In a remote village of the Andes, McKenna, an American priest, is trying to win the confidence of his bitterly poor Indian parishioners who for centuries have known nothing but cruelty and exploitation.
Jon Cleary, who died in July 2010, was the author of over fifty novels, including The High Commissioner, which was the first in a popular detective fiction series featuring Sydney Police Inspector Scobie Malone. In 1996 he was awarded the Inaugural Ned Kelly Award for his lifetime contribution to crime fiction in Australia. His last novel, FOUR-CORNERED CIRLCE, was published in 2007.