Dear Reader,
I’m going to assume that you haven’t read Blood and Wisdom yet or you’re partway
through it. If you’ve already finished, would you be drawn to reading my
letter? Maybe, but I’m guessing not. I wouldn’t be. For one thing, I would
already have my own ideas about the book, which I’d be loath to abandon just
because an author tells me his. (Like
he knows better). I guess I’m kind of
a stubborn reader.
At any rate, my PI mystery embodies a depth not often found
in this genre. All the suspense, crisp dialogue, surprising plot twists, etc.
are in place, with more than a dollop of humor. But there’s more, and the more
is more intriguing to me as a writer, so that’s what I’ll talk about in this
letter to you.
Throughout the book, the narrator (Karl) sees signs—literal
signs, I mean—at the spiritual center that his client (Aria) runs. Posted by
the side of walking paths, these include: Yield
gracefully to what is; When you're not in the moment, you meet your mind
instead of the world; Find a way to cooperate with how things need to be; All
craving is a devaluation of the present moment; and We're prepared by the
journey to meet the challenges that await us at the destination.
Mostly, these don’t make any sense to him, but as the book
progresses, he falls in love with the woman who embodies them, opening his eyes
to new perspectives. In the meantime, Karl is framed, chased, and forced to
dive into the freezing water of the Monterey Bay to escape a sniper. But let’s
go back to the beginning…
When Private Investigator Karl
Gatlin takes on Aria Piper’s case, it was no more than a threat—phone calls
warning Aria to either “stop doing Satan’s work” or meet an untimely
demise. But a few hours later, a headless
John Doe bobs up in the wishing well at Aria’s New Age spiritual center near
Santa Cruz. Aria had ideas about who
could be harassing her, but the appearance of a dismembered body makes for a
real game changer. And what Karl Gatlin
initially thought was a fairly innocuous case turns out to be anything but.
Dispatching former rugby superstar
and Maori friend John Ratu to protect Aria, Karl and his hacker assistant Matt
are free to investigate a ruthless pastor, a money launderer on the run, some
sketchy members of Aria’s flock, and warring drug gangs. With his dog Larry as a wingman, Karl
uncovers a broad swath of corruption, identity theft, blackmail, and more
murders.
Against the backdrop of a ticking
clock, Karl races to find answers. But more murders only mean more
questions—and Karl is forced to make an
impossible choice when it turns out Aria’s secret may be the most harrowing of
all.
Decades ago, I served as a (minor
league) spiritual teacher in a Hindu-ish spiritual organization. Having been
the first disciple of a brand new guru, I was put in charge of a branch office,
shepherding a handful of rookie seekers. So I know more than most novelists
about that world, and the ideas behind it.
Fast forward to my current writing
career. What if a for-real spiritual teacher became mixed-up in a murder
mystery. How would she handle herself? How would esoteric knowledge come in
handy, or perhaps get in the way? For that matter, how would a
psychological-minded PI deal with such a client? That was the motivation behind
Blood and Wisdom.
I’m a psychotherapist. All of this
appealed to me as a vehicle for getting deep into the heads of my characters.
Also, I need to care about content beyond the nuts and bolts of a well-written,
good story. I lose interest after the first forty pages—my filing cabinet is
overflowing with partial manuscripts— unless I find a way to include a
substrata that most other mystery writers ignore.
Blood and Wisdom had legs from
start to finish. The characters told me what they’d say and how they’d act, and
the plot fell out of me sequentially. I’d casually choose to make a car yellow,
and then I’d find out a hundred pages later that color supplied a vital clue.
My subconscious was participating as a full partner.
So there you go. Enjoy my book.
Thanks.
Verlin Darrow
(https://www.amazon.com/author/verlindarrow)
Title: BLOOD & WISDOM
Genre: Mystery/PI Novel
Author: Verlin Darrow
Website: www.verlindarrow.com
Publisher: Wild Rose Press
Purchase on Amazon
About the Book:
When
Private Investigator Karl Gatlin takes on Aria Piper’s case, it was no more
than a threat—phone calls warning Aria to either “stop doing Satan’s work” or
meet an untimely demise. But a few hours
later, a headless John Doe bobs up in the wishing well at Aria’s New Age
spiritual center near Santa Cruz. Aria
had ideas about who could be harassing her, but the appearance of a dismembered
body makes for a real game changer. And
what Karl Gatlin initially thought was a fairly innocuous case turns out to be
anything but.
Dispatching
former rugby superstar and Maori friend John Ratu to protect Aria, Karl and his
hacker assistant Matt are free to investigate a ruthless pastor, a money
launderer on the run, some sketchy members of Aria’s flock, and warring drug
gangs. With his dog Larry as a wingman,
Karl uncovers a broad swath of corruption, identity theft, blackmail, and more
murders. But nothing is as it seems, and as the investigation heats up, Karl is
framed, chased, and forced to dive into the freezing water of the Monterey Bay
to escape a sniper.
Against
the backdrop of a ticking clock, Karl races to find answers. But more murders
only mean more questions—and Karl is forced to make an impossible choice when
it turns out Aria’s secret may be the most harrowing of all…
An
intelligent, intense and engaging tale, Blood
and Wisdom races from the opening scene to the final page. Brimming with colorful, multi-dimensional
characters, wit, humor, and a taut storyline, Blood and Wisdom is filled with twists, turns, and surprises. Novelist Verlin Darrow, a practicing
psychotherapist, infuses Blood and Wisdom
with fascinating details about psychology and metaphysics, and seamlessly
blends elements of hardboiled and softboiled detective fiction. With its original premise, smart plotting,
to-die-for redwood-studded coastal Santa Cruz and Big Sur setting, and
protagonist like no other, Blood and
Wisdom is a pitch-perfect PI novel.
Blood and Wisdom has garnered high
advance praise. According to Richard
House, MD, author of Between Now and When, "Darrow
has a sense of plot and style that carries the reader forward into that special
place of anxious expectation, the place where putting the book down is
unthinkable. Fascinating.” C.I. Dennis,
author of the Vince Tanzi series, including Tanzi’s
Luck, praises Blood and Wisdom for
its “great pace, fun characters who you care about, plenty of twists, and
narrative personality.”
About the Author:
Verlin
Darrow is a psychotherapist who was patted on the head by Einstein, nearly
blown up by Mt. St. Helens, survived the 1985 8.0 Mexico City earthquake, and,
so far, has successfully weathered numerous internal disasters. He lives with
his psychotherapist wife in Northern California. They diagnose each other as
necessary.
Connect with Verlin
Darrow:
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