Mendiola

On the shores of the Texas Gulf Coast, there is a little-known town called Mendiola, a town of no more than a hundred residents. Some say Mendiola is a god-forsaken place, with its rocky barren beaches and dark insidious past. Others say ghosts live in Mendiola, ghosts of the many who lost their lives one stormy night a century ago. So what is Ronnie Kowalski, a retired cop from Austin, doing in Mendiola? He has come here to solve a case that has stuck out in his long career as a homicide detective. The incident that sparked the case took place in a local theater in Austin fourteen years before, where an actor died of a gunshot wound to his head during a stage play. Convinced that the death was not accidental, Kowalski has come to Mendiola in search for the motive of the crime. What he uncovers in Mendiola will not only astound him, but also forever change the lives of many that are involved.

Michiro Naito, a winner of the 2002 Columbine Award in the Moondance International Film Festival, was born in Tokyo, Japan, as a son of a private investigator. His mother was a painter, and his grandmother was an accomplished haiku poet. He holds a Ph.D. degree in nuclear physics and currently works as an investment analyst in Austin, Texas. His earlier works include a novel, Project Kaisei.