My name is Richard Alvarez. Lee Alvarez is my older sister and more or less the star of the latest book of the Alvarez Family Murder Mysteries, The Drop-Dead Temple of Doom. Even though only three years separate us, Lee calls me her baby brother. So why is it I am constantly worried about her and all the nutty things she does? Well, maybe not nutty. Maybe impetuous is the better word. Right now she’s in the jungles of Guatemala risking life and limb trying to find out where our cousin’s missing husband is. And she dragged our mother along with her!

Well, maybe not dragged. Maybe relented is the better word. Actually, you can’t drag our mother, Lila Hamilton-Alvarez, or as I like to call her, Our-Lady-of-Perpetual-Motion, anywhere she doesn’t want to go. And from what Huckster tells me (that’s Lee’s husband who’s given name is Gurn), our mother invited herself along on this adventure and wouldn’t take no for an answer. She even wore an Abercrombie and Fitch safari outfit down to the pith helmet.

So while I’m feeding Pablum to my daughter, and keeping the family detective agency going back in Palo Alto, California, my mother and sister are getting shot at by poison darts, discovering tombs of ancient Mayan kings, wandering around underground caverns, and getting caught in earthquakes. Let’s face it. Some people have all the fun.