Seventeen-year-old Matt Bowden is convinced that his uncle didn't commit suicide. Matt believes his favorite uncle's murder has something to do with the book he was writing about Southwest mines and treasures. Matt is determined to find out who killed Uncle Jonas and why.
Matt returns to his uncle's house and searches for a clue. He copies all of his uncle's computer files on the new book he was writing and also finds a phone message from a man named Art Fogle, a university history professor. Matt soon learns that Fogle was killed in a hit-and-run accident, only hours before Matt found his murdered uncle. Just a coincidence, or is there a connection between Art Fogle's and Uncle Jonas' deaths?
Matt asks the soon-to-retire homicide detective, John Pawlowski, for help. From his uncle's files, Matt learns that Uncle Jonas borrowed a valuable Spanish document--alluding to a fortune in gold and silver--from a Mrs. Garcia. Matt goes to see the Mexican woman and meets her granddaughter, Susan Martinez. With his uncle dead and the Spanish document missing, Matt agrees to help Susan find her grandmother's treasure document.
The trail leads Matt and Susan to a man named Phil Simpson, a local authority on Southwest mines and treasures. After their visit, Simpson dies mysteriously, when his house burns down. Detective John Pawlowski is now convinced that all three deaths are tied to the missing Spanish document.
All Matt, Susan and John have to do now is stay one step ahead of the killer and find the Spanish treasure before anyone else is murdered.
