Dead Man's Plan

Ricky Manning isn't satisfied with multimillion-dollar movie deals, endless product endorsements, a village-sized mansion just outside Hollywood, and millions of adoring fans. Now the movie industry's hottest actor wants to build a casino, hotel and golf course complex on the western edge of Dying Tree. And he wants millions in economic aid from the town and county to do it. Meanwhile a man from a south Minneapolis suburb finally realizes his relationship with his wife, and more importantly with himself, has been a lie. One day while his wife is out carousing with her newest lover, instead of a dramatic confrontation and lengthy divorce, Lee Wyatt simply gets up, packs a few clothes and books, says good-bye to the cat, and walks out the front door. Several hundred miles, two days and one car later, Lee pedals his bicycle into the town of Dying Tree. He falls into a job at the Crazy Horse Golf Club as an assistant greenskeeper. There he is befriended by Frank Leeds, the course's maintenance man and head greenskeeper. Over the next two months, Lee Wyatt, freed from his own personal past, becomes intertwined with the town's unique place in the region's mythology and history. Dreams of being a sheriff in the old west combine with a mystical night in the Dying Tree Cemetery with a native American named Soaring Eagle to bring the ghosts from the town's past more firmly into the present. Though aware of their strength and eternal presence, Lee has no idea just how much of a role they'll play in the developing modern-day drama. Dead Man's Plan plays upon the age-old fascination with ghosts, personal transformation, and the spirit of the old west to produce a story whose theme-the evils of corporate welfare-is a topic addressed by TIME magazine in a series of articles in mid-1999. At its very core, the novel is an exploration of the deepest depths of the human soul and outermost reaches of the human mind. A blend of old-fashioned values and new-age mysticism propel this novel a level above most stories. It enlightens while entertaining the reader. Humor, adventure, ethics, suspense, and spirituality come together in this page-turner.

About the Author

The author is an accountant by day and writer by night. With a brother who wrote a sports column for the Minot Daily News for several years and an aunt who wrote a book about an entire North Dakota county's family trees, writing does run in the family. Publishing credits include a feature-length article entitled, "He's Paid His Dues" that appeared in the August 1997 edition of Referee magazine; a short story entitled "Deadly Magic" was featured on Triangle 46's Internet magazine web site; numerous articles for the Bulletin (Northwest Airlines Federal Credit Union's employee newsletter) from 1994 to 1998; and a daily meditation - "One Body" - that will be appear in The Upper Room in their May-June 2000 edition. Agent of Darkness is his latest novel. Eide was born in Minot, North Dakota. He moved to Red Wing, Minnesota in 1973 and has lived in the state ever since. He and wife Amy live in Burnsville, a southern suburb of Minneapolis. They share their home with a plethora of pets, including two dogs, two cats, one rabbit and three tiny fish. A strong Lutheran upbringing and loving family have not only helped him keep the faith during the pre-publication years but provide immeasurable support and inspiration for his present-day writing.

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