Beneath Yellow Clay

by Robert Mitchell

For fifteen hundred years the tomb of a general buried during the Three Kingdoms dynasty has remained hidden beneath the pale yellow clay of Shanxi Province; guarding the secret to the mysterious tomb of the first great emperor of China – Qin Shi Huang. Two young Melbourne University tutors believe they can break into the general’s tomb, believe they can loot the tomb of its ancient artefacts, the jade, the porcelain, and whatever else is there for the tomb raider to take. But are they naïve or just foolish in their simple belief that they can enter China and steal its treasures and smuggle them away without running afoul of those who also want those beautiful things? Did they not realise that there are those who will take whatever measures may be needed to seize and sell the looted objects for the millions of dollars which they will fetch? Did they really believe they could steal these priceless antiques from an ancient time without the danger and death which would follow such wealth?

307 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 18, 2014

About the author

Robert Mitchell spent his early years in Melbourne, Australia where he graduated from Melbourne University with degrees in Law and Arts. Moving to Suva, Fiji, in 1969, he spent the next twelve years practising law, with a mid-term break of two years when he and his wife, May, acquired a one-third interest in a marine salvage company. Robert acted as company manager, diver, and assistant salvage master in a number of marine salvages in the South Pacific. The experience he gained during those two years has been used to great advantage in several of his novels. In 1981 he returned to Australia and continued practising law. In 1988 his novel The Lucinda Legacy was a prize-winner in the Australia-wide Bicentennial Novel Competition. In 2000, he and his family moved to Brisbane, where he retired. In 2003, he and May ventured to China, where they taught English to high school and college students for two years. They travelled extensively throughout China during this time, their experiences reflected in his two latest novels. Robert now spends his time writing - for the pleasure it gives to others.

Reviews

[Kathy Green]

This book might keep on up all night

It did me. Excellent story especially if you like books set in China. Kept me guessing to the end. I will definitely read more of Robert Mitchell's books.

[Pete Olds]

I've read a couple of Robert Mitchell books now. Although not really a fan of this genre of adventure fiction, they are addictive reading.

To me, this is one of the better ones as the plot was a little more developed, moved forward quickly across a few different geographic regions, and covered a mix of peasant farmers, career art thieves, naive Australians, all interacting according to their different agendas.

The story moves forward quickly, but with some depth. And left me wanting to see what happens in the end. Which, I guess, is what a good book does.