Author Description

At 35, Wilson Salinas returns to Cuenca, Ecuador, after 15 years in the U.S. He's broke, disillusioned and addicted to alcohol. His only marketable work experience is fifteen years as a cook, but the thought of dishing out platos tipicos in his old hometown leaves him cold. He manages to eke out a living running errands for an elderly attorney who had befriended his late mother. As a boy, Wilson loved to read detective stories, so for him the next step is obvious. He decides to become a private detective. Holmes, Marlowe. Spade. Salinas? The problem--one of the problems--is, as the attorney Doctor Moreno tells him: "Wilson, in Ecuador there is really no such thing as an Investigador Privado. The concept doesn't exist."Never one to let reason get in the way, Wilson goes ahead with his plan and is soon embroiled in a case involving a mysterious stolen artifact. The trail leads him deep into the amazon jungle, the home of the Shuar, the last indigenous group that has never been conquered by the white man.Along the way, Wilson learns some hard truths about himself, the woman he is falling in love with and his best friend from childhood.