Curses!

The Gideon Oliver Mysteries, Book 5

De: Aaron Elkins

Narrado por: Joel Richards

Mayan ruins in the Yucatán...a secret room in a tomb...age-old skeletons. To anthropologist Gideon Oliver, the renowned Skeleton Detective, the invitation to join the archaeological excavation of Tlaloc promises two months of paradise on Earth.

That is, until an ancient series of Mayan curses against desecrators of the site is unearthed. When the first one comes to pass ("The bloodsucking kinkajou will come freely among them"), it is taken by all as a practical joke. But by the time the fourth one is apparently consummated ("The one called Xecotcavach will pierce their skulls so that their brains spill onto the earth"), nerves have begun to fray and suspicions and discord are mounting.

The steamy jungles weigh down on the band of eccentric anthropologists as one by one the curses continue to materialize. It takes Gideon's special talents for deduction - along with the enigmatic insights of Mexico's one and only Mayan Indian inspector of the state judicial police - to resolve an ancient riddle and a modern, murderous mystery.

©1989 Aaron Elkins (P)2019 Tantor

History With Bones

These stories are like history lessons with a murder mystery. Gideon Oliver goes to the Mayan ruins in the Yucatán finding a secret room in a tomb with age-old skeletons. Gideon Oliver, the renowned Skeleton Detective, the invitation to join the archaeological excavation of Tlaloc promises two months of paradise on earth. Things do not always go as planned and they find Mayan curses against desecrators of the tomb and there is a murder shortly after.

The mystery and characters were enjoyable, but….

I wish I had just read the book. The reader has a pleasant, lovely voice but the mangled pronunciation of the Mayan and Spanish words was like glass on a chalkboard to me. Granted, as a Ph.D specializing in the ethnohistory and archaeology of the Aztec and Mayan cultures as well as having taught Spanish, I am not a typical reader for this book. I enjoyed the story and most readers would who are fans of Elkins, but if you know the area, I strongly suggest you read the book rather than listen to it.