Good As Gone

A Matti Maitlin Mystery set in Peru Good As Gone finds Matti searching in Lima and Machu Picchu for missing Incan artifacts her company insures. But first she must face the insured himself: cantankerous Connecticut billionaire, Chester Banks who is demanding immediate payment for the $5.2 million worth of missing artifacts. Arriving to smooth ruffled feathers is Chester's hunky son, Michael, a Yale scholar who is getting his doctoral degree in Incan anthropology. And the bodacious blond finds him a challenge in more ways than one. The Peruvian government claims the whole collection was part of a trove of treasure absconded by Hiram Bingham when he made the modern discovery of Machu Picchu in 1911. But as Matti digs deeper, who's trying to make sure she's as good as dead? Matti tries to sort fact from fiction in this increasingly bizarre case, but her trip to Peru creates more questions than answers. But it's back in Boston where she gets the shock of her life... in a suite at the Ritz Carlton Hotel. Ken Bruen (London Boulevard, Blitz) says: "Cindy Cody's books are the best feel-good factor in the business. Terrific narrative combined with gripping style." The Matti Maitlin series (the first, Banana Bay, hit the best-seller list south of Boston in 2004) is designed to give the reader an education about something of topical interest as well as travel detail about the country in which it is set. Banana Bay, set in Panama, explores the banana business, while Good As Gone, set in Peru, gives the reader knowledge about Incan culture and is a partial travel guide to the county. Highly recommended.