Cd'A library to hold book talk, signing

COEUR d'ALENE - The mysterious death of a bipolar housewife forces psychologist Loche Newirth to see traces of insanity in the most terrifying place: in himself.

His story is told in "The Newirth Mythology, The Invasion of Heaven," a novel by Coeur d'Alene musician and author Michael Koep.

The Coeur d'Alene Public Library will host a book talk and signing by Koep on Jan. 9, at 7 p.m. in the Community Room at the library.

In "The Invasion of Heaven," a mystery unravels through a "battle of wits between two psychologists." Koep said. "It is filled with a mind-bending cast of double-crossing characters bent on destroying what was thought to be beyond the reach of human treachery, the hoped-for life behind death's door."

By the age of 12, Koep had written a complex, Tolkienesque fantasy with its own number system, language and runic alphabet. He continues that tradition with his fiction debut.

Koep has been called an Inland Northwest "Renaissance Man." An avid world traveler, educator, visual artist, a touring rock musician, and a co-founder of a North Idaho fencing consortium, he is best known as a drummer and lyricist for progressive rock group KITE, as well as the percussionist for the variety power trio The RUB. He is a winner of a Costello Poetry Prize.

He lives in Coeur d'Alene with his wife and son.

Copies of his book will be available for signing at the event, with a portion of proceeds benefiting the Friends of the Coeur d'Alene Public Library.