Then … Four-hundred years ago, a beautiful, virgin peasant girl was taken from her parents and given to the Sultan of Patani by the Shogun of Japan in exchange for the ivory tusk of a Holy White Elephant. The Shogun believes the tusk possesses aphrodisiac powers which will cure his inability to sire a male child to assure the lines of succession. The Sleeping Cat Scroll, a secret Chinese medical text, accompanies the tusk and reveals the highly-guarded formula for using the sacred ivory. The Ivory Monkeys statue, reputedly carved from this tusk, has been hidden from the world by Buddhist monks for four-hundred years.

Now …  The ancient scroll has recently surfaced on the Asian antiquities black market. Art smugglers and organized crime syndicates from Japan and New York race against time and rivals, attempting to decipher the hidden clues which, they believe, will lead them to the priceless Ivory Monkeys. Caught in this web of mystery, intrigue, ancient text and murder, is Jack Tocklin, a small-time  smuggler who suddenly sees a chance for the score-of-a-lifetime … that is, if he can stay alive.

About the Author: Stephen Colwell splits his time between Boston and Toronto. He spent 25 years at Fidelity Investments working in locations around the world including Japan where he became interested in seventeenth-century paintings and sculptures from the Shogunate era. Steve studied Oriental religions and philosophy at the University of Massachusetts and the American School in Switzerland and is an avid practitioner of Eastern meditation and yoga disciplines.