A Single Eye

Darcy Lott #1

by Susan Dunlap

After a terrifying stunt gone wrong leaves her plummeting into the tops of forest trees, a shaken Darcy Lott is dispatched by her Zen master to a remote monastery in California's redwood forest to face her worst fear — but also to deliver a message. This monastery has its own secrets. A student has disappeared and is feared dead. The leader of the monastery, Leo, Garson-roshi, is soon to leave under mysterious circumstances, and Darcy fears that trusting the likeable Leo will lead her into further danger. Yet, as Darcy struggles with her phobia, she becomes drawn further into this mystery, one she learns she must solve it in order to get out alive.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Mystery Thriller, Buddhism

304 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Susan Dunlap is best known for her Jill Smith detective series, but she is a prolific and much loved writer of crime and mystery fiction, including award-winning short stories.

Reviews

[Shomeret · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved the description of Zen process and the characterization in this book. The central character, Darcy Lott, interested me. I enjoyed the fact that she's a stunt double and a Zen Buddhist. I had no complaints about the mystery aspect, but I can see why others might have them. She did investigate, but she didn't actually solve the case. It's the usual cliche about amateur detectives. They stumble over the solution. In Darcy's case, it wasn't limited brain power. She was just too busy to reflect on the results of her investigation. I can see that Darcy had a great deal on her plate, and I find it realistic that she couldn't successfully discover the murderer in addition to her other responsibilities.

Although I've seen very negative comments about the procedural aspect Hungry Ghosts, the next book in the series, I'll probably still want to read it for the Buddhist aspect. This author is very good at portraying the Buddhist context.

[Nicole · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was a good setup for a series. I wasn't too blown away by Darcy, but she seemed like a solid character on whom to base a series. To me, the most interesting part of this book was learning a bit about Buddhism. I felt like some really obvious things happened that Darcy totally missed, but given the circumstances, it wasn't entirely out of the realm of possibility that she wouldn't have picked up on these things.

[Drew · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really felt that the concept and the setting were fascinating. There were times that I felt the writing was a little difficult to follow, or felt there were jumps in time where it wasn't really explained, but still very interesting.

[Ryan Mishap · Rating 1 out of 5]

Dunlap drops a rare clunker on us, as a stuntwoman goes to a Buddhist retreat where a student disappeared years ago. I'm 86 pages in and a crime hasn't happened yet, but I am seriously freakin' sick of hearing about zen buddhist practice and Darcy's fear of trees.

Builds little tension after starting with an exciting stunt accident. I'm going to quit before the next meditation section bores me to tears.

[Shiela · Rating 3 out of 5]

Disappointing. The writing style is confusing and not interesting.
I wanted to like Darcy - Buddhist, stunt double, six siblings - but could not make the connection.
The info about Buddhism was interesting.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was really interesting. I did not know anything about Zen.

In this FICTIONAL account, someone disappears and the zen practitioner from NYC goes and helps uncover what happened 6 years ago.

Fascinating.

This is set in Northern California near where I live and Susan is a local author.

I will be recommending this to my mystery reading club.

I borrowed a copy from the public library.

[Alan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Will look for next in the series.

Instead of police procedural, this is zen procedural, and the plot creaks a little.

[Alfred New · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found that it was an intriguing plot line. And that you don't really know who did the murder until the last 20 pages

[Janice · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the first in a series about Darcy Lott who works as a stunt woman for movies; Darcy has an intense phobia to trees and cannot perform any stunts in the woods. To try to work through her fears Darcy goes to a Buddhist retreat center in an isolated spot in the woods of Northern California.
Darcy is a practicing Buddhist and is serving as an assistant to the "teacher" who is leading this retreat. Almost immediately Darcy becomes determined to uncover the truth of the disappearance/murder? of a student at the center 6 years earlier.
The setting for this novel is very interesting, the story line unique. The character development is good, and the writing during times when Darcy is trying to solve this mystery or deal with her own fears is skilled. The weakness for me was in the action scenes, the writing then became jerky and did not have a good flow. I do plan to read more in this series.

[exncgal · Rating 2 out of 5]

Stuntwoman! Fear of the woods due to childhood trauma! Big into Zen... Hm, ok. Goes to Zen retreat in the woods - odd choice, but sure, why not. Blah blah blah Zen blah blah lots of meditation blah blah blah freezing cold and damp blah blah dead guy who nobody liked very much blah blah attempted murder blah blah blah more Zen blah blah blah muddy roads, no way in or out, blah blah who to trust, blah blah blah blah blah, even more Zen, blah blah blah, and so on.

I did stick it out till the bitter end, but only because of Barry's chocolates.

[Jocelyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this book because I liked a previous Susan Dunlap book. But this one doesn't compare to the other one. This was a little hard for me to read because I kept asking myself "Why does the main charcter need to solve this mystery?" It didn't seem like she had a strong connection to the people of the mystery she some how got thrown in to solve. What I did find interesting was the world of zen, which is why I kept reading it, since I don't know much about zen and the practice of it.

[Denise · Rating 2 out of 5]

A movie stunt woman, with a fear of the woods, goes to a Buddhist monastery in the remote California woods. During her retreat she becomes entangled in solving the mystery of a former student who disappeared six years ago. Is he in Japan or is he dead? Interesting read on Buddhism and phobias. And chocolate!

[Rick Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

A quick read with a moderate mystery plot. The protagonist seems a bit weak in structure, What really bothers me, however, is how Dunlap repeats certain buddhist terms like its the first time its been explained to us. Put it in a glossary, so readers familiar with the language or capable of learning can move on in the story, please.

[Tedi Kohinke · Rating 2 out of 5]

so I reached the end of the book, and I still don't understand why it was important for Darcy to solve this mystery. is she a sleuth? a nosy-parker? was she conquering something from her past? (no, that was the tree thing.) I was too bored even to be confused. too bad...a zen stunt woman solving mysteries had possibilities....

[Jo Anne · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting murder mystery set in a Zen monastery in California. For those not involved in meditation, a glossary would be a good idea to aid the unititiated. (Like me.)

While not a long book at 373 pages, the last 30 dragged on and on.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first book in a new mystery series featuring Darcy Lott, a movie stunt woman, zen practioner. Very readable, good plotting and characters. I think this will be a very enjoyable series to read. I learned a lot about chocolate making and a little bit about zen in reading this book.

[Reforming · Rating 2 out of 5]

I remembered reading Dunlap years ago and liking her. This book was particularly interesting to because it was about a Buddhist stunt woman. But I quickly found myself repeatedly wondering when it would end.

[TeriC · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very different setting for this mystery.

[Dorinda · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think the storyline could of been a little better.

[Phyllis]

This is far from her best work. Too much weather reporting, too much angst not enough plot. No stars this time

[Wendy · Rating 1 out of 5]

The idea of a female stunt double mystery sounded fun. I just was not interested in this character, or the plot. BUT anyone interested in Buddhism would probably very much enjoy this book.

[Sandra Strange · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked the puzzle/mystery part of this novel. You have to be ready to learn a lot about the zen practice in N. California!

[Lesley · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought it bogged down a bit in the middle, a bit surprising given Dunlap's track record, but will continue to read this series.

[Karen Dunaway · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very interesting premise and setting, but the most un-zen-like characters I can imagine. Schizophrenic result. But readable.

[Aeseyman · Rating 2 out of 5]

Although I liked most of the characters, I found the story repetitive and slow.

[Susan Banner · Rating 3 out of 5]

Exciting to find a new series to tantalize my palette!

[Ellen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've liked everything else I've read by this author's works, but this one just didn't cut it for me. Guess I'm just not into Zen Buddhism.

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've done sesshin for a couple of weekends. It now makes a lot more sense

[Monica · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was a fan of Susan Dunlap's work many many moons ago, and am glad to see she has been writing a new character driven series again. As ever, her descriptions of places (in this case—and some of her older books—San Francisco and Berkeley and the greater Bay Area, and in her older books also New Orleans, so some of my favorite places in the world) are spot on and familiar. Darcy Lott is a cool woman character I look forward to hanging out with in future books (most of which I just put on hold at my library). I mean...a Zen Buddhist stuntwoman? Yes please.