The third book in the Cliff Janeway series. Janeway is a Denver used book dealer. He buys copies of Richard Burtons journal of his trip to Mecca, inscribed to a Charles Warren. This leads him on an investigation to Baltimore, then to Charleston to track down a journal Richard Burton made of a journey through the south he made with Warren just before the Civil War broke out. He’s accompanied by Koko, a woman who knew Warren’s granddaughter and who also wants to find out the truth about the journal.

The plot is complicated and not worth going into in detail. It turns out the journal was purchased at a criminally-low price by an unscrupulous bookdealer from Warren’s widow. It is now in the hands of Hal Archer, a historian who is trying to sell. The descendents of the Baltimore bookdealer, accompanied by some thugs, are after the book, as is a prominent Denver judge. When all is over with, Janeway fingers the judge for a murder committed in the search, but loses the journal when the judge’s wife burns it in revenge. But Janeway does end up with Erin, the judge’s lawyer who is thinking of going into the book business with him.

The story doesn’t stand up real well to a lot of thought, but it was a fun read.