Tribute of Death

Aztec Murder Mystery #4

by Simon Levack

Mexico, 1518: Aztec slave Yaotl learns of a tragedy. A friend's wife has died in childbirth. According to Aztec belief, her remains must be protected from warriors and sorcerers who would use them as a talisman, before her soul is transformed into a demon. But the body goes missing and Yaotl gets the blame. Only by finding out for himself what has happened can he avert the bereaved husband's wrath. He soon finds there is more to the affair than meets the eye. An associate of the dead woman's may not be all that he seems, and her family seems strangely reluctant to help Yaotl investigate him. Then a series of violent deaths leaves the wily slave wondering whether he is hunting a thief - or a killer is hunting him.

448 pages, Paperback

First published August 31, 2007

About the author

Simon Levack is a British author of historical mystery novels set in Precolumbian Mexico on the eve of the Spanish colonization of the Americas and feature as the protagonist Yaotl, a fictitious slave to Tlilpotonqui, the Cihuacóatl or chief minister in the Aztec state of Tenochtitlan under Hueyi Tlatoani, or Emperor, Moctezuma II. Demon of the Air won the Debut Dagger Award, given by the UK Crime Writers' Association, in 2000. He has also published short stories in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine featuring the same character and setting. His work has been noted for its historical detail, complex plotting, humour and often graphic violence. He has acknowledged australian historian and anthropologist Inga Clendinnen and the work of Bernardino de Sahagún, compiler of the Florentine Codex, as influences; he has also (in an interview with the Criminal History ezine) indicated that science fiction has been an influence on his work.