Bestselling author Mary Connealy returns with the second installment in the Golden State Treasure series. In Legends of Gold, a teacher at an orphanage must educate two mischievous brothers who are set on finding treasure. When a suspicious man arrives and claims to be her long-lost brother, she must join the quest for treasure to protect herself in this enthralling tale of family, faith, and unexpected love.
Mary talks about this fictional story about the Orphan Train, as well as the final book in her Golden State Treasure series.
FF: Can you give a brief summary of Legends of Gold?
Tilda Muirhead has been searching for the lost orphans who ran away from the Orphan Train she was in charge of. She’s worried sick about them, and losing them threatens the future of the Orphan Train. Now she’s found the rascal MacKenzie boys, who lied their way onto the train to get a ride from New York to California and to follow clues in an old journal left for them by their grandfather.
When Tilda finds them, they refuse to go home with her, and she can’t return without them. Then she finds the man, Josh Hart, who helped build an orphanage on his California ranch where the MacKenzies live.
Tilda’s past is catching up to her. Josh is dragged into helping search for treasure. The MacKenzie boys are always up to mischief, and they’re charming everyone into helping them find their treasure.
FF: Legends of Gold is the second book to the Golden State Series. How does this connect to the previous installment?
This series is a trilogy about a family following an old journal with clues to a lost treasure. In book one, Whispers of Fortune, they find a hidden map that leads them to the next step in the journal, and just a little bit of gold.
In book two, having to give up their search in the High Sierra Mountains, summer arrives and the treasure hunt resumes. Now with a baby on the way for a couple who found each other in the first book, a second couple takes up the search.
FF: What inspired you to combine treasure hunting with a western-romance story?
I read this book, The Lost Dutchman’s Mine, and it piqued my interest in lost treasure and old mines. I decided it would be fun to invent one of my own. Once a morsel of an idea pops into your head, then you’ve got to start asking, Why would they need that? What would need to happen to make this next thing happen. Finding a story is always small steps with the question being asked over and over, What If?
FF: What research do you do to maintain historical accuracy, specifically regarding the American West?
Research is so much fun for me that I have to be careful or I won’t get the book written. I end up in places I never imagined going. I find names and sometimes old diaries and journals that make my books more three-dimensional and hopefully full of truth. I find historically accurate clothing and actions that I never even considered when I started out. I try very hard to be accurate, mainly because historical research is such fun that I want to weave as much of it into my stories as I can.
FF: The main character, Tilda Muirhead, takes a position as a teacher at an orphanage. How does this affect her character development?
Tilda has always lived her life right on the edge of disaster. Growing up an orphan, running the streets of New York City, sometimes spending time in an orphanage. She survived all of that to get a job that she feels called to by God but doesn’t offer her much money or much job security. Living at the Two Harts Ranch is the safest she’s ever felt in her life, and she wants to stay here even as her old life is trying to draw her away.
FF: Josh Hart steps in to help Tilda as dangers arise. How does this affect their romantic relationship?
I love Josh and Tilda’s love story. He’s never been around women much. She’s always wanted to take care of herself because the people who were supposed to take care of her growing up often failed. Now the safety of the Two Harts and its owner Josh are almost frightening to her. She doesn’t trust easily, and now she wants badly to trust this cowboy.
FF: The suspicion around Ben adds tension to the story. How did this subplot develop?
When a wealthy, powerful man who’s been searching for Tilda most of her life finally finds her, he sends his son, her older brother, to bring her home. Ben, driven by a fear of his father to never fail, feels pressured to bring her home. And she doesn’t want to go. The two clash while Josh stands close by to protect her. I wanted Ben to be the bad guy but not be truly evil, just a man who thinks no reasonable woman would turn down a chance to reunite with a father who could give her every luxury. But Tilda wants more than luxury, though Ben doesn’t believe her.
FF: Family dynamics feature a prominent role in the story. What drew you to explore this?
I was drawn by the idea of an orphan discovering her family. I wanted to explore this as part of Tilda’s past, then show a woman who grew up to take care of herself who isn’t impressed with her father coming for her now. A little late. And yet he loves her, and her rejection genuinely hurts him. And Tilda, an orphan herself who’s now caring for orphans, sees the Hart family and what a loving family can really be like.
FF: Your characters often face both physical and emotional challenges. How do you balance writing these different types of conflicts?
I know I lean a little more toward physical challenges. I love action and danger, riding and roping and bullets flying, but I try to take a minute now and then to show how my characters feel about their different challenges.
FF: What role does faith play in this particular story?
Tilda feels called by God to help orphans. She was in charge of the children on the Orphan Train when two of her charges go missing. Tilda believes in her calling but finds that she may not understand how God wants her to help orphans. In the end, Tilda finds she can only walk through the doors God opens for her, even if they aren’t quite what she planned.
FF: What message do you hope readers will take away from Legends of Gold?
My goal is always to make the stories fun to read. I want to draw my readers in and hold them. If the reader learns anything along the way, I’m delighted. I love hearing about how my books touch readers.
FF: Can you share what you’re working on next?
Next is book three, Riches Beyond Measure, the conclusion of the Golden State Treasure series. There’s one remaining unmarried Hart sibling, Annie Hart, and a man, Cord Westbrook, who’s come to the ranch to claim half of the MacKenzie’s Treasure. The MacKenzies’ grandfather promised Cord’s grandfather half of the treasure if he could borrow the money to search for it. Grandpa Westbrook wants his half, but the MacKenzie brothers don’t want to share. And Annie, a widow, yearns for a man for the first time since her husband died years ago. That man is Cord Westbrook, her family’s enemy.
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Legends of Gold
Golden State Treasure #2
Mary Connealy
Publisher: Bethany House Publishers
Genre: Historical Romance
Release Date: June 17, 2025
Available Formats: Paperback, Hardcover, Audiobook, eBook
ISBN-10: 076424440X
ISBN-13: 978-0764244407
Book Summary:
After years of solitude, teacher Tilda Muirhead is shocked when a man arrives at the Two Harts Ranch school claiming to be her brother. Rancher Josh Hart is suspicious of the newcomer’s claims, especially with the ongoing hunt for treasure nearby. With danger ever closer, they come to discover that faith and love are greater than gold.
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