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Question: How do you pronounce Xibalba, and what is it anyway?
A: Shee - bahl - bah, with the emphasis on the last syllable. For the ancient Maya, it was the underworld, the place of darkness, where the Lords of Death lived. You can read all about it in Popol Vuh, an ancient Maya text, which tells the story of mythological Hero Twins, who survive many trials and tribulations and ultimately defeat the Lords of Xibalba.

Q: What gave you the idea to set a mystery in the Yucatan?
A: I've been to the Yucatan many times, and every time I go there, I remain amazed at the remains of the civilization of the Maya: the great cities, like Chichen Itza, Coba and Uxmal, the workmanship, the art, their grasp of space, mathematics and time. And I have made a point of learning as much as I possibly can about the history of these places.

A couple of years ago, I was trying to understand the Maya concept of time, which was really very sophisticated. They used something called the Tzolkin, the count of days, a 20-name/13-number system. Each of their days had a name and a characteristic associated with that day, much as our weekdays do. However, we've largely forgotten the meaning behind our weekdays -- Sunday and Moon day, Saturn's day, Woden's day, Thor's day, and so on.

For some reason, I began to wonder whether it would be possible to write a story that would take place over the 20 days of the Tzolkin, where the action would parallel the kind of day it may have been for the Maya. I'm an avid reader of mysteries, so I decided to make it a mystery. Fortunately the Tzolkin contains death days, which are crucial to a good mystery!

Q: And so you just wrote it?
A: I just wrote it, a Maya day at a time.

Q: There's a lot of information contained in this book on the ancient Maya. Is it true, and do you have a background in archaeology.
A: I've tried to make the history as accurate as I possibly can, allowing for a little literary latitude from time to time. Take the prologue, for example, which begins 'I am called Smoking Frog, named for one of the greatest warriors in the annals of my people, the conqueror of Uaxactun.' There really was a Smoking Frog, a warrior credited with inventing a new form of warfare as far as the Maya were concerned. He may have been the brother of the king of Tikal. In any event, he did conquer Uaxactun, a neighboring city/state, and was installed on the throne there, and his victory was an extremely important event in the history of the Maya empire.

I did study archaeology -- actually physical and cultural anthropology -- at University of Toronto, and have taken many courses since. But I am not an archaeologist, just someone who has made a lifelong study of the subject, and indeed, in my day job, I work with archaeologists all the time.

But I decided early in my academic career that I didn't have the patience for it. Archaeology sounds glamorous, the Indiana Jones kind of thing, but in reality it's hard, occasionally gruelling, and always painstaking work. But it has remained a lifelong interest of mine. Since I left university, I've taken courses in archaeology, mythology, ancient history and languages. I even studied Egyptian hieroglyphics for a few years. So writing about archaeology was a natural for me. I don't know why I didn't think of it, and do it, sooner.

Q: Tell me about your character, Lara McClintoch. Is she like you?
A: Heavens no! She's much smarter, braver for sure, and better looking than I am. Younger too. She does, however, share my interest in ancient cultures. At the beginning of The Xibalba Murders she has had to sell her antiques and design shop to buy her way out of a failing marriage. She's a little bit at loose ends, and after trying to go back to university to take Mesoamerican studies, she agrees on the spur of the moment to go to Merida, Mexico to help an old friend, an expert in Maya antiquities, with a project he has -- something to do with a writing rabbit. It's a strange request, ludicrous is what Lara calls it, but she goes anyway, which just proves she's more impulsive than I am too.

Q: Will there be more Lara McClintoch crime novels?
A: Yes. I have a three-book contract with Berkley Publishing in New York.

Q: All set in the Yucatan?
A: No. One of the reasons I had Lara own a store is that it is a useful way -- a device if you will -- to get her travelling all over the world, buying trips and so on. The second book, The Maltese Goddess, which is due out in the spring of 1998, is set, obviously, in Malta. Malta has the world's oldest free-standing stone structures, older than the Great Pyramid, older than Stonehenge -- huge rounded megalithic temples which may have been the centre of goddess worship in the Mediterranean almost 6000 years ago. The island has an absolutely fascinating history from these ancient times because of its position in the middle of the Mediterranean. Everybody landed there eventually -- Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Greeks, Romans, and the famous Knights of Malta -- even Napoleon spent six days there. So it's a place just packed with history. The third book will be set in Peru, another archaeologically and historically fascinating place.

Q: You mentioned you've been to the Yucatan several times. Have you been to Malta and Peru?
A: Yes. I don't write about places I haven't been. I think it's important for the setting, as well as the history, to be as accurate as possible. There are things you only know when you've spent some time in a place. The first time I went to Malta, for example, I was on a leave from my job and was just wandering around the Mediterranean. I thought perhaps Malta might be worth a brief visit, but I ended up staying two months! I could hardly tear myself away.

Q: You talk a lot about history. Is that the most important part of these books to you?
A: I hope people will enjoy the story, and that they will like Lara: I like her, despite her faults, but yes, most of all, I hope people will enjoy the setting and the history, and maybe learn something they didn't know about ancient history. The ancient world was a fascinating place, and if I can convey a little of this to people, I'll be very happy.

Q: And after Peru, another Lara mystery, another place?
A: If I'm lucky enough to get another book contract, I'll probably set the next one in either Ireland or Indonesia. I'm not sure yet. And I think Lara will be there.