Return To The Corner Of The Dead
by
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Jim had worked for several years as an international
investment counselor in Lima, Peru until the civil war heated up there, and
when Helen and he were going back to the States in 1985, Frank had offered him
a job. By that time, Helen had had
enough of South American Nostromo scenarios and having to wonder every
time she heard a backfire on Miraflores Avenue whether the guerrillas had
picked off Jim when he was out getting a bottle of wine at the corner
bodega.
“No, this would be more a joint venture,” Frank
said. “It could be worthwhile, and not
just emotionally.”
“Not the resort?” Jim said.
Their last disastrous fishing trip Frank had told
him his plans to open a resort on the Pacific coast near the Nazca lines and
wanted Jim to come down and manage it for him.
“Oh no, this is more about my collection,” Frank
said. “I have a need for your expert
skip‑tracing abilities and other finding skills.”
“What, did you lose something out of your
collection?” Jim said.
Frank had an exceptional collection of pre‑Columbian
artifacts, much of it housed in glass cases in his extensive study and library,
catalogued as to date, origin, style and other provenance with a level of care
and completeness that reflected his doctoral training in anthropology. Through the coincidence of several factors,
his personal wealth, the general poverty of the Andean region, his scholarly
background, his reputation as a collector and the wide contacts he had through
his shipping business, Frank had been able to put together a remarkable
collection.
“I don't know if you could say I lost it,” Frank
said. “Can you lose something you
never actually possessed or possessed only in passing? If so, I guess we both lost it then.”
“We lost it,” Jim said. “You’re saying we. Now that’s cryptic. Why don’t you tell me what we’re talking about?”
“They’re calling my flight,” Frank said. “Think back to Vinchos. See you shortly.”
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About the Book
This is a story of love and action drawn on a
backdrop of revolutionary violence. The
novel is set in Peru in 1993 when the country is recovering from a long,
brutal, still simmering civil war. The
protagonist, Jim Hiram, has returned to Peru at the request of an old friend, a
collector of pre-Columbian antiquities, who has a job for him locating a
special artifact. Jim had worked as a
financial planner in Lima until 1985 when he left after the Sendero Luminoso guerrilla
movement brought the war to the capital from its sierra stronghold of Ayacucho,
the ‘Corner of The Dead’. He expects
his return to be a short-term venture, but he is drawn into a spiraling series
of complications and intrigues. He is
also drawn into love. Against the dark
wine red canvas, the somber shade of dried blood, is set the bright fuchsia of
renewing love. Through the maze of a
society reeling on the edge of disintegration, Jim makes his way by his wit and
his words. As another character
observes, he is a ‘smooth liar’, but there are no lies when it comes to love
and its regenerative power for him.
About the Author
The author lived for two years in Peru, which is the
setting for most of Return To The Corner Of The Dead. He resided in a pueblo joven or squatters’
settlement in Arequipa, where he taught English at the Instituto Cultural
Peruano-Norteamericano and played for the sporting Moral basketball club. He also lived for some time in Lima and
Ayacucho and traveled in the altiplano region of Peru and Bolivia. The author received his B.A. from Yale
College, studying History of the English Language with Dr. Borroff, Fiction
with Dr. Fayen and Dr. Demetz, and English Romantic and modern poetry with Dr.
Bloom. He received his J.D. from
Indiana University and has practiced law in the U.S. for many years.