Hugh Turley is the co-author with David Martin of the first most thoroughly researched books about the assassination of the internationally revered American Catholic monk, pioneer in interfaith dialogue and anti-war and human rights activist Father Thomas Merton. Merton was also a prolific writer and poet, mostly on spiritual subjects– perhaps the most important Catholic author in the 20th century. For over a decade Hugh has been following the clues leading to the murder of Father Merton 56 years ago in Bangkok Thailand on December 10th 1968 — the same year as the assassinations of Robert Kennedy and Merton’s friend and fellow civil rights activist Martin Luther King. His research has resulted in two publications “The Martyrdom of Thomas Merton” in 2018 and a follow up book last year “Thomas Merton’s Betrayers: The case against Abbot James Fox and author John Howard Griffin”. He also had a major investigative role in the publication of “The Murder of Vince Foster: America’s Would-Be Dreyfus Affair”. Hugh is  a volunteer columnist for the Hyattsville Life and Times, a winner of the National Newspaper Association award for best serious column, small circulation, and his day job is as a professional stage magician in the Washington DC area. His website is TheMartyrdomOfThomasMerton.com