Independent Press Award
2024 winner
The Time Travelers
Richard C. Brusca
Set in Mexico City in three time periods (16th century, 2026, 2032), The Time Travelers recounts the rise of the Aztec Empire, the founding of the first Mexico City (Tenochtitlan), its destruction at the hands of Hernan Cortés, and the building of modern Mexico City upon its ashes. But the Aztec bloodline lives on today, holding ancient knowledge known to only a few. The discovery of a magnificent Aztec object buried near Mexico City’s Zócalo and National Cathedral pulls an archaeologist, an odd Jesuit priest, a police detective, and two beautiful divas from two time periods together in an unexpected and fast-paced mystery. The collision of characters and events, prophesized in an ancient Aztec codex, leads to an astonishing incident in which time is disrupted and the past and present collide.