

A bus returning children from summer camp breaks down on an abandoned road during a heatwave. With help sixty miles away in either direction and no way to call for rescue, the group faces a desperate survival challenge.

An earthquake traps children and teachers inside an old fort during an island field trip. Escaping the collapsed structure presents only the first challenge: their supplies are destroyed, and they must survive without a reliable means of communication.

A severe storm floods a town and leaves a group of children struggling against the elements. When the power fails, staying alive depends on finding safe drinking water, food, and shelter while the disaster continues.

Clair Taylor cannot ignore the neglected dog chained in her neighbors' yard. Her efforts to help Wally lead to an unexpected connection with Danny Stewart, a teenager whose troubled family life makes their shared mission increasingly difficult.

Backup quarterback Zeb Holloway unexpectedly gets his chance when his school's star player is injured before the state championship. Suddenly responsible for the team, Zeb begins reconsidering his ambitions and the life awaiting him beyond his hometown.

This collection gathers short stories and novellas written across four decades of Monninger's career. Bringing together work from different years, it presents his shorter fiction in one volume, alongside his separately published novels and nonfiction.

Shark enthusiast Barn Whimbril investigates a deadly attack in a canal near his Florida home. Determined to understand the bull sharks' behavior, he faces danger while trying to prevent an indiscriminate response that could harm other marine life.

A fatal great white shark attack closes Cape Cod beaches just as Barn Whimbril arrives. His investigation becomes more dangerous when he falls in with local teenagers who are determined to keep surfing despite the threat.

Immediately after retirement, Joseph Monninger receives a terminal cancer diagnosis that overturns his plans for a quiet life. A treatment offers additional time, and he records a year of medical challenges, intimate reflections, and renewed attention to the world around him.