In 1975 the author traveled to Mexico to collaborate with Rosa Elena Luján, widow of the author B. Traven, on a Traven biography. Not an easy undertaking, given that Traven was extremely secretive about his personal life and did a good job of covering his tracks.

I haven't read Traven, but I knew that he wrote The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, which of course was the basis for the 1948 film starring Humphrey Bogart. It's also the source of the line "Badges? We don't need no stinking badges."

The book didn't make me want to read Traven, but the account of the author's travels in Mexico (where I've never set foot) was interesting.

Waiting room, 5th floor.