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Also available on Amazon Kindle: Well of Souls

Joan walked to the far end of the cave-like room to get a better look at a cured animal hide mounted on the wall above her. It depicted a royal court scene of a man, most likely an emperor, sitting on a high-backed throne. A dozen of his warriors stood beside him. Wearing feathered hats, the attending soldiers were armed with maces and swords while the ladies of the court wore the same tall headdresses as depicted in Asian art.

But it was a Persian tile relief that took Joan's breath away. Dressed in full battle regalia, a group of warriors were engaged in hand-to-hand combat with their enemies. Reminding her of European knights, they wore fabric-covered mail armor with mail coifs on top of their pointed helmets.

Two life-size warriors guarded the entrance to the antechamber. Mounted on armored cloisonné horses, they wielded long scathe-type swords. Joan's heart quickened. She was sure they'd find Khan's sarcophagus nearby.

As she entered the antechamber, something else made her head reel. It was a high-backed throne identical to the one she had seen earlier painted on the animal hide. There was also a hand-carved footrest upholstered in a rich-looking fabric. "This has to be Temujin's throne!" she exclaimed.

For the first time Joan could conceptualize the kind of power Temujin must have wielded. Fit for a king, the magnificent jeweled throne was the most ornate she had ever seen. Carved out of wood that was adorned with gold filigree, it was festooned with Lapis and Zulu.

Every nerve of Joan's body was on the alert. She sensed . . . no, she felt she was on the verge of the most significant archeological find of the twenty-first century.

more excerpts

An eccentric billionaire with a penchant for antiquities asks an unsuspecting university professor who lectures on Central Asian history to convince a group of Mongolian shamans to sanction a search for Genghis Khan's tomb. The professor agrees, but soon discovers the medicine men are not her only obstacle.

Not only must she circumvent a maze of deadly traps in a subterranean tunnel, but she must also confront a renegade group of Buddhists who are hell-bent on killing her.

Things become even more complicated once she discovers a connection exists between an ancient gold medallion and a slain Mongolian archeologist. Little does she realize that once she decodes the medallion's inscriptions, she will unleash an unprecedented chain of events: the FBI becomes involved in an unsolved murder investigation, the CIA and the KGB enter the picture, and once a horrific conspiracy becomes exposed it causes an international incident.

For my sixth book, I decided to write a story about a search for Genghis Khan's tomb and its elusive treasure.

I always thought Genghis Khan was a barbarian, but once I began to delve into his life, I discovered that he had a very interesting "persona." Although he was the supreme ruler of Mongolia and the vast principalities he had conquered, Genghis Khan believed in a democratic rule of law. To this day, the Mongolian people not only revere him, but consider him to be the "father of democracy."

Although the story takes place in modern times, I tried to include as much information as possible about the life and death of a man who, in the eyes of most Mongols, is considered to be a god.

Michael Cole