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Luis Balam Mystery #1
Blood Sacrifice
The serial killer stabbing young women to death in Cancun hotels with an ancient Maya sacrificial flint knife is aptly nicknamed Gilbert, after the hurricane that also devastated the tourist industry in Mexico's tropical paradise.
Luis Balam - a rare full-blooded Mayan and an ex-traffic cop who lost his job because he refused to compromise his integrity - fears one of his people will be accused of the killings and all of them made to suffer. When Proctor Smith, a shabby North American missionary, is arrested at the scene of the fourth murder, Luis would like nothing more than to see the Mayans exonerated - but an instinct for truth tells him that the hapless gringo in the Cancun prison has been framed.
Becoming involved - unofficially - in the investigation, Luis finds himself again confronting the cruel forces of brutal power and rampant corruption that control Mexico's coastal playground and that have already cost him a career. Working with an ambulance-chasing Mexican lawyer, a misguided flying saucer cultist, and the mucha simpatica sister of Gilbert's latest victim, Balam unearths new depths of local greed and depravity.
Although the goons of a vicious playboy make it clear that this time he could lose more than a job, Luis Balam is determined to free the fall guy by finding the real killer.
Luis Balam - a rare full-blooded Mayan and an ex-traffic cop who lost his job because he refused to compromise his integrity - fears one of his people will be accused of the killings and all of them made to suffer. When Proctor Smith, a shabby North American missionary, is arrested at the scene of the fourth murder, Luis would like nothing more than to see the Mayans exonerated - but an instinct for truth tells him that the hapless gringo in the Cancun prison has been framed.
Becoming involved - unofficially - in the investigation, Luis finds himself again confronting the cruel forces of brutal power and rampant corruption that control Mexico's coastal playground and that have already cost him a career. Working with an ambulance-chasing Mexican lawyer, a misguided flying saucer cultist, and the mucha simpatica sister of Gilbert's latest victim, Balam unearths new depths of local greed and depravity.
Although the goons of a vicious playboy make it clear that this time he could lose more than a job, Luis Balam is determined to free the fall guy by finding the real killer.
- GenresMystery
306 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1993
14 people want to read
About the author
Gary Alexander
71 books6 followersNine mystery novels in three series. The tenth, ZILLIONAIRE, starring standup comic Buster Hightower, is due out in Sept. 2011. 150+ short stories, mostly to the mystery magazines. DRAGON LADY, my Vietnam novel, to Istoria Books. Travel articles to five major dailies. I'm a former MWA regional veep and teach creative writing at the Kent, WA Senior Activities Center.
According to mystery website SYKM ( http://www.stopyourekillingme.com/ ), passed away in 2020.
According to mystery website SYKM ( http://www.stopyourekillingme.com/ ), passed away in 2020.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
August 7, 2011
This was a better-than-average mystery novel, I liked the setting, Cancun area, and the Mayan detective. I want to read the next book, although something about the writing did not flow.
July 29, 2013
Luis Balam is a full-blooded Mayan in Yucatan who is working as a tour guide, tourist jewelry shop owner and part-time detective to make ends meet and support his two teenaged daughters. At one time he was a traffic cop who lost his job for political reasons.
There have been several murders of young women in Cancun which are having a negative impact on the tourist business. The media has nicknamed the perpetrator "Gilbert" after the devastating hurricane in 1988. Gilbert has been caught leaving the scene of the latest murder with the murder weapon, a Mayan sacrificial flint knife, in hand. Luis has been approached by a lawyer that he sometimes works for named Ricardo Rodriguez ("Ricky") who is serving as the defense attorney for Gilbert, whose real name is Proctor Smith. Smith is a missionary working for Tropical Language Scholars, spreading the word at the local hotels.
Luis feels certain that the murderer is a local developer and that the knife used for the killing is not a relic, but a fake. With the help of the latest victim's sister, Denise, Luis goes into a full-scale investigation.
The locale is depicted in a realistic way, and the prejudice against the Indians is also bought out. I wish there had been more concentration on the Mayan culture and mores and less on the murder plot, which was average. The book is lightly laced with humor that creeps up on you by surprise.
There have been several murders of young women in Cancun which are having a negative impact on the tourist business. The media has nicknamed the perpetrator "Gilbert" after the devastating hurricane in 1988. Gilbert has been caught leaving the scene of the latest murder with the murder weapon, a Mayan sacrificial flint knife, in hand. Luis has been approached by a lawyer that he sometimes works for named Ricardo Rodriguez ("Ricky") who is serving as the defense attorney for Gilbert, whose real name is Proctor Smith. Smith is a missionary working for Tropical Language Scholars, spreading the word at the local hotels.
Luis feels certain that the murderer is a local developer and that the knife used for the killing is not a relic, but a fake. With the help of the latest victim's sister, Denise, Luis goes into a full-scale investigation.
The locale is depicted in a realistic way, and the prejudice against the Indians is also bought out. I wish there had been more concentration on the Mayan culture and mores and less on the murder plot, which was average. The book is lightly laced with humor that creeps up on you by surprise.
July 19, 2013
Tony Hillerman's detective is a Navajo, James Doss's a Ute. Gary Alexander follows in this tradition with his Mayan detective, Luis Balam. I don't think his books are as good as Hillerman's or Doss's, but they are set in the Yucatan and contain interesting descriptions of the Caribbean coastal area from Cancun down toward Tulum. This was a quick read and entertaining.
April 13, 2015
Written in 1993 much of what happens in this book still happens in this part of Mexico (Riviera Maya) today.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews