Nicholas Teeguarden is the award-winning author of Masa Chronicles: The Copper Scroll, a biblical-archaeological thriller blending international suspense, ancient mystery, and faith-driven storytelling. His debut novel is a ChristLit Book of the Year Finalist, a Titan Gold Medal Winner, and has earned praise from readers for its gripping pace and moral depth. Nicholas hosts Teeguarden’s Writing Room, a weekly series chronicling his creative process and the ongoing development of the Masa Chronicles. He resides in Oklahoma and is currently working on the next book.
╰┈➤Visit Nick’s website at www.nickteeguarden.com.
Connect with him at the following social networks:
╰┈➤ X: https://twitter.com/nickteeguarden
╰┈➤ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61579248636306
╰┈➤ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nickteeguarden
╰┈➤ BookBub: The Copper Scroll: Masa Chronicles (The Masa Chronicles Book 1) by Nicholas Teeguarden – BookBub
╰┈➤ Goodreads: Masa Chronicles: The Copper Scroll by Nicholas Teeguarden | Goodreads
╰┈➤ YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCF_TUwTK0lQI0eu6_6QEyYQ/
I am so excited about your new archaeological thriller, The Copper Scroll. Why did you choose to write a book for this genre in particular?
I’ve always loved Indiana Jones–style adventures and grew up on stories about lost artifacts, ancient sites, and ordinary people pulled into something much bigger than themselves. Writing an archaeological thriller let me play in that same sandbox and, honestly, I set out to tell the kind of story that would entertain me first, if I’m having fun on the page, there’s a good chance readers will too.
Can you give us a book blurb so others will know what it’s about?
Joshua “Masa” Bennett, an Army veteran and archaeology grad student, travels from Arkansas to Jordan to study the most mysterious of the Dead Sea Scrolls: the Copper Scroll, a cryptic list of buried treasure.
What begins as academic research spirals into a high‑stakes chase from Qumran to Masada to Capernaum, as Joshua and his team uncover artifacts that shed new light on Jesus through the eyes of the disciple Andrew, while ISIS, modern Templars, Mossad, and church power brokers compete to control or erase the truth.
Can you tell us a little about the main characters in your book?
Joshua “Masa” Bennett is driven by faith, trauma from his Army years, and a lifelong fascination with the scrolls his grandfather told him about.
He’s joined by Noa, a sharp Israeli researcher who challenges him at every step, and Amina, a courageous Palestinian journalist; along with mentors like Father Nance and Rabbi Cohen, they’re forced into an uneasy alliance as the world closes in around their discoveries.
Where and when does this book take place?
The Copper Scroll is set in the present day, moving from the University of Arkansas to Amman, the Jordan Museum, and on through the Judean desert—Qumran, Masada, the Dead Sea, and Capernaum.
Those are the real landscapes of the Copper Scroll and the Dead Sea Scrolls, so using modern timelines and real sites lets the thriller feel like something that could happen tomorrow.
They say all books of fiction have at least one pivotal point where the reader just can’t put the book down. What is one of the pivotal points in one of your books in this series?
One major pivot comes when Joshua’s team finally uncovers artifacts tied to Andrew’s testimony about Jesus, and the implications begin leaking to the wider world.
From that point on, every choice they make—who to trust, what to reveal, what to hide—ratchets up the danger, because multiple powerful groups realize what’s at stake and move to silence them.
Does your book carry a message?
Yes, it does. I tried to weave real tension and real support between groups who, historically, would be on opposite sides—Israelis, Palestinians, Western Christians, local communities—because they all have skin in the game around these sites and stories. Underneath the thriller, there’s a quiet message that people who might normally be enemies can still work together when they share a like‑minded focus on truth, protecting lives, and honoring the past.
What's your next project?
Next is the release of my new novel, The Boy from the Vines, planned for next month. At the same time, I’m about halfway through book two of The Masa Chronicles, which follows Joshua into the fallout of The Copper Scroll and a new layer of historical intrigue.
Where can we pick up copies of 'The Copper Scroll'?
Readers can find The Copper Scroll here:
- Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-copper-scroll-nicholas-teeguarden/1148003400
- Bookshop.org: https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-copper-scroll-masa-chronicles-nicholas-teeguarden/001ca6b309301d61
- Walmart: https://www.walmart.com/ip/The-Copper-Scroll-Masa-Chronicles-Paperback-9798999106025/17490255545
- Surprise Castle: https://surprisecastle.com/products/the-copper-scroll-masa-chronicles-9798999106025
- Amazon: Masa Chronicles: The Copper Scroll: An Archaeological Thriller Inspired by the Dead Sea Scrolls - Kindle edition by Teeguarden, Nicholas. Religion & Spirituality Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com.
