An American customs agent looks into a murder in Mexico as a hurricane bears down on the tropical landscape in this “first-rate” mystery (Kirkus Reviews). US Customs Service agent and amateur sleuth Hugh Rennert has been invited to Hacienda Flores, an isolated mountain retreat in Mexico. A consortium of Texas investors with an interest in the place have asked him to investigate a murder that could be bad for business . . . But confronting a killer isn’t the only danger Rennert faces as an epic storm approaches in this mystery filled with twists and turns that, according to the New York Times Book Review, are “guaranteed to keep the reader interested and greatly puzzled.”

An American family in Mexico hosts a group of archaeologists—butis there an assassin among them? “Satisfactorily sinister . . . class-A sleuthing” (Saturday Review). “Unconquered” is the family motto of the Faudrees, whose ancestor, a Confederate officer, fled to Mexico decades ago. Now his two granddaughters, Lucy and Monica, live there in a beautiful old house near some black lava fields. The fields have recently attracted a team of archaeologists from an American university, and they’ll be the sisters’ guests during their expedition to Pedregal. But Lucy and Monica soon discover the visiting academics may be unearthing trouble: A professor has died. Strange and threatening letters have been sent. And oddly, owls seem to be invading. To dig up the truth about what’s going on, the Faudree sisters will need some help from US Customs agent and amateur sleuth Hugh Rennert, in this tale featuring “good background, atmosphere and characters” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review). “You won’t go wrong in giving Todd Downing a try.” —Michael Dirda, The Washington Post

In this Mexico-set mystery with “excellent atmosphere” featuring a sheriff and an amateur sleuth, a bullfighter is dead—but was the killer man or beast (Kirkus Reviews)? In Matamoras, Mexico, the last trumpet has sounded in the bullring, but this time it’s not the bull who’s died. Carlos Campos has been fatally gored. But soon a shocking discovery is made: the apparent accident is actually a murder . . . To solve the case, former US Customs agent and Texas citrus farmer Hugh Rennert will team up with Sheriff Peter Bounty to identify a motive and a suspect. And there’s no time to lose as the killer hasn’t limited himself to a single victim . . . “You won’t go wrong in giving Todd Downing a try.” —Michael Dirda, The Washington Post

A customs agent must track down a killer on a train barreling across the Texas border into Mexico . . . When a train leaves Laredo en route to Mexico City, the trip turns terrifying as one passenger after another falls victim to murder. Will anyone make it to their destination alive? Fortunately, Hugh Rennert—US Customs agent and amateur detective—is on board, and his investigation will proceed full steam ahead . . . “You won’t go wrong in giving Todd Downing a try.” —Michael Dirda, The Washington Post

In Mexico yellow marigolds represent Death. At Hacienda Flores, a relic of pre-revolutionary days splendidly isolated near the Tropic of Cancer in the mountains of Nuevo Leon, the "yellow death" of which they whisper is not something that is merely figurative, however-no, it is all too real! On hand at the request of one of the members of a Texas business consortium that has invested in Hacienda Flores (it was said, erroneously, that the Pan-American highway would be constructed nearby) is U. S. Customs Service agent (and amateur detective) Hugh Rennert. Once again Rennert becomes tasked in Mexico with foiling a multiple murderer's malign machinations. Rennert's task is considerably complicated by the hurricane that is moving relentlessly toward Hacienda Flores. You won't soon forget the dramatic final duel between Rennert and his death-dealing quarry. "[There are] horrors too numerous to mention," one delighted Midwestern reviewer gushed of Murder on the Tropic in the year it was originally published, 1935. The "complications are guaranteed to keep the reader interested and greatly puzzled," more austerely avowed the New York Times Book Review. Whether one is looking for thrills or for clues (or even a bit of both), Murder on the Tropic is a true winner from the Golden Age of detective fiction.

Hugh Rennert investigates a strange series of suicides in near-rural Mexico.