"Read this one with your back against the wall grateful this historic serial killer can’t catch you in time! With the perfect backdrop of historic complexities to tracking a killer, this twisted tale would have Holmes thinking twice! "
- J.L. Hughes, Author of the Broken Jade Dark Justice Crime Thriller Series, and Technothriller R.A.Y. A Step Too Far, NY Ghostwriter, and Owner/ Editor of Writers & Author Craft Dev. Editing.
The second episode of the “Killings” series started with a re-reading of Graham Greene's “the Power and the Glory”, and Cormac McCarthy’s border trilogy, along with a first reading of B Traven's “Treasure of the Sierra Madre.” After which, I undertook research on the Mexican revolution and the Cristero wars as well as a detailed study of the geography of the region along with that of the Yucatan. Followed a re-acquaintance with the Mayan culture and deities. I had written a paper on environmental determinism in my second-year anthropology course at York University, using the decline of the Mayan empire as the case study illustrating the primary tenet of the theory for which Jared Diamond received a Pulitzer for his seminal “Guns, Germs and Steel.”I commenced the third person narrative in my usual fashion with no outline, just an opening scene, and built from there, not knowing where the notorious Beauchamp twins were going to take me. The eventual Yucatan destination came to light mid-manuscript. In the meantime, they are pursued through the foothills of Durango, the parched Chihuahua Desert, the mysterious ‘Zona Silencio’, the Sierra Madre Occidental, Mazatlán, Quintana Roo, the ruins of Chichen Itza, and eventually the Island of Swallows, Cozumel. It’s an action-packed chase. Enjoy the journey.
Published in 2026 by Donut Train Press