Julius Raper

Deepest France: Mysterious Days: Paired Novels Julius Raper

Milt Walters is drawn to France and the mythic search for the Holy Grail. However, when a boy is found murdered, the ramifications will haunt Milt for decades to come.

The release of 1983's Holy Blood, Holy Grail also triggered the release of Milt Walters' imagination. Along with his fifteen-year-old daughter, the mystery author travelled to the charismatic Rennes region in the French Pyrenees to learn more about the biblical legend. Once there, he came upon ghostly tales of Mary Magdalene, the Dark Madonna, and the descendants of Jesus Christ.

Shortly before their visit, a young boy is found murdered-a youth who carried an almost ethereal innocence about him. Milt is drawn into the regional mysticism and soon finds himself penning an out-of-character, factually-based mystery novel, entitled Deepest France. Two decades later, the young boy's murder remains unsolved, and Milt is drawn again to the haunting Rennes region of France.

This time, the land is different; Milt is different. He is fixated on the boy's murder and how it relates to French legends of the Grail. How does any of it relate to a fast-moving, modern world? When new violence breaks out in the quiet mountainside, Milt becomes caught up in writing a new novel: Mysterious Days. However, Milt's new book does not only seek a murderer; it seeks a mythical grail of Milt's very own.