cover image The Sacred Well

The Sacred Well

Antoinette May, . . Harper, $14.95 (400pp) ISBN 978-0-06-169555-1

May (Pilate's Wife ) tells the story of two American reporters from different eras caught up in Mexican intrigue. In 1923, real-life reporter Alma Reed exposed the theft of Mayan artifacts from the Yucatán, leading to an affair with the governor and the ire of local reactionaries. May's fictional modern-day reporter, Sage Sanborn, is a travel writer on a Yucatán junket enticed to tell Reed's story by a mysterious American she meets in a bar. Their explorations and ensuing affair echo Reed's exploits, but the mirrored-narrative premise doesn't build to anything substantial, and May's narrators—Alma and Sage—are pretty vanilla as far as adventuring heroines go. (Mar.)