A Bear Flag rebellion. A powder keg waiting to blow. And a trap set just in time. Step into mysteries that demand courage, discernment, and the will to seek the truth. Conceived and co-written by the daughter of Robert Arthur – the creator of the Three Investigators universe – this restoration of the classic series takes its iconic characters into a new age, with gripping contemporary adventures for young readers who crave meaning, want to share in the growth of characters they admire, and seek a world they can return to again and again. In the second book of a 26-book story arc, the Three Investigators find themselves on a dangerous mission to uncover the truth of what’s happening on a film being shot in Sonoma, California—location of the historic Bear Flag rebellion. Pete Crenshaw's father, a set construction manager, enlists the team to help when strange events begin unfolding on the set of Bear Valley, a movie about the controversial explorer and politician John C. Frémont. From the moment the boys arrive, they're thrust into a chaotic mix of violence, protests, and intrigue. A mysterious group called OUTLAW is determined to shut down the film. As its members push against police barricades in their black masks, tensions run high between two feuding historians - Phillipa Paxton and Daniel Hernández – with competing views on Frémont's legacy. The team faces explosive threats, the masked mob, and a reenactment of the past with a twist: a man who believes he is the reincarnation of a 19th-century Pomo bear-doctor. But the deeper they dig, the more they realize that what seems like a simple protest is just the surface of a much darker, more dangerous conspiracy. Phillipa Paxton puts The Three Investigators on the trail of a piece of Frémont memorabilia, and their suspicions are aroused when it turns out that someone else has been searching high and low for the same item. Who is behind the mysterious keg of gunpowder that's set off on set? Who slashed Dr. Paxton's tires and left ominous signs of their presence near her garage? What's the connection between a Frémont artifact that reportedly burned in the Great San Francisco Fire of 1906 and a strange letter supposedly signed by the famous frontiersman, Kit Carson? Join the team as they sift truth from falsehood and face a real-life villain with a heart of darkness in this thrilling continuation of the new Three Investigators saga. Whether you're a long-time fan or new to the series, you’ll find yourself part of an adventure that mixes history, mystery, and the ever-present need to fight for what's right. Elizabeth Arthur is the author of five literary novels (Beyond the Mountain, Bad Guys, Binding Spell, Antarctic Navigation, and Bring Deeps) and two memoirs (Island Sojourn and Looking for the Klondike Stone.) Her books have been published by Harper and Row, Doubleday, Knopf, and Bloomsbury U.K. She has received fellowships and grants from the Bread Loaf Writer's Conference, the Vermont Council on the Arts, the Ossabaw Island Project, and the Indiana Arts Commission. She twice received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and was the first novelist ever given an Antarctic Artists and Writers Operational Support Grant from the National Science Foundation. Her novel Antarctic Navigation was chosen by the New York Times as a Notable Book. Her husband Steven Bauer is the author of three books for young people, the young adult fantasy Satyrday, the middle grade novel A Cat of a Different Color, and The Strange and Wonderful Tale of Robert McDoodle, a picture book in verse. Bauer's writing has received fellowships from the Bread Loaf Writer's Conference and the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, Massachusetts. He has also been given grants and awards from Prairie Schooner, the Ossabaw Island Project, the Massachusetts Arts Council, and the Indiana Arts Commission.