Ex-Buddhist monk, former LAPD detective, and current private investigator Tenzing "Ten" Norbu knows Bill Bohannon as many things: loving husband, devoted father, police administrator, former partner, and best friend. But then an uninvited guest from Bill's past upends the Bohannons' Fourth of July barbecue, revealing in levelheaded Bill the most unexpected behavior - behavior that awkwardly drops Ten in the middle of a crumbling marriage.

Ten makes an unexpected move of his own when he agrees to pro bono work for a convicted felon. But it was dope slinger Godfrey Chambers Ten had repeatedly busted during his days on the force, not the reformed and rechristened G-Force who is now asking for Ten's help in claiming money left to him by a kind-hearted benefactor - and contested by the benefactor's self-serving family.

Soon Ten's investigations lead him down the darkest corridors of the Internet and halfway around the globe to Sarajevo as he navigates the seedy worlds of human trafficking and personal regret. As his cases intertwine, Ten will rely on the wisdom of the Buddha and his own network of relationships - with super hacker Mike, outrageously idiosyncratic assistant Kim, old monastery friends Yeshe and Lopsang, Serbian cabbie and former policija Petar, and, of course, feline rock Tank - to solve the puzzle ­ and keep free of his own tangled past. Especially when an old flame returns.

The Fourth Rule of Ten, the thrilling fourth book in the Dharma Detective series, proves the only thing better than exceeding expectations is having none at all.