The Vivero Letter (novel)

The Vivero Letter is a first-person narrative novel written by English author Desmond Bagley, and was first published in 1968. It was also made into a film in 1998 of the same name starring Robert Patrick, Fred Ward and Chiara Caselli.

Plot introduction
Jeremy Wheale's brother is murdered by criminals attempting to steal a family heirloom: a 16th-century gold tray. In attempting to find out what was so special about the tray that someone would kill for it, he discovers that it contains a map. Wheale pursues the trail from Devon, England to Mexico and finally to the tropical rain forests of the Yucatán Peninsula, where he joins with two archaeologists to locate a legendary hoard of gold. This hoard comes from Uaxuanoc, the centuries-old lost city of the Mayas. However, the Mafia are on the trail of Wheale as well as the Chicleros, a deadly group of convict mercenaries, and Wheale is uncertain that he can even trust his two archaeologist friends.