Thu 9 Sep 2010
A Checklist of “Buried Treasure” Thrillers, by David L. Vineyard.
Posted by Steve under Bibliographies, Lists & Checklists , Inquiries[11] Comments
Hi Steve,
A while ago I asked you about man-on-the-run novels and you and David Vineyard gave me a magnificent reply. I am still working my way through that long list of books and shall be for quite some time! In the process I have already discovered several fine authors whom I had not known of, or read, before.
I have another enquiry that perhaps you and David can help me with. As well as man-on-the-run stories I enjoy reading tales of searches for buried treasures and artefacts. This type of story seems to have made a big comeback in recent years but it’s really the older novels I’m interested in. For example, one that I read a few weeks ago was David Dodge’s Plunder of the Sun, about lost treasure in Peru. Another was Archie Roy’s Deadlight, about a search on the Scottish Island of Arran for buried scientific notes that disclose a new technology.
Of course, once found, the “treasure” can turn out to be a Pandora’s Box, releasing something malicious or vengeful or deadly, and I like these kinds of stories too.
Can you and David, and the readers of your excellent blog, suggest any more such novels?
Thank you in anticipation, — D.
And here’s David Vineyard’s reply:
Hmm, if you don’t mind I will forget anything past about 1990 so I don’t have to do too many of the Cussler and other types. Here is a quick list and perhaps it can be expanded upon by myself and others. I won’t go back so far as Rider Haggard and Stevenson, and I’ll limit myself to thrillers too.
THE THIRD HOUR by Geoffrey Household
VIVIERO LETTER and THE GOLDEN KEEL by Desmond Bagley
LEVKAS MAN, THE GOLDEN SOAK, and ISVIK by Hammond Innes
TREASURE by A.E. Hotchner
GIRL ON THE RUN by Edward S. Aarons
TROJAN GOLD and HER COUSIN JOHN and the entire Amelia Peabody series by Elizabeth Peters
THE SALZBURG CONNECTION by Helen MacInnes
BOY ON A DOLPHIN by David Divine
PLUNDER IN THE SUN, THE RED TASSEL by David Dodge
MURDER IN NEW GUINEA by John Vandercook
GRAIL by Ben Sapir
THE SECRET SCEPTRE and PRISONER OF THE PYRAMID by Francis Gerard
THE GYRTH CHALICE MYSTERY by Margery Allingham
GUARDIAN OF THE TREASURE (aka ISLAND OF TERROR) by Sapper
LIVE AND LET DIE by Ian Fleming
THE ROSE OF TIBET and THE MENNORAH MAN by Lionel Davidson
THE TREASURE OF SIERRA MADRE by B. Traven
THE LAST PLACE GOD LEFT by Jack Higgins
THE EYE OF THE TIGER and THE DIAMOND HUNTERS by Wilbur Smith
TWIST OF SAND, RIVER OF DIAMONDS and GRUE OF ICE by Geoffrey Jenkins
BRIDGE OF SAND and BROTHERS OF SILENCE by Frank Gruber
FEAR IS THE KEY by Alistair MacLean
BLACK ORCHID by Nicholas Meyer and Barry Jay Kaplan
THE Q DOCUMENT by James Robert Duncan
THE THIRTEENTH APOSTLE by Eugene Vale
PEKING MAN IS MISSING by Claire Tardashian
THE SAINT AND THE TEMPLAR TREASURE by Leslie Charteris
THE TOMB OF T’SIN by Edgar Wallace
THE GHOUL by Frank King
PRESTER JOHN by John Buchan
QUEST FOR THE SACRED SLIPPER by Sax Rohmer
THE WHITE SAVAGE by Edison Marshall
THE VENUS OF KOMPARA by John Masters
STONES OF ENCHANTMENT by Wyndham Martin (lost world novel featuring Anthony Trent)
THE SAPPHIRE by A.E.W. Mason
TREASURE FOR TREASURE by Justin Scott
TREASURE OF SAINTE-FOY by Macdonald Harris
TREASURE TRAIL by Roland Pertwee
Many of the Doc Savage novels as by Kenneth Robeson
GOLD BAIT by Walt J. Sheldon
MR. RAMOSI by Valentine Williams
GOLD IS WHERE YOU FIND IT by James B. Hendryx
BURNING DAYLIGHT by Jack London
GOLD OF ST. MATTHEW by Duff Hart-Davis
GOLD OF TROY by Robert L. Fish
GOLDEN BUDDHA by Capt. A. O. Pollard
THE GOLDEN SPANIARD by Dennis Wheatley
A DEADLY SHADE OF GOLD by John D. MacDonald
THE RAINBOW TRAIL by John Cunningham
MACKENNA’S GOLD by Will Henry
THE LAST TOMB by John Lange (Michael Crichton)
CONGO by Michael Crichton
APPOINTMENT WITH DEATH by Agatha Christie
THE TREASURE OF MATACUMBE by Robert Louis Taylor
TREASURE by Clive Cussler (and most of the Dirk Pitt novels)
THE MESSIAH STONE by Martin Caidin
THE MEDUSA STONE by Jack Du Bruhl
BLOOD ROYAL, BLIND CORNER, SHE FELL AMONG THIEVES, BERRY AND COMPANY by Dornford Yates (many of Yates novels involve some sort of treasure or loot)
THE PINK JUNGLE by Alan Williams
HIS BONES ARE CORAL and THE GOLDEN SALAMANDER by Victor Canning (both films, the former as SHARK by Sam Fuller with Burt Reynolds)
ANY OLD IRON by Anthony Burgess ( a modern family of British Jews are guardians of Excalibur)
APPOINTMENT WITH DEATH by Agatha Christie
THE GOLDEN HOARD by Philip Wylie (when the government called in gold a miser’s hoard becomes the focus of gangsters)
TREASURE OF MATACUMBE by Robert Louis Taylor
MARCHING SANDS and THE GARDEN OF EDEN by Harold Lamb (also some of his shorts from ADVENTURE about Khlit the Cossack deal with the lost treasures of Genghis Khan and the Hashishin)
THE MASK OF FU MANCHU and THE DRUMS OF FU MANCHU by Sax Rohmer
THE SANDS OF KARAKORAM by James Ramsey Ullman
THE MYSTERY OF KHUFU’S TOMB, THE NINE UNKNOWN, THE DEVIL’S GUARD, KING OF THE KHYBER RIFLES, THE IVORY TRAIL by Talbot Mundy
SPHINX by Robin Cook
THE GOLD OF MALABAR by Berkley Mather
THE NAUTICAL CHART by Arturo Perez-Reverte (a recent one, but worth reading)
THE ARROW OF GOLD by Joseph Conrad
IMPERIAL EXPRESS by James Bellah
TERENCE O’ROURKE GENTLEMAN ADVENTURER and THE POOL OF FLAME (both with Terence O’Rourke) by Louis Joseph Vance
THE SECRET OF SAREK, THE COUNTESS CAGLIOSTRO, 813, THE BLOND LADY, THE HOLLOW NEEDLE by Maurice LeBlanc (all Arsene Lupin and most dealing with his quest for the lost treasures of the Kings of France)
THE SPOTTED PANTHER by James Francis Dwyer
THE MATING OF THE BLADES (many titles) by Achmed Abdullah (NIck Romanov, a career Brit solider and the son of an Indian Princess and a Russian aristocrat, author of THE THIEF OF BAGHDAD and the screenplay for LIVES OF THE BENGAL LANCERS)
THE BLUE EYED MANDARIN by Stephen Becker
GOLD OF THE SEVEN SAINTS by Steve Frazee (western)
THE DEEP by Peter Benchley
WHITE WITCH OF THE SOUTH SEAS and ISLAND WHERE TIME STOOD STILL by Dennis Wheatley
JOURNEY TO ORASSIA by Alan Caillou
ZADOK’S TREASURE by Margot Arnold (Toby Glendower mystery)
THE FAMILY TOMB by Michael Gilbert
THE RIDDLE OF SAMPSON by Andrew Garve
THE CUP OF GOLD, THE ETRUSCAN TOMB, THE GREEK AFFAIR by Frank Gruber
THE DANCING MAN by P.M. Hubbard (one of the great thriller writers on any theme)
FIGUREHEAD by Bill Knox (a lost gold ship and a deadly feud on a Scottish island plus a possible monster — one of the Webb Carrick Fisheries Protection Service novel — yes, the Fish Police — also check out his Talos Cord series and as Noah Webster, his Jonathan Gaunt books)
THE CROWN OF COLUMBUS by Louise Edrich and Michael Dorris (good example of the literary version of the treasure hunt)
TARZAN AND THE FORBIDDEN CITY by Edgar Rice Burroughs (search for the ‘Mother of Diamonds’ also known as THE RED STAR OF TARZAN and basis for the serial THE NEW ADVENTURES OF TARZAN serialized on radio)
SEA GOLD by Ian Slater
OUT OF THE DEPTHS by Leonard Holton (Father Bredder on holiday goes scuba diving for treasure and murder)
RIPTIDE and ICE LIMIT by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Childs (okay, they are well into the later period but both outstanding)
THAI GOLD by Jason Shoonover ( not the greatest writer in the world, but interesting because the author is a treasure hunter and relic hunter in real life)
Many of Jonathan Gash’s Lovejoy books touch on treasure hunts
TEMPLE TOWER by Sapper aka H.C. McNeile (Bulldog Drummond hunts a treasure and battles a master criminal,Le Bossu, the Hunchback, in France)
THE NAME OF THE ROSE by Umberto Eco
THE CLUB DUMAS by Arturo Reverte-Perez
THE TAKERS by Jerry Ahern (UFO’s, lost Atlantis, the Antarctic — everything but the kitchen sink)
ICEBOUND by Rick Spenser (paperback original series but better written than usual, the VIKING CIPHER series)
THE ABOLITION OF DEATH by James Anderson
MYSTIC WARRIOR by Ryder Jorgenson [NOTE: See Comment #3 for the correction to this entry.]
THE POLLENBERG INHERITANCE by Evelyn Anthony
GRAVE DOUBT by Ivor Baker
THE TEMPLE TREE by David Beatty (gold-carrying plane crashes on a sacred Asian temple)
THE BUCKINGHAM PALACE CONNECTION by Ted Willis
SOLOMON’S QUEST by H. Bedford-Jones writing as Alan Hawkwood. A classic pulp adventure by the King of the Pulps one of the long running John Solomon series about cherubic Cockney businessman and adventurer Solomon — in this one he races to prevent evidence from being produced that could set the Mid-East aflame — namely that Mohammed converted to Christianity… Needless to say not politically correct. Also JOHN SOLOMON SUPER CARGO and many others.
BLACK CORAL by Nancy Ferguson
DAUGHTER OF THE HAWK by C. S. Forester. Englishwoman’s father leads a South American revolution.
THE WIND CHILL FACTOR, THE GLENDOWER LEGACY, ASSASSINI by Thomas Gifford
THE HOLLOW SEA, CLEFT OF STARS by Geoffrey Jenkins
A TASTE FOR DEATH by Peter O’Donnell. Modesty and Willie battle criminals looking for ancient treasure and using slave labor to do it.
THE LABYRINTH MAKERS by Anthony Price
TERROR KEEP by Edgar Wallace — Mr. J.G. Reeder finds love and treasure.
THE DIAMONDS OF LORETA by Ivor Drummond (Sandro, Colly, and Lady Jenny adventure)
September 9th, 2010 at 3:19 pm
Conrad’s NOSTROMO also deals with a buried treasure, and there’s some great non-fiction on the subject, including Frank J. Dobie’s APACHE GOLD AND YAQUI SILVER.
September 9th, 2010 at 4:58 pm
MYSTIC WARRIOR by Ryder Jorgenson
David, can you please give me some bibliographic details for this book? I can’t seem to find it listed anywhere.
September 10th, 2010 at 12:47 am
David
Made a mistake on that one — it’s MYSTIC REBEL (not WARRIOR) by Ryder Syversten not Jorgenson (never rely on memory when doing one of these). It was a paperback original set in India and Tibet, part of a series, with a hero who is one part Terry and the Pirates and a touch of Indiana Jones, the Spider, and Batman. Sorry about the mix up. I know there are at least six books in the series, but know nothing of Syversten or even if it is a house name or pseudonym.
Treasure only played a minor role in the first one, but it loosely fit the bill. Not really good books, but fascinating stuff.
That and THAI GOLD by Jason Shoonover are alternative classics that should be read just for the sheer fun of it. I don’t think I could adequately describe either one of them.
Dan
I grew up on Dobie, and even went treasure hunting in college on Pack Saddle Mountain down in San Saba looking for Jim Bowie’s lost Apache gold — mostly found arrowheads and rattlesnakes, but still.
Treasure does figure in NOSTROMO as you said. Great book. I even liked the movie they did on PBS with Peter O’Toole.
September 10th, 2010 at 1:55 am
Re Ryder Syversten, I could picture the covers of the books in his series of Mystic Rebel books, but I couldn’t come up with the right last name.
Here’s some information about the series:
http://spyguysandgals.com/sgShowChar.asp?ScanName=Lasker_Bart
This website, by the way, if you follow the link above and then to Home, will chew up gallons of free time, if you’re a fan of spy novels at all. Guaranteed!
As for your list, David, every time I think of another possibility you might have missed, no, it’s already there.
Those and a vast number of others I’ve never read and/or would never have thought of. Thanks again!
September 10th, 2010 at 6:08 am
David, the PBS mini-series was with Albert Finney, not Peter O’Toole
September 10th, 2010 at 11:17 am
Did I miss it? I didn’t see TREASURE ISLAND on the list.
September 10th, 2010 at 11:53 am
An obvious choice, of course, but as David said before he started out, he didn’t go back as far as Haggard and Stevenson, with a cutoff at the nearer end at 1990 or so. With exceptions!
September 10th, 2010 at 1:11 pm
Ray
If I started with Stevenson the list would have had to go back to Poe and “The Gold Bug” and maybe even Scott’s THE TALISMAN, so I put the cut off well ahead of them. Half of Haggard’s not inconsiderable output deals with treasure of one kind or another. His heroes stub their toes on fortunes as casually as most of us find pennies on the sidewalk.
Half of the adventure novels published from TREASURE ISLAND to 1900 were about treasure and the theme is so common in juvenile fiction I wouldn’t dare tackle it. I don’t even want to think how many treasures the Hardy Boys, Frank Merriwell, Rick Bryant, Dave Dashaway, and even Tom Swift found.
But I’m sure I missed a ton of them that fall well within the bounds of the list. I think at least one Dr. Hailey by Anthony Wynne deals with treasure and maybe a Reggie Fortune by Bailey (that may be a short story though). Half the books in the Baron series, especially after he acquired the auction house Quinn’s, deal with some sort of valuable antiquity.
One I did forget though, and a favorite, is James Goldman (William’s brother who wrote THE LION IN WINTER and THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS) THE MAN FROM GREEK AND ROMAN. You’ll also notice at least three books on the list dealt with the Trojan gold looted from Germany by the Soviets at the end of WW II, two with the ‘Q document,’ and two with Mussilini’s lost loot (the Wilbur Smith and the A.E. Hotchner).
Also add THE GOLD AND THE RIVER SEA by Charles Ogburn, an INNOCENT MILLIONAIRE by Stephen Vischenksy (Sic?), STONE VIRGIN and PASCALI’S ISLAND by Barry Unsworth (both sort of), and to some extent SHADOW IN THE WIND by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. Also Irving Wallace THE WORD and Walter Barnhart’s GOSPEL and Ben Sapir’s THE BODY all dealing with religious treasures.
Of course some of those are stretching the definition of treasure and a few more hidden than buried, but I think they still count.
And yes, a few westerns made it on the list just because lost treasure is so common a theme.
Couple of quick one’s THE DEMON PLAN by Nicholas Boving (the tomb of Gilgamesh), BLACK CAMELOT by Duncan Kyle (secrets of the inner workings of the SS), THE EIGHT by Katherine Neville, NIGHTCLIMBER by Jon Manchip White, and while not buried, certainly treasure, THE MALTESE FALCON.
September 12th, 2010 at 7:12 am
Would Brian Garfield’s KOLCHAK’S GOLD merit a mention?
September 13th, 2010 at 3:21 am
Juri
Certainly would. Can’t believe I left out Garfield. One of those slap youself on the head moments these lists always induce. There is always something obvious you overlook.
I think one of Marvin Albert’s Ian McAlistair books fits too, but I will have to check on that.
Thanks
November 24th, 2010 at 4:39 am
Interesting to see how many of the books on your list formed part of a series of books, as opposed to singleton.
It seems that while treasure hunts made do well in other media, in prose, relatively few people have written books about recurring treasure hunters.