From Publishers Weekly Fans of crotchety， chain-smoking Chief Inspector Pel (Pel and the Faceless Corpse) will enjoy his ninth case. An educated， semi-retired gangster and his bodyguard are murdered and very soon Pel and his detectives know how， when and by whom. But they must discover why， which leads Pel and his aristocratic assistant DeTroquereau on a journey to Mexico after the miscreant. Away from his beloved Burgundy， Pel is given a quick course in the history of the French intervention in Mexico during the 1860s. The dead gangster's mistress， a young rival and a slightly bent history professor are all involved in a treasure hunt. Two of them are murdered before Pel， back in France， finally realizes the identity of Emperor Maximilian's "treasure." This procedural also deals with some fishy car thefts， phantom break-ins at a big store， Pel's attempts to give up cigarettes and the charming ways of Pel's saintly wife. Spare dialogue， good French and Mexican color and Hebden's dry humor enliven the narrative. Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information， Inc. From Library Journal The unexplained murders of a retired， educated crook and his bodyguard in Pel's territory (Burgundy， France) demand immediate attention. Deftly sorting through clues， police learn that the murderer， one Marc Donck， and the crook shared an interest in the 19th-century French intervention in Mexico. Pel and aristocratic Sergeant De Troquereau travel to Mexico， where they encounter friendly/threatening Mexican police， an "enchanting" senorita， and an excitable French-Mexican librarian. The combination of foreign locale， crisp characterization， and history is ingratiating. REKCopyright 1988 Reed Business Information， Inc. See all Editorial Reviews