Palenque Murder: Death at the Maya Ruins

A decomposed body, found in the ruins of Palenque, Mexico, turns out to be that of a well-known Key West author, Rage Stone. His friends cannot accept the Mexican authorities' verdict of death by suicide and, once again, determined to find out what really happened, the bumbling detectives of author Grant Spradling's Maya Sacrifice-David Ward, opera librettist Quincy Brewster, and gorgeous heiress Margaret Pendleton-take matters into their own hands. As a consequence, they run afoul of Key West drug dealers, art dealers, and the county sheriff before jetting off to Xalapa where their friend had been writing and researching a horror novel. David finds a clue that Cortés may have hidden Moctezuma's treasure in the Palenque ruins during the conquistadors' march to Honduras. Suspecting that Stone had followed Cortés's journey, David sets out to follow Stone's only slightly warm trail.

Palenque Murder takes the reader from Key West to Xalapa, Mexico, and from there on to Tlacotalpan, Coatzacoalcos, Villahermosa, San Cristóbal de las Casas, Mérida, and back to Key West, where the pieces of the puzzle fall into place.