with Gay Hendricks and Tinker Lindsay
We are delighted to welcome mystery authors Gay Hendricks and Tinker Lindsay to Omnimystery News today.
Gay and Tinker's second book to feature ex–Buddhist monk and ex–LAPD officer turned private eye Tenzing Norbu is The Second Rule of Ten (Hay House Visions, January 2013 trade paperback and ebook formats).
We recently had a chance to talk to the authors about the character and their books.
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Omnimystery News: When starting a new book, there's usually a decision to be made: one in a series or stand-alone. What prompted you to develop the Ten Norbu as a series character?
Photos provided courtesy of
Gay Hendricks and Tinker Lindsay
Gay Hendricks: I created Ten so I could develop him over a long period of time. He's going through all sorts of changes, particularly in his relationships with women. This summer we're coming out with a prequel that takes place in the monastery when he's twelve going on thirteen.
Tinker Lindsay: As Gay Hendricks' co-writer, I was lucky enough to be presented with a fascinating protagonist fully formed from Gay's imagination, albeit one I wish I had thought of myself! That said, Gay, his character Tenzing Norbu, and I all share a passion for mindfulness, as well as murder, and it has made for a rich and compelling collaboration. I believe that stasis tends to equal stagnation, and try to introduce change and growth into Ten's character wherever possible.
OMN: Ten is a private investigator in this series and readers often think of PIs as either hard-boiled or soft-boiled. What is your view on this?
GH: How about our new category: Mindful Mysteries? It's a good question, though, because I'm stumped by it. I'm so focused on the character and the stories that I don't ever think about the categories.
TL: We like to call our detective series "mindful mysteries." While they include compelling crimes needing to be solved, they also incorporate spiritual insights. Our goal is to write page-turners that satisfy avid mystery readers (such as ourselves), while also touching the hearts and souls of readers seeking inner growth, hopefully without ever being preachy or didactic.
OMN: Do you think that by not neatly fitting into some subgenre that some readers may overlook the series?
TL: I believe there are advantages to being a little different — in our case wrapping transformational life-lessons inside rip-roaring tales of mayhem. Our books are like Trojan horses — we try to embed spiritual tools within the all-too-human flaws of our protagonist, so that the effect is both subtle, and hopefully enjoyable! The fact that Gay Hendricks is a best-selling author of numerous non-fiction books on personal growth draws in at least as many readers as it might potentially put off, and word-of-mouth is helping our readership to grow.
GH: I think there's probably a disadvantage and an advantage in not fitting into usual categories. What seems to be happening is that we're drawing passionate fans from all sorts of readers, even ones from mainstream fiction. The reason for that is probably the character of Ten. People love his combo of spiritual guy and adventure guy.
OMN: Tell us something about your book that isn't mentioned in the publisher synopsis.
GH: The Tenzing Norbu books are such thrilling fun to write! I can hardly wait to get up every morning and find out what's going to happen next.
TL: Our collaboration process has been as fascinating and growth inducing as the writing itself.
OMN: Are any of Ten's character traits modeled after your own?
TL: A lot of me is in these books — and a lot has come through research into areas I might not know. As the protagonist is written in the first person, I am perforce included in the writing equation, which comes originally from Gay's mind, is filtered through mine, and then, sometimes, takes on a mind if its own!
GH: A lot of me is in the books as well, and in the character of Ten. He has a lot of my attitudes about things, and is of course a spiritual practitioner. I've been a daily meditator for 40 years now, so Ten and I have a similar spiritual landscape we live in.
OMN: Tell us about your collaborative writing process.
GH: Definitely let the story develop as I write, all the way. I've never made an outline or a synopsis. I write each line from discovery: what has to happen next? What does he need to say? How can I make it maximum fun for me to write?
TL: Our process of co-writing is as follows: Gay Hendricks gives me a first draft of a manuscript. I then read it several times, letting it sink into my unconscious and marinate there for as long as it takes, until further details, possible plot expansions, character turns, etc., make themselves known to me. I then take these potential changes and "plot-thickeners" back to Gay for his response, before I dive into the second, and sometimes third drafts of the book. I do sometimes create back-stories, when I need to know a character better.
OMN: How do you go about fact-checking the details in your books? Any anecdotes involving first-hand research?
GH: I'm a seasoned Google jockey, have spent way too many hours trying to find out little details I wanted to use. Earlier in my life I had occasion to shoot a variety of guns, including exotica such as Uzi and AK47 machine guns, so I'm familiar with that world first-hand. I have spent many informative hours talking to cops of all sorts, from detectives to patrol cops to the very top brass such as LA County Sheriff Lee Baca. I'm now working on a future Tenzing Norbu mystery that deals with human trafficking. That's been far and away the toughest area I've ever dug into.
TL: I love to do research in all its myriad forms, from on-line trawling, to personal interviews, to location scouting, to drawing upon years of meditation practice, as well as ongoing personal transformational work, (including working with a therapist who also practices mindfulness.) So far, my most challenging topic was coming up with a "perfect" crime that had not been used before. My most exciting research topic was looking into the "dark" or "shadow" side of Tibetan Buddhism.
OMN: I'm guessing you have a mental image of what Ten look like.
TL: Edward Westwick — there is a screenplay in the works with him in mind as our protagonist.
GH: When I wrote the first one I couldn't think of an actor I could visualize playing the part. Then, movie producer Ileen Maisel, who loved the book, suggested Ed Westwick. He's since become my model for Ten.
OMN: Your books are set in California and India. Have you taken any liberties with the settings?
TL: We try to be true to our location, as much as is possible. Los Angeles is full of fascinating spots, so it isn't too hard. We took a few liberties with Tenzing's monastery in Dharamshala, as most of the "teaching" monasteries are actually located in Southern India, but there certainly "could" have been one like ours, and it is based on real places. Both settings: Los Angeles, California, and Dharamshala, India, reflect the dual aspects of our protagonist's personality, and are very important to both character and plot.
GH: Definitely try to be true to the location. Tinker is especially good at the Los Angeles details. It's been quite a while since I've been in the part of India where Ten's monastery is located, and in the years since I've been up there, all the monasteries I saw or visited have sort of blended into one. I've also visited most of the living monasteries in Tibet, but my mental picture of Ten's monastery is based more on the Tibetan monasteries in India.
OMN: What kinds of books did you read as a child? Did any particular book or genre influence your decision to write a mystery series today?
GH: I got hooked on The Hardy Boys early on. My mother always knew she could give me one of those for a birthday and I'd be happy. Later, in 8th grade, when I discovered Sherlock Holmes, he became my touchstone. Fifty years later I still carry The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes with me when I go on trips.
TL: I read voraciously as a child, whether it was Albert Payson Terhune stories about collies, or Nancy Drew mystery books, or Tales of Oz, or gothic novels, or cereal boxes! I was always drawn to dark tales, however: at three I taught myself to read using the book Slovenly Peter, a series of dark Victorian cautionary tales in which every naughty child came to some sort of dark end or other, and all my writing reflects this same fascination with the interplay between good and evil, light and dark. Today, I love mysteries and thrillers above all others, and so it is especially delicious that I get to write them.
OMN: What are your hobbies, interests outside of writing crime fiction? Do any of these activities find their way into your books?
TL: I don't really have "hobbies" per se. I do practice meditation every day, read voraciously, love to travel, spend time with my kids and grandkids, including twin girls, enjoy good food, hike the Hollywood Hills, go to Dodger games, observe people and their fascinating behaviors wherever I am, and most especially enjoy thinking and talking about writing with other writer friends. All of these activities inform my books.
GH: I'm interested in spiritual development and practices, have been a daily meditator for more than half my life. All that gets into the books. My wife and I love exotic travel, particularly train travel through unusual places. For example, later this year we will go by train from Northern Thailand all the way down to Singapore, stopping to explore the fruit and vegetable markets along the way. One of my passions is discovering new varieties and sub-varieties of tropical fruit. On our last trip we discovered the Cambodia milk fruit, which has a taste I can describe only as heaven on earth. Ten will eventually have occasion to eat one, I'm sure, because lots of my observations from my travels find their way into Ten's life.
OMN: You mentioned earlier how your non-fiction fans are becoming fans of your fiction. How do you engage with them? What kinds of questions do you most enjoy (or least enjoy) receiving from readers?
GH: I love interacting with readers on Facebook and our Dharma Detective website. I've also had a great time doing readings for "live" audiences and answering questions about Ten.
TL: I love to hear from readers about anything. I like questions that are open-ended, and don't have the assumed answers already embedded in them!
OMN: Are there any authors whose books you rush out to buy as soon as they are published?
TL: Many. Books by friends, to support their endeavors. Also, books by authors of series, such as Steig Larsson's "Dragon Tattoo" trilogy, or Lee Child's "Jack Reacher", or Henning Mankell's "Kurt Wallender" series — loving the Scandinavian mystery writers at the moment.
GH: Oh, yes! Paul Theroux, Michael Connelly, T. Jefferson Parker, Robert Crais and John le Carré come to mind right away, but there are probably a dozen others I could think of.
OMN: You both mentioned that you enjoy mysteries and thrillers. Are there any other types of books/genres that you read?
GH: Anything by Alice Hoffman, Mark Helprin or Ann Patchett — not sure what to call that genre. I read a lot of non-fiction, partly because most of my friends are authors of self-help, relationship and personal development books.
TL: Brilliant one-off's such as Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl cause me to run for anything else by the same author. I can also get hooked on Young Adult series such as Suzanne Collins' "The Hunger Games" or J. K. Rowling's "Harry Potter". On the literary side, I love anything by Ian McEwan, George Saunders, Barbara Kingsolver. Nonfiction: can't wait to read Getting Clear by Lawrence Wright and all Jon Krakauer's books. I also like to have at least one book of poetry on my bedside table, for dipping into when the mood strikes. Favorite poets include Wendell Berry, Rainer Marie Rilke, e.e. cummings, Rumi, William Blake, Mary Oliver, and a new find, Ted Kooser.
I often alternate between mysteries and literature — kind of like my alternating between my two magazine subscriptions: People and The New Yorker. But I have to admit, a good detective thriller is hard to beat, and if I don't have at least one nearby I get anxious …
OMN: Create a Top 5 list on any topic.
TL: Top 5 contemporary poems you should read …
• "I Would Not Have Been a Poet," by Wendell Berry.
• "a man who had fallen among thieves" by e.e. cummings
• "Orpheus and Eurydice" by Rainer Marie Rilke (translation by Stephen Mitchell)
• "The Guesthouse," by Rumi (translation by Coleman Barks)
• "Love after love" by Derek Wolcott
• "The Journey" by Mary Oliver
• "Transfiguration" by Mary Woodbury
Oops, that's seven. Better stop!
GH: Top 5 books you should read …
• One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
• Meetings with Remarkable Men by G. I. Gurdjieff
• Winter's Tale by Mark Helprin
• The Lazy Man's Guide to Enlightenment by Thaddeus Golas
• In My Own Way by Alan Watts
OMN: What's next for both of you?
GH: I've always got several projects going at the same time, so I kind of swerve back and forth among them all the time. Right now, in addition to writing, which I usually do from 6-9 a.m., I'm also supervising the development of a large apps project, creating new personal development apps for iPhone and Android. My wife and I also teach approximately 20 seminars a year in various locations here and abroad.
TL: I am about to dive into my rewrite of The Third Rule of Ten, followed by The Fourth Rule of Ten. After that, we shall see! I am also planning a quick visit to Vancouver, where a film I co-wrote with writer/director Peter Chelsom, Hector and the Search for Happiness, is about to start shooting: the sublime cast includes Simon Pegg, Rosamund Pike, Stellan Skarsgård, Christopher Plummer, and Jean Reno. While there, I also plan to eat lots of oysters.
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Gay Hendricks, PhD, has served for more than 35 years as one of the major contributors to the fields of relationship transformation and body-mind therapies. Along with his wife, Dr. Kathlyn Hendricks, Gay is the co-author of many bestsellers. Dr Hendricks received his PhD in counselling psychology from Stanford in 1974. After a 21-year career as a professor of Counselling Psychology at the University of Colorado, he and Kathlyn founded The Hendricks Institute, which is based in Ojai, California and offers seminars worldwide. To learn more about the author and his work, visit Hendricks.com.
Tinker Lindsay is an accomplished screenwriter, author, script consultant and conceptual editor. She graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University in English and American Language. She has worked in the Hollywood entertainment industry writing and developing feature films for over three decades. A practitioner and teacher of meditation, she can usually be found writing in her home office situated directly under the Hollywood sign. To learn more about the author, visit her website at TinkerLindsay.com.
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The Second Rule of Ten
Gay Hendricks and Tinker Lindsay
A Tenzing Norbu Mystery (2nd in series)
A new case, a new love, and a whole new set of problems …
Ten Norbu is asked to investigate the unexplained death of his former client, Hollywood mogul Marv Rudolph, while he searches for the sister, lost during World War II, of wizened Los Angeles philanthropist Julius Rosen.
With two cases and an unforeseen family crisis that sends him back to Tibet, Ten finds himself on the outs with his best buddy and former partner, Bill, who is heading the official police investigation into Marv's death. Cases and crises start to collide.
When Ten mistakenly ignores his second rule, he becomes entangled in an unfortunate association with a Los Angeles drug cartel. As he fights to save those he loves, and himself, from the deadly gang, he also comes face to face with his own personal demons.
Working through his anger at Bill, doubts about his latest lady love, and a challenging relationship with his father, Ten learns to see the world in a new light — and realizes that in every situation the truth is sometimes buried beneath illusion.
