When Brother Francis, Abbot of the Salesian Monastery, travels to Kauai, Hawaii, to present a workshop at a retreat center and speak at a Martin Luther King ecumenical celebration, this frequent-flyer monk discovers there is a fine line between spirituality and magic. In this fifth complete book in a series of monastic mysteries, the magical island of Kauai, Hawaii, provides a fragrant setting for Brother Francis as he continues on his spiritual path while ministering as a clinical psychologist and doctor of natural medicine. During his month-long journey, Brother Francis encounters a gentle Daoist named Tian Wu, whose wife, Effie, a psychic, has just been murdered. There may be more to this event than meets the eye, and it brings out the sleuth in Brother Francis-along with a very special type of magic. Meanwhile, back in Pennsylvania at the Salesian Monastery, the monastics must deal with the death of one of their own, coupled with a peculiar visit by a pair of CIA agents. Danger, death, and detective work are woven into this fifth volume in the Office of the Dead monastic mystery series, where not everything is at it seems.
Brother Francis O'Neil has spent much of his twenty-first century life studying the work of his monastic founders, Jane de Chantal and Francis de Sales. By profession, he is a clinical psychologist and doctor of Chinese medicine, on top of his fascination with the two sixteenth-century religious figures. It is during one of his many academic and charitable trips to China, far from his home and life in Pennsylvania, when the unthinkable happens. Four-hundred-year-old ancient parchments have mysteriously come into his hands. An avid researcher and historian, O'Neil knows these parchments are special, but on closer inspection, he realizes they are much more than special: they may be the authentic texts, penned years before by de Chantal and de Sales. With his new acquisition, O'Neil also receives a strong feeling of foreboding that transcends time. Something happened to de Chantal and de Sales. They were involved in an ancient mystery, as yet unsolved. Perhaps, O'Neil who knows their work so well will unravel the mystery of his spiritual mother and father. He's good at solving puzzles, but how good is he at staying alive, as the parchments seem to bring danger to his doorstep? Will the ancient pages end in murder abroad? Or will the danger follow him back home to Pennsylvania?
Thank you for visiting our website. Would you like to provide feedback on how we could improve your experience?
This site does not use any third party cookies with one exception — it uses cookies from Google to deliver its services and to analyze traffic.Learn More.