Slightly schlocky but fun adventure novels in the "Red Lion" series. What attracts me to the series is that it's the same kind of genre fiction trash I usually read, but with a bit more self awareness about race, colonialism, etc. (I totally loved Inca Gold by Clive Cussler, for example, but the racism, sexism, and total ignorance about archeology got to be a bit much after a while no matter how much I liked all of the adventure parts.)

The premise of this novel is what attracted me. I really love books where there are ciphers, have some relationship to books and bookstores and feature ancient legends. This is the first book I've read by this author, although her novel "The Conquest" is sitting on my tbr shelf. Now I can't wait to get at that one. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who likes books with the above-mentioned features.

A brief synopsis (without spoilers): Lola Sanchez owns The Red Lion bookstore in Long Beach, CA. Her mom is Juana, who is an archaeologist at UCLA. Juana comes into Lola's office one day and announces that she needs a vacation; she has decided to go to Guatemala and visit her husband, Manuel. Lola figures something is up since Juana is not the sort who readily takes time off. Juana gets Lola to xerox some copies of the work "Legende of the Queen Jade" by Beatriz de la Cueva (a real person, by the way; don't miss the author's note at the end of the book), written in 1541. They discuss the story and Juana's work a bit before Juana takes off in a cab. But something happens and Juana ends up missing in the middle of one of the most devastating hurricanes of Guatemala's history, and Lola along with her friend Erik Gomara, a younger colleague of Juana's, take off to find her. When they arrive, they immediately seek out hotels where Juana may have been staying, but don't find her; they do, however, find one of her duffel bags with a diary that tells that she is going off in search of the truth of the legend of the Queen Jade. Lola decides they must go after her, even though it means a trek through the jungles.

That's as much as I'll give away for now; it is a marvelous story and says as much about family and relationships as it does about anything else. There is a great deal of wordplay & the author follows the notion of how meaning is created throughout the story. I was excited as the author unraveled the clues to get to the heart of the legend, but there is also a side story that is just as intriguing in its own way.

I think most people who try this book this will like it -- it's not overly complicated and I really enjoyed the characters. It's a fun novel & was great for a couple of evenings of entertainment. Try it! ( )