The Mayan Veil of Death

Danger, treachery, and a phalanx of spirit warriors stand between a team of greedy adventurers and the riches buried beneath the ruins of Tikal.

Danger, treachery, and a phalanx of spirit warriors stand between a team of greedy adventurers and the riches buried beneath the ruins of Tikal. At the turn of the 20th century, a German archaeologist named Teobert Mahler began excavations in an ancient Mayan metropolis in the heart of Guatemala. News of the priceless artifacts of gold, jade, emerald, and alabaster he unearthed sent rumors throughout Europe that the untapped burial chambers at Tikal were bottomless vaults with treasures so valuable that even one well-preserved statue could forever secure the financial fortunes of the person who found it—if only one could get there and get back. But reaching the ruins would require traversing swamps and jungles populated by man-eating jaguars, poisonous snakes, tropical diseases, malarial insects, and blood-sucking leeches. In September 1932, a group of Germans arrives in Vera Cruz. Led by Gunthar Gerbach, an ex-military officer, the team includes two archaeologists—but this is no research mission. Financed by a German munitions manufacturer, the sole purpose of the expedition is to plunder the ancient city. Faced with horrifying dangers, hunger, and ghastly deaths, the group begins to splinter. But the ultimate terror awaits the team at Tikal...

Daniel B. Calderwood is a graduate of Harvard College with a Master's Degree in Sociology from the University of Bristol in England. He has spent much of his adult life exploring and adventuring throughout Central and South America. His two previously published novels, Youth Pen and Cocaine to Coconuts, are available through Delizon Press. He currently resides in Puerto Rico, where he divides his time between snorkeling and writing. He can be reached at dan.caldy11@gmail.com.