The Falcon in Mexico

Tom Lawrence, the Falcon, helps Dolores Ybarra enter a local gallery to recover a painting. He learns Dolores is the artist's model, while Humphrey Wade has been dead for 15 years. The gallery owner is found murdered, and guards try to arrest Tom, but he escapes with the painting.

Tom escapes with the painting and heads to Winthrop 'Lucky Diamond' Hughes, a notable Wade collector seeking protection and a safe place for the painting. He becomes a fugitive, wanted by American police for murder. The journey to Hughes's home marks a turn from pursuit to potential alliance.

Tom discovers Barbara Wade, the artist's daughter, and he and Barbara travel to Mexico City to pursue the truth behind Wade's disappearance. Their partnership shifts the case from art theft to a murder mystery with international reach. The search leads them away from the United States toward a new set of dangers.

At the Mexico City airport, Barbara is met by a car from the La Casa Del Lago Inn and slips away. Tom hires taxi driver Manuel Romero and his son Pancho to follow Barbara, beginning a cat-and-mouse pursuit that threads through the city. The inn lies at the heart of the mystery she’s drawn into.

Barbara introduces Tom to her stepmother Raquel, a dancer, and Raquel's husband Anton, who warns Tom to leave Barbara alone. The inn sits in a country village and becomes a hub for Wade's legacy and the conflicting interests around Barbara. The tension between guests and locals escalates as danger tightens.

Paula Dudley shows Tom Wade's studio at the inn, where he finds a drawing done in Wade's style with wet paint still fresh. Dolores Ybarra, searching for her portrait in Tom's room, is surprised by his early return and pursues him into the hallway, but she escapes.

An unknown assailant knocks Tom unconscious in his room and steals the painting. The theft deepens the mystery as suspicion falls on Wade's legacy and those connected to the inn. Tom regains consciousness to face a mounting threat.

Don Carlos Ybarra searches for his daughter, but her body is found drowned in the inn's lake, turning the case toward murder. Tom suspects foul play involving Wade's paintings and the people linked to the inn. The murder shifts the investigation from art theft to a broader conspiracy.

At dinner, Barbara collapses from poisoning while Winthrop Hughes arrives without his famous diamond ring, hinting at the larger conspiracy surrounding Wade's work. The diner's mood darkens as the mystery deepens and loyalties are tested. Tom's world becomes a web of crime and art.

At the lake, Tom finds Paula dead in a boat, and Manuel reveals he is an undercover Mexican police officer who is trying to catch the killer. The revelation adds official forces into the hunt and broadens the scope beyond the inn's intrigues. The investigation now navigates both crime thrillers and law enforcement politics.

Barbara goes to an island near her father's grave, where Tom and Manuel find her seated in front of the crypt with another woman. Tom removes the headstone and discovers the crypt is empty, revealing the woman had been paid to take Barbara to the grave and knows nothing else. The mystery widens as deception surrounds Wade's legacy.

During a performance of the Danza de los Viejitos, a man in an old-man mask is revealed to be Humphrey Wade, Barbara's father, who explains why his disappearance increased the value of his paintings. He warns Tom and Barbara they are in danger; moments later, Wade is shot dead by Hughes. Tom deduces Hughes is the killer and sets a trap on the plaza, with Manuel firing to bring the murderer to justice, then receives a memorandum case before boarding a plane home.