Tenzing Norbu Mystery Books In Order

Publication Order of Tenzing Norbu Mystery Books

Tenzing Norbu Mystery (Series by Gay Hendricks & Tinker Lindsay)
Authors Gay Hendricks and Tinker Lindsay write the “Tenzing Norbu Mystery” series. The series began publication in the year 2012, when “The First Rule of Ten” was released.

It stars an ex-monk, named Tenzing Norbu (or “Ten” for short) and ex-cop turned private investigator. After about a year as an officer, he left the LAPD to go it alone.

“The First Rule of Ten” is the first novel in the “Tenzing Norbu Mystery” series and was released in the year 2012. A Tibetan monastic-turned-LAPD cop-turned private investigator lands his first major case.

Tenzing Norbu is a unique protagonist for our times. We first meet this spiritual warrior that is singularly equipped, if not occasionally ill-equipped, while taking his first case on as a private investigator in Los Angeles. Ten, who grew up in a Tibetan Monastery, dreamed about becoming a modern day Sherlock Holmes. When he got sent to Los Angeles to teach meditation, he wound up joining the LAPD instead.

But like the Buddha says, change is inevitable. Ten years later, and it’s all about to change, big time, for Ten. A resignation from the force, two gunshot wounds, three suspicious deaths, and a gorgeous woman later, and he soon learns that whenever he breaks his own first rule, mayhem ends up following.

Readers found this to be a fast paced, fun, with plenty of humor and Buddhist influence in them. Tenzing is an endearing and exciting character and these authors do a great job of combining enlightenment and suspense, making you feel inspired and uplifted rather than just unsettled.

“The Second Rule of Ten” is the second novel in the “Tenzing Norbu Mystery” series and was released in the year 2013. Ex-Buddhist monk turned private eye has returned with a new love, a new case, and a brand new set of issues.

Ten is faced with not just one but two cases. As he investigates the unexplained death of a former client, Marv Rudolf (a Hollywood mogul), he has to search for a missing sister of some wizened LA philanthropist. However when Ten gets sent back to Tibet because of an unforeseen family crisis, he finds he is on the outs with his former partner and best buddy, Bill, who heads up the official police investigation into Marv’s death. Crises and cases begin colliding.

Ten mistakenly ignores his second rule, and gets entangled in a rather unfortunate association with a Los Angeles drug cartel. While fighting to save those that he loves, along with himself, from the lethal gang, he also comes face to face with personal demons of his own. Working through his doubts about his recent lady love, his anger at Bill, and a challenging relationship with his dad, Norbu learns to see the world in a brand new light. And he realizes that in each situation the truth sometimes gets buried under illusion.

Ten is a likable character that makes you truly care about what happens to him and the reckless way he throws himself into dangerous situations is always interesting. The combination of streetwise cop with moral man is depicted well within this tense plot filled with twists.

“The Third Rule of Ten” is the third novel in the “Tenzing Norbu Mystery” series and was released in the year 2014. Keep current with the truth: that we are just as weak as the secrets, particularly those that we keep from ourselves. This is the Third Rule of Ten.

Being the go-to private detective for a bevy of some high profile clients, beloved ex-Buddhist monk and former LAPD officer, Ten has finally hit his stride. He has a healthy bank account, a gorgeous pathologist girlfriend, a steady stream of clients, courtesy of a middle aged movie star named Mac Gannon and the rising political star Bets McMutry. Ten’s life bursts with activity at the moment.

However, its not all joy and happiness. With the death of his dad and an increasing abundance of secrets both professional and personal leave him feeling an unexpected depth of confusion and sorrow. Even with his emotional turmoil, nothing is able to stop Ten from taking this case on when McMutry’s housekeeper ends up going missing.

The investigation takes him down a dangerous path which is littered with untraceable prescription drugs, bodies, and human organ trafficking. However nothing is nearly as shocking as the realization that the mastermind behind all of it is none other than Chaco Morales, a criminal that has slipped through his hands once already.

“The Fourth Rule of Ten” is the fourth novel in the “Tenzing Norbu Mystery” series and was released in the year 2015. Ten knows Bill Bohannon as multiple things: former partner, best friend devoted dad, loving husband, and police administrator. However one uninvited guest from Bill’s past capsizes the Bohannons’ Fourth of July barbecue, and revealing in the levelheaded Bill the most unexpected of behavior. It is behavior that awkwardly dumps Ten right in the middle of a crumbling marriage.

Ten makes an unexpected move all his own when he agrees to do some pro bono work for a convicted felon. However it was dope slinger Godfrey Chambers that Ten had busted multiple times during his time on the force, and not the rechristened and reformed G-Force that now asks for Ten’s help in claiming some money left to him by some kindhearted benefactor. Not to mention is also being contested by the benefactor’s self serving family.

Pretty soon Ten’s investigations take him down the darkest corridors of the Internet and halfway round the world to Sarajevo while he navigates through the seedy worlds of human trafficking and personal regret. While these cases start intertwining, he is only going to rely on the wisdom of Buddha and his own network of relationships. With Kim (his outrageously idiosyncratic), Mike (a super hacker), Lopsang and Yeshe (his old monastery buddies, Peter (former policija and Serbian cabbie), and, of course Tank (feline rock) to solve this puzzle. As well as to keep free of his tangled past. Particularly when an old flame comes back.