Milestone: Killing Buddhas Has a Cover

At long last, Killing Buddhas — the sequel to Where You Will Die — is on final approach toward release. Current target: November 1, 2024

The manuscript is in the hands of the proofreader, and I just finished making the final cover choice from among the many stunning options developed by Mark Thomas of Coverness.com.

For now, a sneak peek:

We return to Eden Ridge — the quiet town nestled in the pine forests of the Sierra Nevada foothills — but now it is midwinter. Like almost every year, January brings The Doldrums, grey, becalmed, cold and dark. A time some people love and most loathe. But into this hushed village comes a man who heralds the coming storm.

Many years before, Branden Frank's books and lectures, that blended the philosophies and faiths of East and West, inspired Alan Wright to start his Ministry of the Universal Message. Now that Alan has established his spiritual center in the pines, he invites his guru to visit, lecture, and promote his newest book. The fulfillment of a long-held dream turns into a nightmare as the erudite Englishman is revealed to have a sordid past, then ends up dead on a dark, lonely road.

What prompts a weather change? A wobble in Earth's axis, a volcanic eruption in equatorial latitudes, Antarctic ice melt? The guru's death seems to act as a catalyst for a change in the atmospheric and political weather of Eden Ridge. A storm arrives at the same time the town faces headwinds of political unrest, commercial conflict, and social upheaval. As the winds blow and the rain pours, conspiracy cults blame Alan for Branden Frank's death, the police have three suspects but no clear case, and a teenage boy and girl go missing, just as the mystery is about to unravel.

This second installment of the Eden Ridge stories comes late — two years after the first — but I hope my faithful readers will find it an exciting and thought-provoking addition to the series.

Tune in for announcements of the next milestones.

---