"It all started when I heard that my great-grandmother was accused of murder."

So begins Christy Leskovar's, "One Night in a Bad Inn," a book that is a finalist for the 2007 High Plains Best New Book Award.

From this ominous beginning, Leskovar takes her readers through a fire that ravages a Montana homestead where a dead body is found in the ruins, and tragedy turns to mystery, which turns to scandal.

Through this compelling true story about two colorful families, one Welsh and one Irish, the two families endure and overcome scandal, war, murder and mayhem on a desolate eastern Montana homestead and on the bloody battlefields of the World War I.

In relation to the war, Leskovar centers her story on the campaigns of the 91st Infantry Division, the 362nd Regimen, the British 16th Infantry Division, Flanders, the Meuse-Argonne and prisoners of war.

Leskovar's main characters are larger than life, some notorious, some heroic; the events, the times, and the settings are fascinating.

Much of the book takes place in the early 20th century in Butte, Mont. -- a bustling, raucous, cosmopolitan, industrial metropolis that could have been plucked from the Northeast and dropped in the Rocky Mountains.

Leskovar has melded a delicious mélange of eastern sophistication amid a mining camp's outlandishness. It is a remarkable saga through which the reader learns some intriguing history through the lives of some very intriguing individuals.

In so doing, Leskovar touches on many historical places and subjects from the Granite Mountain fire to labor unrest, mining and the "Wobblies" (the radical Industrial Workers of the World).

She also touches on Forsyth, Mont., Irish immigrants, the last hanging in Jefferson County, Rosebud County and Yellowstone Valley.

Las Vegas-based Leskovar was born in Butte and is a graduate of Seattle University with degrees in mechanical engineering and French. She worked as an engineer and project manager for 15 years before devoting full time to researching and writing the story of her maternal grandparents and great-grandparents.

Ben Malisow opens his book, "1001 Things to Do -- If You Dare," with a warning: "The contents of this publication might trigger an unbelievable urge to attempt the unimaginable. Approach the enclosed written word with extreme caution."

This opening alone should spark an insatiable interest in the "X-generation" and "No Fear" gamers worldwide.

In fact, Troy Hartman, former X-games winner and host of MTV's "Senseless Acts of Video," had this comment about Malisow's insight -- "I am blown away by some of the random ideas in there that only a true thrill-nut would think up."

Malisow is a thrill seeker extraordinaire who serves up a dizzying array of options for a walk on the wild side.

Not content with testing just physical limits, "1001 Things if You Dare" also challenges readers to cross emotional, psychological and spiritual boundaries. Malisow has run with bulls, driven a race car and scuba-dived off the Great Barrier Reef, but even he wouldn't do half the things suggested in his book.

In addition to writing the book filled with suggestions rated with skulls to gauge danger level, Malisow teaches computers at the Clark County School District's Southwest Behavior School.

The Las Vegas resident also does security consulting, a little journalism, paparazzi work and a bit of acting. Here are a few excerpts from "1001 Things to Do - If You Dare."

#131. Climb a glacier (ice climbing). This is a lot like rock climbing or mountain climbing, but with the added thrill of the possibilities of hidden fissures, instant fractures, ice avalanches, freezing to death and lots and lots of snow.

#577. Outrun a lava flow. Lava can travel at speeds greater than 30 kilometers per hour ... realize that you can't reasonably move that fast for any length of time.

#719. Get a tattoo on your face. Unless it's a part of your tribal ritual, or you belong to a Maori culture, it's going to be difficult to justify this amendment of your features. Plus, head wounds bleed a lot.

But, hey, maybe you can offer your face for marketing purposes -- it's worked before.

Both authors will be at the Pahrump Community library Saturday, March 29, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.