Private security specialist, Greg Stern, is a reluctant guest in a remote and inaccessible Zen monastery. His wife, Vega, sent him there after a marital transgression to ponder and improve his interaction with women. When a dead boy is found in the meditation hall, the group of eclectic guests and monastics find themselves trapped in an enchanted valley with a murderer in their midst and no way out.          

Death of a Zen Master received a 5-star review from Readers' Favorite. See the review below.

Cornelia Feye’s Death of a Zen Master is a well-written and absorbing story that harkens back to the classic murder mystery novels such as those penned by Agatha Christie. I loved the isolated setting for the crime and relished seeing the fear and suspicion of the students as they realize they are trapped with a killer, with no way out and no way to contact the outside world. Feye’s characters are finely crafted and true-to-life and her plot is ingenious. She gives the armchair sleuth plenty of red herrings to consider along with Greg Stern, as he tries to unmask the killer and stay alive. This classy, modern-day homage to the golden age of murder mysteries is most highly recommended.

5-star review by Jack Magnus for Readers’ Favorite

What do other authors say about Death of a Zen Master?

From the very beginning of this mystery, set at a remote Zen Retreat in the Ventana Wilderness area, the characters are full of life and opinions.  Greg is here to pacify his wife and has no intention of embracing anything other than the excellent food. When the Abbess is found murdered and a 300-year-old Buddha goes missing, Greg finds something to fill his time and, he hopes, a way to impress his wife. Feye, who is known for her art mysteries, takes the reader on a clever and twisting route to a satisfying conclusion. Woven throughout the story is just enough Zen philosophy, history, and art history to create a fully evolved novel.

Tamara Merrill, Author of Shadows in our Bones, and The Augustus Family Trilogy

Forget your English Manors. And manners. A Buddhist monastery in California makes the perfect setting for this engaging and clever take on the we're-trapped-in-place-and-one-of-us-is-a-killer story. In Cornelia Feye's capable hands, the search for spiritual enlightenment goes hand in hand with the search for a murderer. A tasty Karma-snack of a mystery novel.

Corey Lynn Fayman, author of the award-winning Rolly Waters Mystery Series

A rousing and entertaining mystery in a very unique setting— a Zen monastery. The talented Cornelia Feye has created two unforgettable characters, Greg and Vega Stern. Separately and together they must solve a murder while they immerse themselves in Zen Buddhism. It will keep you guessing all the way to the last page.

Carl Vonderau, author of Murderabilia 

Cornelia Feye is an author, art historian and publisher. She published three mystery novels, and the first one, Spring of Tears, won the San Diego Book Award in 2011. The anthology Magic Mystery & Murder, co-edited with Tamara Merrill, won the San Diego Book Awards in 2019. She is the founder of Konstellation Press, an indie publishing company for genre fiction and poetry. Her publications include art historical essays and reviews in English and German.

Visit her website