After their humiliating defeat at the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games, the entire Turkish Women's Olympic Championship Tent Erection Team is mysteriously abducted by the smooth-talking Chief Executive of the Glamourdust Glove and Gusset Company, Mr Preston Glamourdust. Loading them slyly into a stolen pantechnicon, he takes them far from their Istanbul headquarters, to the steamy island of Sumatra...
Meanwhile, Cairo Jim (that well-known archaeologist and little-known poet) is also on his way to Sumatra. Jim has read of a remarkable discovery made by an archaeologist of the past, Dr Schnitger. Apparently, on top of an extinct volcano in the Gunung Dempo jungle mountain ranges, Schnitger discovered the legendary Palace of the Maharajah of Srivijaya. There was something about this palace that was so special, so unusual, so entirely and unpredictably unimaginable, that Schnitger felt that to betray its secret would be to betray all of History to the maraudings of modern plunderers and usurpers of all things sacred! Naturally, Cairo Jim is more than intrigued...
What strange secret does the Palace of Srivijaya hold? What does Preston Glamourdust intend for the women of the TWOCTET? Will Jim and Jocelyn actually tie the knot in this tale? All will be revealed, along with danger, mayhem, exotic jungle descriptions and excessive alliteration, in the 12th Mystery of History by that wretchedly opportunistic scribbler, Geoffrey McSkimming.
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