John Ball: The Eyes of Buddha

John Ball: The Eyes of Buddha (USA 2013)

From the Publisher:
A partially decomposed body of a young woman is discovered in a park in Pasadena, California. The woman was strangled but not sexually assaulted. The police suspect she might be a missing heiress who disappeared over a year ago, but dental records prove them wrong. But who is she? And is there a link between the heiress and this corpse? The celebrated black detective Virgil Tibbs reshapes the known facts regarding these two women and discovers astonishing connections. His quest leads him around the world to Katmandu where, beneath the searing "eyes of Buddha" at the famed Monkey Temple, he learns the truth in a striking denouement.

The son of a scientist, John Ball was born in Schenectady, New York, and grew up In Milwaukee. He attended Carroll College in Wisconsin. He subsequently worked as a science staff writer on Fortune, a music critic and feature writer for the Brooklyn Eagle, a daily columnist on the New York World-Telegram & Sun, a broadcaster for a Washington radio station, and a Director of Public Relations for the institute of Aerospace Sciences. His In the Heat of the Night was awarded a Mystery Writers of America "Edgar' for the Best First Mystery Novel of the Year, and since had been followed by The Cool Cottontail, also featuring his African-American detective, Virgil Tibbs. Mr. Ball has also authored a number of notable young adult books.

John Ball: The Eyes of Buddha. A Virgil Tibbs Mystery. Speaking Volumes, ISBN: 9781612329789 (December, 2013), 244 p., $14.95, eBook $9.99.

John Ball: The Eyes of Buddha (USA 1985)

John Ball: The Eyes of Buddha. A Virgil Tibbs Mystery. Perennial Library, ISBN: 0060807512 (April, 1985), 244 p., $3.50.

John Ball: The Eyes of Buddha (USA 1976)

From the Publisher:
The partially decomposed body of a young woman is discovered in an isolated, wooded section of a Pasadena park. Police are alerted -- could this at last be Doris Friedkin, the heiress whose bizarre disappearance more than a year ago has frustrated their most exhaustive efforts? Dental records quickly establish that the unidentifiable corpse is, at least, not Doris. But who is she? The young woman had been strangled but not sexually assaulted; by whom, and why? Again, what did become of Doris? Prodded by Doris's father, multimillionaire financier Herbert Friedkin, the police assign their best man to both cases. Enter Virgil Tibbs, celebrated black detective.

In this, the fifth of John Ball's novels about Virgil Tibbs, the hero of In the Heat of the Night must unravel two perplexing, seemingly impenetrable mysteries at once. With his usual calm reasoning and razorsharp perception, Tibbs reshapes the welter of "facts" accumulated by previous investigators of the two cases -- and abruptly discovers astonishing connections between the two. His quest for an explanation takes Tibbs halfway around the world to Katmandu, Nepal, where, beneath the searing "eyes of Buddha" at the famed Monkey Temple, he learns the truth.

The grinding detail of homicide investigation is brought to life here as strikingly as the exotic Himalayan setting of the denouement. Readers willing to match their deductive powers and psychological perception with those of the master detective will find The Eyes of Buddha the most rewarding Virgil Tibbs adventure yet.

John Ball is the author of four previous Virgil Tibbs novels: In the Heat of the Night, The Cool Cottontail, Johnny Get Your Gun, and Five Pieces of Jade. His other novels include Miss One Thousand Spring Blossoms, Last Plane Out, The First Team, The Fourteenth Point, Mark One: The Dummy, and The Winds of Mitamura. He lives in Encino, California.

John Ball: The Eyes of Buddha. A Virgil Tibbs Adventure. Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1976, ISBN: 0316079529, 244 p., $6.95 (?).