“How many anthropologists usually die at your conferences?” This is the question Detective Roberto Salinas asks Dr. Claire Aguila after two mysterious deaths at a gathering of Maya scholars in Merida, Yucatán. When a souvenir vendor in a nearby town also turns up dead, the faculty members of the newly formed Keane College Mayanist Program find themselves under scrutiny from Mexican authorities and U.S. Customs agents.
Professor Claire Aguila becomes a reluctant police collaborator as she confronts the possibility that someone close to her might be a murderer. Claire’s knowledge of Mayan culture unites her with Salinas in the investigation; however, a long-ago with the detective complicates things, forcing Claire’s colleagues to question her loyalties.
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What people are saying about Human Sacrifice
“In her debut novel, Human Sacrifice, Cindy Hull delivers a mystery that will keep you guessing. Set in beautiful Merida in the Yucatán and the surrounding Mexican countryside, we meet the attendees of a conference for Mayanist studies. Anthropologists are trained observers, but will it be enough to decide if a death is accidental or murder, and to unravel all the complex personal and professional relationships? Academic jealousies, professional competition, looted artifacts, lucrative art markets, local traditions, past relationships, and more make this and entertaining and intelligent read. Only a retired cultural anthropologist like Hull with decades of research in the area could so seamlessly weave in the details of fact and fiction into such an intriguing story. You are in for a treat!”
“This who-dun-it is anything but typical. An anthropologist is found dead after plummeting off a pyramid. A sacrificial dagger comes up missing from an exhibit case and is instrumental later in another death. Finding the killer is imperative and there are plenty of suspects. Rich in Mayan culture, Human Sacrifice whisks you away to another land where suspects are many and murder abounds.”
“Human Sacrifice drew me in from the first page. The vivid setting descriptions are informed by professor Hull’s decades of extensive research in the Yucatán, and her descriptions of academic shenanigans were on spot.”