The First Rule of Ten is not one of your run-of -the -mill mysteries--it's a mystery that keeps you thinking. "Ten" Norbu is a former Buddist monk, former homicide detective turned P.I. and this is his first case--what does a strangled former cult member, dead almond trees, fradulent royalty payments and insurance scams all have in common? Toss in a good dose of Buddist philosopy and you have the making for a mystery that will have you burning the midnight oil. This one is definitely a "thumbs up" from me!

- Hamilton East Public Library

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The First Rule of Ten: A Tenzing Norbu Mystery
by Gay Hendricks, Tinker Lindsay
Hay House, 2012 (Adult Fiction / Mystery, Detective)

I was attracted to this book because of an uncommon mix of mystery, murder and spirituality. And I kept reading because the authors continued to use the best of each of these areas in developing the characters and action.

As the book opens, Ten is deciding to leave his job -- LAPD detective-- after getting shot and realizing he's not where he wants to be. He loves detective work, so he strikes off on his own.

Along the way Ten is accompanied by his house mate Tank (a large feline with an equally large personality), his ex-partner Bill and family, and the quintessential tech help, Mike. This combination of friends, as well as new ones he makes along the way, makes for a fun and comfortably complex read.

What's different about this book:
This is not your typical heavy, angst-ridden LA detective. Ten is fun, enjoys people, treasures his moments of solitude, and examines his relationships and path in the world through his Buddhist beliefs and background. It's refreshing to have a protagonist who represents the universal virtue of grace. Ten also differs from other LA detectives in his personality or aura: his is a gentler soul, softer.

Evaluation:
This was an enjoyable read. It's not compelling enough to push with my young adult / high school / adult readers. But I can recommend it without hesitation. And I will probably watch for the two titles that will be following in this trilogy. Not a high-stress read, but a pleasant one. Engaging characters, enough "bad guy gets his comeuppance" to be satisfying.

- Janie Pickett

Review also published on blog:

http://book-lens.blogspot.com/2011/11/first-rule-of-ten.html

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I wasn't as skeptical about the premise of this book - a Tibetan monk gives up his monastary for an LAPD badge, then further metamorphizes into a private eye - as I could have been. After all, I work with a Tibetan Rinpoche who is passionately interested in the American Westerns, cowboys and Indians, John Wayne, and Zane Grey. However, I did have a niggling feeling of doubt: how does someone raised in the strict non-violence of a monastary get into police work, and how does he keep his sanity?

The answers in The First Rule of Ten were believable, and Ten is one of the most likeable characters I've met in a long time. The plot kept me interested (how in world are a pig farm, a doomsday cult, an almond grove, and aging minor rock stars possibly related?), the other characters were mostly complex and fun to be around, and the writing was clear and vivid. What I really enjoyed about the book was Ten's "voice:" it conveyed the "private eye" keen observation with no overtone of the standard gravelly voice; it seemed almost like a soft, whispery voice that was murmuring to me as an aside to the action.

I had a great time with the book, and I look forward to the sequel!

Sue Wilhite

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Posted on my Blog http://fuzzmom.blogspot.com/ ,Goodreads

11/29/2011

The First rule of Ten By Gay Hendricks, Tinker Lindsay

Are you tired of formulaic mysteries? I know I was, until I read the First Rule of Ten. You have never met an ex-detective like Tenzing Norbu. Raised as a Tibetan monk, he came to the U.S. as a teenager, promptly ran away and ended up as an LAPD cop. Now he is on his own an a private investigator. Helped by his old partner Bill, his favorite computer hacker, and his cat Tank, he is embarking on a new life. What a wonderful new way to look at life and mysteries. I have never known a Tibetan monk and certainly never listened to the dialogue inside his head but this is a unique new perspective. Looking for the truth in cults, almond orchards and pig farms, following Ten, as he likes to be called, through the twists and turns of the mystery was something I will never forget. I find myself panting for the next in the "Rules of Ten". My appetite whetted by the nibble I read at the end of this volume.

Dani Moore

----------- Full Review

http://callmemadam.livejournal.com/353495.html

The First Rule of Ten, A Tenzing Norbu Mystery by Gay Hendricks and Tinker Lindsay is the first in a projected series of three books about Ten, as he’s known. It won’t be published until January and I read it on the Kindle courtesy of NetGalley. Every private investigator needs a quirky background and Ten is no exception. The son of a Buddhist monk and an American heiress, he spent most of his childhood and teenage years in a monastery. He was a good student. Trouble was, he hated being a monk and had a secret passion for the Sherlock Holmes stories. At seventeen he was sent to America to teach meditation and as soon as he was twenty one fulfilled his ambition by joining the LAPD.

At the start of this book Ten leaves the police department and sets up on his own as a private detective. In spite of his dislike of monastic life, he still follows many of its rules, with some exceptions. Three things in my life present an ongoing challenge to the practice of nonattachment: my cat, my car, and my classic Super-grade .38. He’s left out beer and women. His police colleague Bill thinks he’ll starve; his technical advisor Mike tells him he needs a new computer. When Mike provides him with a new smart phone, At first, it was like trying to control little balls of mercury. Icons kept skittering away, disappearing and reappearing willy-nilly. Once I got the hang of it, though, I discovered that I not only had access to the Internet and my e-mails, I could also check on the weather, the stock market, Facebook, and YouTube.

Ten soon has a case to deal with. Several mysteriously sudden deaths seem linked and the connection turns out to be insurance policies on their lives taken out by a mysterious company. Following the trail leads Ten into danger and there’s plenty of guns and excitement for those who like that sort of thing. The new phone turns out to be invaluable: With the aid of my phone’s GPS, I was at his street in under ten minutes. I had a brief flash of guilt over trumping Sherlock’s meticulous tracking methods, then I thought, screw it, he’d be thrilled to have a toy like this. Dr. Watson could be a real downer sometimes. Ten solves the mystery, makes some money and fails only with Julie, a woman he falls for. The main interest of the book for me is the way Ten uses Buddhist practices to help him in tricky situations and to help other people, even dead ones. I also loved his enormous cat Tank, who is quite a character. I enjoyed this book and look forward to the next one.

Gay Hendricks is much more famous than I’d realized and well qualified to write convincingly about someone with Ten’s background. At the end of the book he thanks John D. MacDonald, T. Jefferson Parker, Michael Connelly, Sue Grafton, Robert Ferrigno, Don Winslow, Stieg Larsson, Georges Simenon, and Leslie Charteris. At the peak of this Everest of talent, of course, is the inimitable Arthur Conan Doyle, whose life I admire and whose talents I salute for giving me fifty-plus years of pleasure. I’m very grateful to have Tinker Lindsay as a co-author. Quite an eclectic list but Stieg Larsson?
Publisher: Hay House, Inc. Pub Date: January 01, 2012. ISBN: 9781401937768

Barbara Dryden

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Full Review

MY THOUGHTS ABOUT THIS BOOK

When I received the netgalley offer of this ebook, I thought: hmm, a mystery with a former Buddhist monk detective, that could be an interesting read.

And sure it was. Do not expect very high literature, but still, this is a neat mystery, with a plot not that easy to figure out. The dialogues are good and lively, and most of all, I really enjoyed how Ten(zing) incorporated Buddhist wisdom in his everyday life, as he tries to adjust to a new life, and to learn the job of detective on the spot. I’m actually looking forward the next rule of Ten, especially as I even had an excerpt of it at the end of the egalley!

WHAT IS IT ABOUT

Tenzing Norbu (“Ten” for short)—ex-monk and soon-to-be ex-cop—is a protagonist unique to our times. In The First Rule of Ten, the first installment in a three-book detective series, we meet this spiritual warrior who is singularly equipped, if not occasionally ill-equipped, as he takes on his first case as a private investigator in Los Angeles.

Growing up in a Tibetan Monastery, Ten dreamed of becoming a modern-day Sherlock Holmes. So when he was sent to Los Angeles to teach meditation, he joined the LAPD instead. But as the Buddha says, change is inevitable; and ten years later, everything is about to change—big-time—for Ten. One resignation from the police force, two bullet-wounds, three suspicious deaths, and a beautiful woman later, he quickly learns that whenever he breaks his first rule, mayhem follows.

Set in the modern-day streets and canyons of Los Angeles, The First Rule of Ten is at turns humorous, insightful, and riveting—a gripping mystery as well as a reflective, character-driven story with intriguing life-lessons for us all. [Goodreads]

Emma Cazabonne

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Tenzing Norbu is a complicated man. The product of a flighty, self-absorbed mother and a Tibetan father, he was raised in a monastery in Tibet, eventually moving to the West, leaving monastic life behind, and becoming a police officer.

After a near-miss during a call, he decides to leave the force and become a private investigator. His first case isn't so much acquired as it is dropped on his head, in the person of an escapee from a religious cult, trying to warn Ten's landlord of a shadowy threat. When she turns up dead, he takes the case. Cults, organized crime, and existential worries make this a fun read.

It's an engaging mystery, well-written, with fully-realized characters and a strong plot. Norbu's personal life doesn't overshadow the storyline, and the action sequences are in service to the plot. I'll be eagerly awaiting the second one.

Sheri Stanley

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Posted at Goodreads.com (http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/242961037)

This review will be featured on my blog Cozy Up With A Good Read on December 23, 2011. I wasn't sure what to expect when I started reading this novel, and I was quite pleasantly surprised. The description of a mystery novel with the protagonist being a monk made me a little weary but I actually found this book entertaining. I won't say it was amazing but it was definitely a good read.

"Ten" grew up as a monk in a monastery and from there went on to be a cop (really how do those two things come together?). He was always a troublemaker and loved reading Sherlock Holmes (there's the connection!). I loved the different mentions of Sherlock Holmes throughout the novel (he really looked to Holmes when thinking of what to do next). The mystery plot was really intriguing for me as well.

I loved the conspiracy aspect between so many differing groups, I was not expecting a lot of what was thrown at me. I really enjoy when mystery books like this one don't make it glaringly obvious as to who is involved, and this one had great twists to it.

The character of Tenzing also had a great sense of humour to him which I enjoy in characters because it gives the story a bit of comic relief instead of being all seriousness. Some of the humour kind of reminded me of the TV show Bones (not understanding a lot of common things because he grew up as a monk). I would recommend this one to mystery lovers all around.

Andrea Modolo

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Tenzing Norbu is a complicated man. The product of a flighty, self-absorbed mother and a Tibetan father, he was raised in a monastery in Tibet, eventually moving to the West, leaving monastic life behind, and becoming a police officer.

After a near-miss during a call, he decides to leave the force and become a private investigator. His first case isn't so much acquired as it is dropped on his head, in the person of an escapee from a religious cult, trying to warn Ten's landlord of a shadowy threat. When she turns up dead, he takes the case. Cults, organized crime, and existential worries make this a fun read.

It's an engaging mystery, well-written, with fully-realized characters and a strong plot. Norbu's personal life doesn't overshadow the storyline, and the action sequences are in service to the plot. I'll be eagerly awaiting the second one.………………………………..

Are you tired of formulaic mysteries? I know I was, until I read the First Rule of Ten. You have never met an ex-detective like Tenzing Norbu. Raised as a Tibetan monk, he came to the U.S. as a teenager, promptly ran away and ended up as an LAPD cop. Now he is on his own as a private investigator. Helped by his old partner Bill, his favorite computer hacker, and his cat Tank, he is embarking on a new life. What a wonderful new way to look at life and mysteries. I have never known a Tibetan monk and certainly never listened to the dialogue inside his head but this is a unique new perspective. Looking for the truth in cults, almond orchards and pig farms, following Ten, as he likes to be called, through the twists and turns of the mystery was something I will never forget. I find myself panting for the next in the "Rules of Ten". My appetite whetted by the nibble I read at the end of this volume.