Mystery & Adventure Amidst the Crux of History


Peking 1948. Havana 1756. London 1944. Taipei 2015. Seoul 1892. My novels follow strong, colorful characters wrestling with mysteries and passions in the midst of historical pivot points. Richly textured and intriguingly peopled, these stories transport you to other times, other places, and other ways of living our lives. The first two and my nonfiction Taoist primer Relax, You’re Already Home are now available. The last three are soon to appear. For all, I cordially invite you to enjoy the summaries, sample chapters, and reviews below. Check out a radio interview featuring The Return to Treasure Island and Relax, You're Already Home. And enjoy also photos and commentary of my travels researching the novels in Ambles and Images above, as well as my Biography. Bon appetit, and let me know what you think!

Jade and Fire (Random House, 1988) As Peking warlord Fu Tso-yi grapples with Mao Tse-tung's Communist armies besieging the ancient capital in 1948, Inspector Bei investigates a series of brutal murders at the city's brothels, and suspects that both the siege and the murders are connected to a mysterious Taoist temple in the Western Hills outside the city. Reviews. To order.

The Return to Treasure Island (iUniverse, 2011) Jim Hawkins is lured back to the Caribbean in 1756 by Long John Silver, only to discover baffling clues to a treasure hidden by a great Chinese fleet in 1421. They join with an orphan slave girl and her friend, the last remnant of a Chinese colony abandoned in Cuba three centuries ago, to battle Havana Harbor's Spanish garrison and Chinese mercenaries from Shanghai. Finally they stand before the ancient Goddess of the Sea who guards an emperor's treasure in a hidden sea cave. First 3 chapters. To order.

Relax, You’re Already Home (Penguin/Putnam, 2004) An informal, friendly introduction to the ancient Chinese way of living known as Taoism. Barnett draws on his experiences and observations of the people of China to show how this 5,000-year-old way of living life has practical, everyday applications to our lives in the modern West. Reviews. First chapter. The Forbidden Chapter. To order.

The Death of Mycroft 89-year-old Sherlock Holmes travels to London in May of 1944 in response to a telegram from his brother Mycroft, only to find Mycroft dead. Clues suggest his brother was murdered, and that Mycroft's group planning the D-Day invasion has been infiltrated by a Nazi spy. Holmes sets off to find and fool the spy, in the company of Watson's grandson and the beautiful Isadora Klein from The Three Gables. Soon Holmes is plotting with Winston Churchill, being smuggled into occupied France for a fateful game of boule, and then revisiting the sites of his most famous cases to avert a tragedy on the morning of June 6, 1944. (Seeking publisher) First 2 chapters

The China Ultimatum China has abruptly given Taiwan nine days to reunify with the motherland or face destruction. Rising State Department star Philip Dawson, sent to mediate the crisis, immediately faces attempts on his life—or is the target the alluring Taiwanese newswoman who is shadowing his moves? Together, they must solve the riddle of the assassins, and somehow forge an agreement acceptable to Taiwan and China—with only nine days before Chinese missiles lift over the Straits and drag the United States into a nuclear war. (Seeking publisher) First 3 chapters

The T’ae Medallion Into the tumult of Korea in the late 1880’s—a peasant revolt, rapacious nobles, the weak King Kojong, armies from China and Japan pouring into the beleaguered country—disillusioned Virginian Jefferson Phelps returns a mysterious medallion given to his father four decades earlier. His attraction to a forbidden woman of the dominant Min clan thrusts him into the center of intrigues and great battles changing the history of Asia. (Seeking publisher) First 3 chapters

Selected Works

Approaches to Life
Relax, You're Already Home: Everyday Taoist Habits for a Richer Life
Simple habits for health, balance, and joy in our modern lives
Novels
The Return to Treasure Island
Long John Silver and Jim Hawkins stumble upon ancient Chinese treasure
Jade and Fire.
Murder and passion during the 1948 Communist siege of Peking
The China Ultimatum
Nuclear war looms as China demands the return of Taiwan
The T'ae Medallion
A Virginian finds romance in Korea as Chinese and Japanese armies battle, 1895
The Death of Mycroft
Sherlock Holmes discovers his brother has been murdered on the eve of D-Day by a Nazi spy

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