"The Fifth Codex" is the second in the murder series by John Scherber. Scherber lives in San Miguel de Allende in Mexico and he brings his knowledge of the city into his books. When you are drawn to this city by his descriptions, you can walk the streets he walked and dine at the restaurants where he dined, and walk Quebrada from Canal to Pila Seca. Scherber makes this expat favorite city the centerpiece of his novel. The reason, he recently said an interview, is the "...exotic backdrop with a lot of color and history."
The Fifth Codex - 342 pages Publisher: Outskirts Press, Inc. (Published September 19, 2010)
The main character is Paul Zacher, a painter, who with his long time Mexican, girlfriend Maya, and friend Cody, an ex-policeman from Peoria get innocently roped into a deadly situation involving a Codex that could inflame Mayan separatists.
A codex is a book constructed of a number of sheets of paper or similar material with hand-written content. The book is usually bound by stacking the pages and fixing one edge. Some codices are continuously folded like a concertina. Examples of folded codices are the Maya codices
Scherber not only gives you a taste of San Miguel, but a flavor for the Mexican culture. Each book is sprinkled with Mexican history, but not so much as to take away from the story. Scherber describes his "...villains as flawed people, not demons or monsters. "I’m interested in the way they rationalize the crimes they commit."
"The Fifth Codex" is a page turner. Scherber is a fine writer with a witty take on events as they happen. Available in Paperback or on Kindle.
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