Author Richard Rose has released a sequel to his 2013 book “The Lazarus Conspiracies.”

Most of the sequel, “Retribution,” is set in the Kosciusko County area, Rose said. Set in 2004, he said  there are a lot of places in the area that are mentioned in the book, including Webster Lake, the Methodist Church Conference Center in Epworth Forest, Stacy’s Sports Inn, the Times-Union, Kosciusko County Justice Building, Kosciusko Community Hospital, Animal Welfare League, Patona Bay Marina and Resort, Lake Wawasee and The Frog Tavern.

Chicago police Det. “Mack” McPherson has to return to the area and the backstory for that reason is told in the third chapter.

In “Retribution,” McPherson has to uncover the people who murdered his younger brother, as well as the people who helped cover it up. Some of the suspects end up dead and McPherson becomes a suspect in those killings and has to figure out who the real killer is, Rose said.

If someone read “The Lazarus Conspiracies,” then readers would know McPherson’s motivations to take justice into his own hands due to what happened at the lake when he was a boy. A lot of what happened wasn’t revealed in “The Lazarus Conspiracies,” but will be in “Retribution,” he said. The story is the motivation of why McPherson wants to find justice on his own. McPherson also feels the need to confront the suspects about what happened at the lake.

He hopes readers get that “it’s a really amazing story. You think you know where it’s going.”

“The publishers, they want you to write a sequel, so I did,” Rose said about why he wrote it.

The process of editing and proofing went on for six months. Publishers are particular about there not being any errors in the book because it reflects back on the publisher, he said, so he worked with an editor for five months. Once the editing process was approved, it went to a proofreader.

The writing process itself took about 1-1/2 years, so the entire process took about two years.

He hopes people who read “The Lazarus Conspiracies” will be interested in reading “Retribution,” as well as those who haven’t.

Even though “Retribution” is a sequel, Rose said it isn’t necessary someone read “The Lazarus Conspiracies” first in order to be able to understand what is going on as the backstory is explained within the story. Rose said people can even backtrack and read “The Lazarus Conspiracies” after.

One of the themes for the books, besides being a mystery thriller, is forgiveness. Rose said there are a lot of people with guilt in the book and they have to find a way to deal with it.

The book was published in December by Savant Books and Publications. Rose said people interested in ordering the book can do so through the publisher’s website at https://savant-bookstore-honolulu.square.site/product/Retribution/151 or through Amazon.

The book is priced at $16.95 through both sites for the paperback version and Kindle versions.