Very subtle clues to mysteries are nested between the lines.

(Note: The photograph is that of the author's and all rights are reserved.

The author owns the copyright for the novel with all rights reserved.)

While the discovery or deciphering of subtle clues is not of interest to the brisk reader, the early discovery of those clues may delight the more particular and curious reader.

The first paragraph of the first chapter of volume one contains one such a faint clue. There are other clues scattered throughout this novel. Can you find this first one?

Chapter 1

Journey of the Wind

Kneeling beside the modest monument, a headstone selected to befit the small body buried deep beneath its shadow, the calloused veteran of the Vietnam War had just compared his scribbled notes to the chiseled epitaph. Having arrived at the disappointing conclusion of his investigation, he closed his dime-store pocket notebook and crowded it into the breast pocket of his rumpled shirt, next to a nearly empty pack of unfiltered Lucky Strike cigarettes. Just as he began to stand, an uncanny sensation gave him warning; someone had crept up behind him.

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This same mystery (of the first paragraph of the novel) was posted to my Facebook page, q.v. and one of my FB friends there solved it.