Zen and the Art of Murder

Recommend, review and discuss dharma books here.
Post Reply
User avatar
Kim O'Hara
Former staff member
Posts: 7047
Joined: Fri Nov 16, 2012 1:09 am
Location: North Queensland, Australia

Zen and the Art of Murder

Post by Kim O'Hara »

Relax - it's a crime novel.
A good one, though - up there with Rankin and Mosley - and Buddhism in Germany is a strong theme running through it. The book starts with a young Japanese monk escaping from the monastery he was visiting in the Black Forest, stumbling injured through the snow to the nearest small town.

If that's your kind of thing ... https://www.fantasticfiction.com/b/oliver-bottini/

:reading:
Kim
humble.student
Posts: 359
Joined: Wed Aug 19, 2015 1:35 pm

Re: Zen and the Art of Murder

Post by humble.student »

Thanks for pointing this out, browsing the odd bit of "Buddhist" fiction is an occasional guilty pleasure of mine.

I can also recommend Janwillem van de Wetering's "Inspector Saito's Small Satori " - in addition to his well-known 'Amsterdam Cops' series, he also wrote 3 or so memoirs of his experiences in Japanese Zen temples. But this book is - imho - better than the cops ones. He also translated "The Power of Emptiness" by Alexandra David-Neel, which is another decent read (again, if you're into that kind of thing).
User avatar
Kim O'Hara
Former staff member
Posts: 7047
Joined: Fri Nov 16, 2012 1:09 am
Location: North Queensland, Australia

Re: Zen and the Art of Murder

Post by Kim O'Hara »

:thanks:

:reading:
Kim
User avatar
Ayu
Global Moderator
Posts: 13245
Joined: Mon Oct 29, 2012 8:25 am
Location: Europe

Re: Zen and the Art of Murder

Post by Ayu »

Kim O'Hara wrote: Mon Nov 16, 2020 4:18 am Relax - it's a crime novel.
...
Phew!!! And I was worrying we have to moderate. :jedi:
Knotty Veneer
Posts: 967
Joined: Thu Apr 12, 2012 1:50 pm

Re: Zen and the Art of Murder

Post by Knotty Veneer »

If you are in the mood for a Buddhist whodunnit, you could also try Poison Karma by Ken Holmes:https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00 ... tkin_p1_i0
This is not the wrong life.
User avatar
Kim O'Hara
Former staff member
Posts: 7047
Joined: Fri Nov 16, 2012 1:09 am
Location: North Queensland, Australia

Re: Zen and the Art of Murder

Post by Kim O'Hara »

Thanks, KV. Looking at the author's bio, I'm sure he would have got the dharma elements right!

This series is quite old and very light reading https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/446 ... nny-orange
The Case of the One-Penny Orange
(Masao Masuto #2)
by E.V. Cunningham
3.78 ·
Rating details · 69 ratings · 5 reviews
Detective Masuto investigates a string of strange Southern California crimes that lead all the way back to Nazi Germany

Returning from a funeral, Mr. and Mrs. Jack Briggs find their Beverly Hills mansion ransacked. As they wait for the police, they discover something unusual: Despite the chaos, nothing appears to be missing—a fact that greatly interests Beverly Hills police detective Masao Masuto. But the Zen detective only has a few minutes to ponder the strange break-in before a murder intervenes.
There are also crime stories set in Buddhist countries. I enjoyed Bangkok Tattoo years ago although it was quite ugly in places.
https://www.penguin.com.au/books/bangko ... 1446488737

:reading:
Kim
Post Reply

Return to “Book Reviews”