THE JERICHO JOURNALS The eccentric San Miguel painter, Edward Jericho, is known for his unannounced absences, but usually he cleans his brushes before he leaves. It would be so like him to be off in search of one of the great lost artifacts of western culture. He is, after all, an eccentric collector with some means at his disposal. Eventually the sinister tone of his present disappearance draws the eye of the Paul Zacher Agency. Paul finds the ongoing presence of Edward's shoes in his closet and his car in his garage too disturbing to ignore. People don't usually go off on an adventure...

BRUSHWORK What looks like a routine portrait commission for a flamboyant former vice president of the United States quickly turns to disaster when he is murdered after only one session. The artist turned detective, Paul Zacher, becomes intrigued by the reason for his presence in San Miguel, but his curiosity turns to desperation when accumulating evidence indicates that Zacher himself is the killer. When a reading of the victim's will reveals the motive, Paul and Maya are forced to flee across central Mexico to avoid arrest for murder. After one of the most ruthless conglomerates in the...

Twenty Centavos Does an artist really see things differently? Painter Paul Zacher, preparing for a gallery show in the Yucatan, is unwillingly drawn into a murder investigation in his home town of San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. A prominent antiques dealer has been shot in the head, and a twenty centavo coin found in his mouth. Zacher draws on the help and expertise of his Mexican girlfriend, Maya Sanchez, and his retired detective friend, Cody Williams, to comb the prosperous expatriate community for clues as he tries to stay out of the way of the police. The action ricochets from the...

The Fifth Codex It's a routine job for painter Paul Zacher, now getting a reputation for his abilities as a detective. Simply facilitate the authentication and transfer of what could be a genuine Mayan book (codex) from the 1500s, of which only four others are known. But when the book's inflammatory message proves to be at the core of a three-way struggle among the Mexican government, the rebels of Chiapas, and a private collector with deep pockets, the conflict escalates. Kidnapping follows murder as the three forces compete for possession, until Zacher commits what looks to everyone like an...