Desmond Bagley · 1968 · thriller

Desmond Bagley's 1968 adventure. A murdered brother, an ugly gold family heirloom and a four-hundred-year-old letter from a Spaniard held captive by the Maya send the mild accountant Jemmy Wheale to Mexico. With archaeologists, a treasure hunter and a criminal syndicate all on the same trail, the hunt goes into the Quintana Roo jungle for a city nobody has seen since Vivero died.

1. 1
   Mexico City

   Jemmy Wheale, a quiet English accountant whose brother has been murdered for an ugly gold tray, follows the trail to Mexico City - and to a four-centuries-old letter from a Spanish goldsmith held prisoner by the Maya.

2. 2
   Merida

   At Merida in Yucatan he joins forces with archaeologists who can read the letter's clues, and with a hard-drinking treasure hunter who wants the same city for very different reasons - while others watch the expedition form.

3. 3
   Quintana Roo

   The expedition cuts east into the forests of Quintana Roo, hacking camps out of the bush and flying survey lines above the canopy, hunting the outline of walls beneath a thousand years of jungle.

4. 4
   Uaxuanoc

   At the lost city of Uaxuanoc, where Vivero was held and where his treasure was left, the diggers, the gunmen and the syndicate all converge - and the jungle turns out to be the least dangerous thing there.