High-SocieTea
"Where the Art and Elegance of Taking Tea is Treasured"
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by Elizabeth McNeill-Leicester
ISBN13: 978-0-7388-4471-8
(Trade Paperback)
ISBN: 0-7388-4471-3
(Trade Paperback)
Pages: 201
TAIRONIAN GOLD is an adventure/suspense story. Farrine Munroe, a young Spanish teacher from Kansas, goes to Colombia to claim the coffee farm, inherited from her aunt who died there mysteriously. On the way up the Sierra Nevada mountains the taxi driver, fearing landslides, abandons her in a thunder storm. Handsome Spanish-speaking Danilo Franco rescues her. She is attracted to him, but suspicious of his motives.
Attempts on her life begin the day after she arrives at the coffee farm, La Felicidad. Someone wants her dead. Is it the caretaker's son, Victor, who believes the farm is his? The guerrillas, who kill farmers and take their land? Grave robbers, who loot Taironian gold on her property? Arms smugglers? All are frightening possibilities.
Farrine finds her aunt's shallow grave. She had been murdered. Victor catches Farrine spying on his meeting with arms smugglers and imprisons her. She escapes and runs to an American neighbor for help, only to find he has been murdered.
Danilo saves both Farrine and her farm, reveals his true identity and wins Farrine's trust and love. They head for the airport with Victor in pursuit.
In a wild chase Victor catches them as they arrive at an isolated airstrip to board a waiting plane. He opens fire, hits Farrine's foot, but Danilo manages to pull her aboard and the small plane takes off. Destination Danilo's penthouse in Miami with plans to return to La Felicidad.
Elizabeth McNeill-Leicester made her career in the U. S. Foreign service. She served as a Department of Army Civilian (DAC) in Occupied Japan, and in Public Relations for the Military Mission for Aid to Turkey in Ankara. The remainder of her career she served in the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and was posted to the American Embassy in Iran, Pakistan, India, Senegal, Colombia and a second tour in Iran. Between Senegal and Colombia she took a sabbatical and studied French Civilization at the Sorbonne. She retired in 1969 and now lives in Fort Lauderdale with her husband, retired Royal Air Force pilot, Anthony Leicester, whom she met over her patio fence when she settled in Florida.
Order Taironian Gold directly from the publisher at https://www2.xlibris.com/bookstore/bookdisplay.asp?bookid=10307, or from your local bookstore.
Read an Excerpt of Taironian Gold Below
CHAPTER ONE
Farrine Munroe watched helplessly as the taxi rounded a curve and disappeared down the Sierra Nevada mountains, leaving her abandoned in a slashing rainstorm. Gasping for breath in the icy downpour, she stood rooted to the muddy road, stunned to find herself stranded in the mountains of Colombia.
It had happened so quickly. After mumbling something in Spanish about landslides, the driver had slammed on the brakes, jumped out, grabbed her suitcase from the trunk and pulled her into the pouring rain. With fear in his eyes, he had glanced up at the dark sky, scrambled back into the cab, made a quick U-turn and the little black taxi from Santa Marta headed down the mountain.
Rain, like an alpine waterfall, blurred her vision. She shielded her eyes and looked ahead. Small landslides had already eroded the unpaved road's steep, barren banks.
"Damn that driver!" she muttered, transferring the bulging canvas tote bag to her left shoulder. Then, strengthened by anger, she picked up her suitcase and trudged on, praying that the caretaker's house would be around the next curve.
But that curve led to another and then to another until gradually the bank on the lower side gave way to a sudden drop into the misty void.
"Why, oh why?" she cried aloud, "did I ever come to this godforsaken country alone."
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