One of the fun parts of being a writer is doing research for my books.  Especially locations like the mysteries in Myanmar!

To make the settings as real and accurate as possible, it’s important to actually go there.  It’s possible to get street names, for instance, from Google.  But not possible to get a feel for the location unless I actually walk down the street and smell the local food cooking.

The country of Myanmar (Burma) is located in SE Asia.  Because of a brutal and dictatorial military regime, Myanmar has been closed to the outside world for over 50 years.  In the fall of 2013, the generals had opened the country, slightly, to Western business and tourism.  I jumped at the chance to go.  I’m in the process of finishing a new book set in Myanmar.  It’s a mystery set among the mysteries in Myanmar.

How did the trip help my writing?  Here’s some examples:

1.  There are more Buddhist shrines, called pagodas, in Myanmar than any other country in SE Asia.  When I came in by plane, the jungled landscape was dotted all over by golden domes.  They poke up out of the carpet of green and glisten in the sun.

In the story, it’s ironic that a Buddhist country (it’s the official religion) which emphasizes peace and pacifism in many aspects of life, should be run by a brutal, unforgiving group of generals who kill all their opposition.  I was able to bring in that difference—which creates a mystery in itself.

2.  Right underneath the practice of Buddhism, there is a layer of magic, numerology, and animism throughout the entire culture.  Many people quietly worship something called, Naturals or Nats.  These are humans who have died violent deaths but come back and are thought to intercede in the living peoples’ lives.  Here’s statute of one of the Naturals.

This is also a deep-seated mystery about the country that I was able to include in the book.  Not only is the story itself a mystery, but there are the mysterious Nats that seem to have such a profound effect on people there.

3.  The type of Buddhism practiced in Myanmar involves reincarnation—the idea that through good works a person can come back in a better state than their present life.  This leads, I believe, to fatalism.  People accept the difficulties and brutality of the government, hoping for a better life in the future.  Although there have been democracy uprisings in Myanmar, the people seem to be more passive than in Western countries.  That worked its way into my book when the hero meets and works with a cop from Myanmar.  Their ways of solving the mystery are totally different.

The story I’m working on is about an American woman who is in Myanmar auditing the books of a timber company for the U.S Government. When she suddenly disappears, an American investigator Pete Chandler, is assigned to find and rescue her.  When he gets to Myanmar, he discovers that not only is she missing, but her boyfriend has been brutally murdered.  Pete will encounter mystery upon mystery as he travels up the main river into the heart of darkness in Myanmar.

I’m hoping the book will be out this spring.  Watch for it!!