Reviews
Seven Cities of Greed
Jean Sheldon has
given us another great summer read. If you enjoy
the thrill of pursuing ancient mysteries and
eluding the bad guys, you'll enjoy this book.
When an ancient journal purporting to be the
work of a fraudulent friar accompanying a
conquistador's search for gold falls into the
hands of a bookstore owner, the chase is on.
Murder and mayhem follow the five intrepid women
who want to discover if there is indeed hidden
gold... Sheldon handles the multiple characters
deftly so there is no trouble in following them
through the plot. Warning: Her research may
inspire you to visit the great Southwest.
Alice
Lynn, author Wrenn and Volunteer for Glory
A very
entertaining treasure hunt and thriller,
somewhat reminiscent of the "Sisterhood" series
by Fern Michaels with its mixed group of
heroes. Jean Sheldon has written an adventure
based on legend and history from the invasion of
the Spanish conquistadors in the 1500s and the
discovery of a journal presumably dated from
1539.
The reader is brought into the story very
quickly with the abduction of Jacqueline Tracy,
who has unwittingly purchased this journal at a
book auction because she liked the carved
leather cover. She has a tendency to forget
about auction purchases until they are delivered
and so is unable to tell her kidnappers where
the journal is.
Jackie's friends, almost all middle-aged
including Jackie, soon realize she is missing.
The police won't do anything until there is more
information, so the women turn to Jackie's
friend Nicole, an ex-cop and now private
investigator. Little do they know the abuse
Jackie is going through, nor the kindness of one
of her captors, a giant of a man.
Her group of merry girls manages to rescue her,
but they are incredulous when Jackie hires
Chuck, the captor's 7'4" assistant, to be her
bodyguard, and she won't take "no" for an
answer. She is sure he is a good man and didn’t
want any part in the kidnapping but had his own
reasons for being involved. What impressed her
was his kindness and his assistance in helping
with her escape. Their group now numbering six
including Jackie's Aunt Beth and Chuck, starts
trying to sort out what the kidnapping was all
about. While Jackie was away, a parcel that had
been overlooked in a delivery truck finally made
its arrival, and of course, it is the journal
being sought after by somebody pulling the
strings in the background regarding Jackie's
kidnapping. Someone with a great deal of money
and a ruthless greed.
Gwen, a psychiatrist in their close-knit group
of friends, is able to translate most of the
ancient Spanish, touching off a decision to go
to New Mexico. Several things happen that hurry
them on their way. Our modern group sets off on
a vacation which, though exciting, is not at all
the kind of excitement they expected or wanted.
There are several interesting characters in this
book, not all in a good way. Our motley but
hardy crew is made up with Jackie and her
adventurous aunt Beth. Beth Tracy has raised
Jackie in Chicago from childhood, the city where
all their friends live, but still maintains the
house in New Mexico where Jackie lived before
her parents died. Pat, whose partner recently
died, lives with her cat Zodiac above the
bookstore Jackie owns. Nicole, the P.I., Gwen,
the psychiatrist, and Chuck, Jackie's new
friend, bodyguard and excellent cook. Then there
are the "bad" guys under the thumb and threat of
one psychotic "Conquistador".
This book surprised me. I learned some history
along the way, the legend of the "streets paved
with gold" as understood from the journal, that
middle-age can be exciting, loyal friendship is
a wonderful thing to have, and when you are
being chased by a madman always watch your
back! Ms. Sheldon has mixed adventure, terror,
history, and the beauty of New Mexico into a
story I didn't want to put down. The characters,
even the worst of them, molded a certain
fascination into the story. I feel with these
characters she has the makings of a series,
though I have no idea if that is in the author's
future. She has written a variety of books and
possibly prefers stand-alone stories. I want to
keep my eye on this author's output, I'm sure it
will be interesting.
Jean Sheldon’s
latest book, Seven Cities of Greed, sets a new
gold standard for mysteries. It’s about a
hand-carved leather journal that finds its way
to the wrong hands, bought at an auction by
Jacqueline (Jackie) Tracy, part owner and major
financial backer of Zodiac’s Rare & Used Books,
named after the black cat of another of its
owners, Patricia (Pat) Sexton. The journal was
meant to be purchased by someone else, working
for the rich, greedy and villainous bad guy of
the novel, Samuel Barnes, but a delayed plane
flight made Jackie the highest bidder, not
Barnes’s henchman. Barnes believes that the
journal contains information about where the
legendary Seven Cities of Cibola, also known as
the Seven Cities of Gold, are located, so he has
some of his hired help kidnap Jackie and take
her to a cabin in Wisconsin to interrogate her.
Having forgotten she even bought the journal,
though, because of a hold up in its delivery and
because of her forgetful nature, she has no clue
what her kidnappers are talking about when they
demand information about the location of the
journal.
Fortunately for
Chicagoan Jackie, one of her friends is Nicole (Niki)
Jordan, “a retired Chicago police officer turned
private investigator.” Niki, Pat, and
psychiatrist Gwen Garcia-Wilson, another of
Jackie’s friends and co-owner of the bookstore,
plan how rescue Jackie. The friends have known
each other for over thirty years, having met at
Northwestern University. They know their were
Wisconsin license plates on the vehicle that the
kidnappers used, and they know a couple of the
numbers on the plate, and with Niki’s police
department ties, they manage to follow their
leads to the cabin and rescue their friend.
This is only
the beginning, though, of the women’s
adventures. Samuel Barnes is still after the
journal, and his men have ransacked the
bookstore, scattering books all over the place
in their search for the book. When the journal
finally does turn up at the store, delivered
late, the women at first don’t know what it’s
about, since it’s written in an old style of
Spanish, but they know it’s important enough
that someone would even resort to kidnapping to
obtain it. Gwen is able to translate it, since
she has learned Spanish, and she tells the other
women when they meet at a restaurant that if the
journal isn’t a forgery, it seems to have been
written by “a person writing about his travels
with Marco de Niza in 1539. They explored land
that today is Arizona and New Mexico.” What’s
more, de Niza “led the first expedition to land
north of Mexico in search of a place called
Cibola and the Seven Cities of Gold.”
The women
decide to go to New Mexico to try to find the
gold cities, or more likely, caverns filled with
gold for themselves. They will also try to get
the journal authenticated further, but even if
they have no luck finding the gold, at least it
has the makings of being an enjoyable vacation.
Jackie’s aunt Elizabeth has a house there they
plan to use, because her aunt and Jackie had
lived there, Elizabeth having raised her after
Jackie’s parents both died. Jackie was also
traumatized by having been kidnapped when she
was a young girl living in New Mexico, so she
has some mixed emotions about going back, but
wants to face her past to help her get over it
once and for all.
I lived in
Illinois when I was younger, and I really liked
the author’s references to the streets,
buildings, and neighborhoods she mentions. She
must have either lived there at one time, or has
done her research very well. The same goes for
the chapters of the novel set in New Mexico -
her descriptions are very vivid, and along with
her excellent knack at character development and
creating characters who seem three dimensional,
Jean Sheldon is quickly turning into one of my
favorite mystery authors.
There’s plenty
of mystery and suspense throughout the novel,
and you want to keep reading late into the night
to find out what happens next. I really liked
Jean Sheldon’s first novel, the historical
mystery about WWII spies and women pilots, The
Woman in the Wing, and in Seven Cities of Greed,
Sheldon shows continued growth as a writer and
that she is a definite force to be reckoned with
as one of today’s most talented mystery authors.
If you love reading mysteries full of action and
adventure, you should mine this rich vein of
gold today, and strike the mother lode for
yourselves, as I did!
Reviewed by Douglas R. Cobb
Bestsellersworld.com
Seven
Cities of Greed is a light-hearted Indiana Jones
type mystery. A group of friends from Chicago
come into possession of a seemingly valuable
journal, pointing the way to lost Aztec
treasure. The journal is also being sought by a
greedy, arrogant man who will do anything to get
his hands on it. Thus begins a chase across the
American southwest to find this treasure. The
Chicagoans will soon learn that their lives are
at risk as long as they have the journal, for
someone in the shadows is controlling events. Is
the journal genuine or merely a fabrication? It
may cost the Chicagoans their lives to find out.
I enjoyed this novel quite a bit. It’s a quick
read, not so quick as to be boring but short
enough to finish during a short trip when you
need to occupy your time in some way. This would
definitely fall into the category of “cozy
mystery, “which describes mysteries with very
little violence involving very normal people. I
have always enjoyed novels which weave
historical fact with fiction and this book is an
excellent example of this. The plot moves
swiftly and there is good character development.
I enjoyed reading it quite a bit and give it 5
out of 5 stars.
