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ORIGINAL NOVEL

 

When a wealthy Singaporean businessman is found ritually beheaded in his high-security penthouse apartment and his severed head precisely buried in the soil of the condo grounds, the only clue to his killer is the single item taken from the dead man's home ­ a mysterious statue of a headless priest, statues that were, until then, never photographed and thought never to have even existed.

According to local occult folklore, when Singapore came under colonial rule in 1824,  British security regiment sent ahead of the official handover uncovered 4 cults operating in the South East Asian trading port. To stamp their authority on the island, the regiment executed the four cult leaders, beheading them in public. Their defiant followers cast 4 statues of headless priests in solid gold into which the spirits of their beheaded leaders supposedly went after their deaths. 14 macabre riddles held the key to unlocking the power of the statues and a succession of ruthless businessmen enjoyed immense wealth after obtaining the statues. However, the existence of the statues had never been proven until now.

Jack Keng, a former red beret commando with a renegade streak, is brought in to solve the murder before word gets out that a serial killer could be at work among the elite of Singapore society. Working with a black ops organization under the direction of his former army Lieutenant Colonel, Keng discovers that the dead tycoon had hired a prominent professor to analyze a 150-year-old manuscript of the 14 riddles. The professor has an explosive theory ­ he believes that the true answer to the riddles lies in Feng Shui. According to him, the 4 statues actually represent an altar that requires ritual sacrifice to unleash the ultimate power of the statues. With the riddles suggesting that the statues must be acquired 2 days apart, the race is on to find out who has the remaining statues and stop the killer before he strikes again.

8 Days. 4 Statues. 1 Killer. Who dies next?

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Headless is available online:

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© Kenn Delbridge 2002
All rights reserved
ISBN 0-595-26038-1

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