A Connor Burke Martial Arts Thriller Series

A modern-day ronin is traveling across the country systematically murdering martial arts masters in ritualized combat. Connor Burke is a part-time college teacher with a passion for the martial arts. His brother Micky, an NYPD detective, calls him in to help with the investigation. Connor calls for additional help from his teacher, master warrior Yamashita Sensei. Burke begins to follow the trail of clues that stretches across time and place, ultimately confronting his own fears, his sense of honor, and the ruthless killer who calls himself Ronin. Combining the exotic wolrd of the Japanese martial arts with the gritty nuts-and-bolts of a murder investigation, Sensei is a fast-paced, riveting thriller that explores the links between people as they struggle for mastery, identity, and a sense of belonging.

Asian scholar and black belt artist Connor Burke labors as a deshi—a student under the tutelage of a master warrior— a practice that draws him into the execution-style murder of a Japanese businessman in Brooklyn. Connor’s brother, an officer in the NYPD, enlists him to decipher the strange calligraphic writing left by the victim at the crime scene. The enigmatic message leads Connor to the lethal samurai heritage of a mysterious martial arts sensei, the foreboding world of a Tibetan clairvoyant, and finally the unknown wilderness of an elite mountain temple—where Connor’s deadliest challenge awaits.

In the seemingly trackless waste of the desert outside Tucson, Arizona, a coyote cross border smuggler is found dead, another victim of the escalating violence on the southwest border. At the same time, a mysterious best-selling writer's death deepens the controversy surrounding his works. Rumors surround the late Elliot Westmann, with dark hints of mystic vendettas and a confrontation with an assassin sent to punish Westmann for violating a code of secrecy in his books. Westmann's daughter hires Connor Burke to assist in unraveling the mystery of her father's death, which the police have labeled as accidental. He is led from the scholarly assessment of Westmann's work to the investigation of Xochi, a magnetic young student of ancient Native cultures and secret trails across the desert. In the withered and unforgiving landscape of the Southwest, Connor Burke works to pierce the cloud of mystery surrounding Westmann, his work, and a cryptic manuscript that has captured the deadly interest of rival smuggling gangs. Borders are dangerous, and as he uncovers clues suggesting the real reasons why Westmann was killed, he places himself and those he loves in deadly peril. Burke's only hope to solve this mystery is to appeal for the aid and guidance of his teacher, Yamashita. That won't be easy this time. Kage builds on the characters and plots of the previous Burke novels Sensei, Deshi, and Tengu. It advances the ever-deepening relationship between student and teacher while weaving in time-honored themes of the martial arts— conduct, ordeal, and courage, with events as current as today's headlines.

[Japan] An intelligence analyst is murdered on temple grounds. [Manila] Two embassy guards go missing and a bizarre execution video is discovered by a special-forces team. [New York] Martial arts expert Connor Burke is hired as a consultant for an elite US Army training program. [Mindanao Philippines] A young Japanese ethnographer from Harvard University is kidnapped by a terrorist cell of Abu Sayeff. A renegade martial arts Sensei known as the Tengu has been recruited to train a splinter group of Asian terrorists with links to Al Qaeda. The Tengu mourns the vanished prestige and cultural heritage of Imperial Japan. He, like the men he trains, believes the West is responsible for destroying the spiritual essence of a once-great culture. In a series of violent clashes spawned by the bizarre intersection of contemporary fundamentalist terrorist ideology and the personal vendettas of the Tengu, Connor Burke and his martial arts teacher Yamashita are pawns in a game that will ensnare them while they search for the most deadly of foes: the Tengu.

Chie Miyazaki is wild and spoiled—the pampered child of a cadet line of the Imperial house of Japan. When she disappears in the United States accompanied by a slick Korean boyfriend, it sets off alarms among elite officials in Japan’s security apparatus. The Japanese want the problem solved quietly, so they seek out Connor Burke, prize student of Sensei Yamashita. Burke suspects that he’s being used, but he accepts the assignment out of honor for his revered sensei. A covert search and rescue operation turns into a confrontation with a North Korean sleeper cell, and Burke finally discovers the secret that drove Yamashita from Japan so many years ago and the power behind the decades-old connections that pull Yamashita back into danger in the service of the imperial family.

When does the student become the master? At what cost? Grieving the loss of his sensei, the master swordsman Yamashita, Connor Burke struggles with the challenges of recovery from the wounds received struggling to defend Yamashita as well as the heavy burden of assuming leadership of Yamashita’s dojo. Embroiled in controversy with a wealthy donor over control of the dojo, Burke welcomes the distraction of an investigation into a noted yoga guru’s unexplained death.  Winston Tambor is a charismatic yoga teacher who died under mysterious circumstances. Some believe that Win’s death was caused by the unleashing of mysterious yogic power from the discipline of Kundalini, but some investigators think differently. They need someone with an insider’s knowledge of the esoteric aspects of Asian disciplines, with the research skills needed to separate mystic hype from reality, who also has had some experience with criminal investigations. Mickey Burke, watching his brother Connor struggle with rehabilitation in the aftermath of Yamashita’s death, thinks Connor will be perfect for the project. Connor Burke welcomes the distraction of Montoya’s investigation of Tambor’s death. He soon discovers that solving this mystery is as dangerous as it is difficult.  Burke is plunged once again into the world of esoteric Asian disciplines. Where the relations between master and disciple, and the conflict of perpetuating ancient codes of honor can generate very lethal consequences. Especially when driven by money and celebrity.