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The secret history of an empire

The mythical power of a stone

The quest to solve the legend of ... The Queen Jade

For centuries, explorers and scholars of the New World have been captivated by a legend involving the tragic life of a King, a Witch, and a giant blue jade stone whose beauty is intoxicating -- a stone whose possessor is said to be granted a life filled with power -- that stone is called the Queen Jade.

In 1998, Hurricane Mitch tears through Central and South America. A mine of blue jade the size of Rhode Island is uncovered in a Guatemalan mountain range known as Las Sierras de las Minas. For hundreds of years, blue jade relics have been found in the Americas, but the actual source of the precious stone has never been discovered -- until now. The revelation of the blue jade mine solves an archaeological mystery that has baffled scholars for centuries and gives hope to those who have staked their lives on finding the Queen Jade.

The novel unfolds on the eve of the hurricane and centers on Lola Sanchez and her archaeologist mother, Juana. Juana believes that she has discovered the key to unlocking the mystery of the Queen Jade and has gone into the jungle alone to find the stone -- the same week that Hurricane Mitch ravages the land. When her mother disappears in the storm, Lola sets out to find her and embarks on a course of action that will lead to the adventure of her life.

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The Queen Jade A Novel Chapter One The serenity of the empty bookstore was rattled by my mother's entrance. "Creature?" she called out, banging the front door, its brass chimes clattering. "Are you here? Awful Thing?" "Ye-es," I called out from the shop's back room. "Lola, where are you?" "Here in the office, Mom. Hold on." "Well, don't keep me waiting. Did you get my message about those copies I wanted? Are they ready? The cab's waiting at the curb." Juana Sanchez stood in the middle of the store, her long silver hair glinting in the brandy-colored shadows, a duffel bag slung on one arm, her tweed cape flicking behind her meaty shoulders. She began impatiently humming an off-key tune while I put a third edition of Jules Verne's Mysterious Island down onto my desk. Being slim-boned and curly-haired, I don't favor my mother much, except in my taste for unusual clothing. I gathered up my western-style petticoat, and with my old red Patsy Cline boots came stamping out from behind a stack of books and onto the main floor of The Red Lion, the shop I owned in Long Beach. She stopped humming when she saw me. "There you are. What are you doing in the dark?" I walked over to her, and she began to push down my springing black bangs with quick bats of her hand. "Just wrapping a few things up," I said. "Has the store been busy?" She brushed imaginary dust off my shoulders and began to smooth the wrinkles on my collar with hard jabs of her thumbs, and then she finally planted a beaky kiss on my cheek. I laughed. "What do you think?" "Don't be negative. Things will pick up. Though the less time you have for work, the more time you have for me. Or did you forget that I'm leaving tonight? I'll just bet you did. That's what comes from sitting inside this shop all day and night reading these bloody books, instead of every once in a while coming out with me to the bush! I've told you this before. A couple of days in the jungle -- that'll put your feet on the ground, Creature. That'll grow some hair on your chest. And maybe then you'll remember when your own mother is going to leave the country." "I did remember. I was just about to start up with your Xeroxing." She thinned her eyes at me. "Likely story." "And I didn't think I was invited on this trip." "Actually, you're not this time." She crush-hugged me around the waist. "Little vacation of my own that I've whipped up. Going to traipse around the haunts of old de la Cueva -- that route she took, when she was looking for the jade. Just for fun. I need some time away." My mother cleared her throat. "But don't confuse the issue. I was speaking generally." "That's what you were saying last night -- you're going to follow Beatriz de la Cueva's trail. And de la Rosa's, too, I guess. Right?" "I suppose. But let's not talk about Tomas. It's too sad -- how he died." "Pneumonia." "So they say. Though no one seems to know where he's buried, do they?" "Not that I've heard." She turned away from me and studied some of the books on the walls. "I think your father is grieving a little, strange as that sounds. And it's got to be rough on Yolanda. She'll be missing her dad." "I feel bad about it. I haven't talked with Yolanda in years -- " "Yes. But we decided that it was better that way." "I know." "Though we all were friends, once." I touched her shoulder. "I'm sorry, Mom." "Let's just stick to de la Cueva," she said, in a firm voice. "Fine by me. So. Old Governor Beatriz -- " "She was the first European to go looking for the Stone, you know." "I do know," I said. "I practically know the story better than you. I'm thinking about translating it into English." "You are?" The corners of her mouth tugged up approvingly. "I could desktop publish it, then sell it here, in the store." "It's an amusing idea -- but I still doubt you know the story as well as I do." "Good Lord, there was the legend of the magic queen of all jades, which could give you absolute power if you got your hands on it -- " "But it also wound up destroying its possessors," she interrupted. "Any person who saw or touched the jade grew obsessed with it. At least two of its owners came to gruesome ends, and then it was hidden, and cursed by a witch. As the story goes, if anyone tried to steal it, the world would be destroyed by water and flame -- " "No one was deterred by that threat, though," I said. "Especially the Europeans. In the Renaissance, there was a trip to the jungle, and a search for the Stone. Except it didn't go very well. There was the Maze of Deceit and the Maze of Virtue ... a lying slave ... some seriously naive Spaniards -- " My mother raised her eyebrows. "All of which is why the work qualifies -- if I'm not mistaken -- as an Adventure. And so you should have it in stock, and be able to make me a copy of it." "I do have it around here somewhere," I said. "It'll just take me a minute to Xerox it for you." "And her Letters." "I already copied the letters," I said, running off to get the book ... The Queen Jade A Novel . Copyright © by Yxta Maya Murray. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. Available now wherever books are sold. Excerpted from The Queen Jade: A Novel of Adventure by Yxta Maya Murray All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.

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Library Journal Review

Set on the eve of Hurricane Mitch's rampage through Central America, Murray's latest (after The Conquest) is an exciting novel of archaeology and adventure. Following clues to a 500-year-old puzzle assembled during a lifetime of scholarship, UCLA archaeologist Juana Sanchez travels deep into Guatemala in search of the fabled blue jade stone called the Queen Jade, only to disappear during the hurricane. Juana's daughter Lola Sanchez-the owner of a bookstore devoted to adventure and fantasy-finds herself living out her stock when she sets out for her mother. While researching her mother's route, Lola revisits the legends studied by her parents and makes the acquaintance of her mother's department nemesis, Gomara, who wishes to accompany her on her quest. Lola, her father, a childhood friend, and Gomara travel an ancient route; by solving riddles, facing fears, making peace with the past, and trusting their scholarship, these characters learn that what they find is not always what they sought. Recommended for most popular fiction collections.-Laura A.B. Cifelli, Ft. Myers-Lee Cty. P.L., FL (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Publishers Weekly Review

A trek through the Guatemalan rain forest helps a Mexican-American woman heal old family wounds-and solve a centuries-old archeological puzzle to boot-in this atmospheric, long-winded adventure story by Murray (The Conquest). Lola Sanchez, a 30ish Californian bookseller, is long accustomed to dispatching her difficult mother, Juana, on archeological missions to the "jaguar-and-relic-filled jungles of Guatemala." But this time is different: Hurricane Mitch has devastated much of the country, and Lola fears that her mother's quest to discover the "magic queen of all jades"-a rare blue relic whose fabled power has obsessed centuries of European explorers-will lead her into dangerously flood-ravaged terrain. So she closes shop and heads for the rain forest, accompanied by Juana's academic rival, Erik Gomara, a paunchy lothario; her own intensely bitter ex-friend, Yolanda de la Rosa, who boasts expertise with a machete; and Manuel Alvarez, her frail, panicky father. These entertaining characters are all sharply drawn, and the depiction of the teeming jungle is breathtaking. But Murray is less successful at conveying the mythos of the Queen Jade and the history of its pursuit. Too much of the novel consists of the characters reading documents aloud to one another or pedantically lecturing. The repeat appearances of a menacing mustached soldier add zip to the plot, but seem forced and implausible, as does the family tree-altering conclusion in an amazing cave. Agent, Shana Kelly at William Morris. 5-city author tour. (Feb. 1) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Booklist Review

Murray has fashioned a good old-fashioned lost-treasure tale fleshed out with plenty of action, intrigue, and romance. After her intrepid archaeologist mother disappears in the Guatemalan jungle during an epic hurricane, meek bookstore-owner Lola Sanchez is determined to find and rescue her with the ironic--if able--assistance of one of Juana Sanchez's most detested professorial rivals. Of course, Lola and Erik soon discover that Juana was hot on the trail of an archaeological grand prize: the legendary Queen Jade, a rare blue jade stone said to possess mystical powers. As they traipse through mountains and jungles, passions flare, family secrets are revealed, and danger lurks along every obscure footpath. In the finest tradition of adventure yarns, the would\x7f be lovers succumb to their ever\x7f smoldering attraction to one another, and the treasure is located, though it is not at all what it first appeared to be. A rip\x7f roaring page\x7f turner that concludes with a satisfying twist. --Margaret Flanagan Copyright 2005 Booklist