Dangerous by nature

In the Central American republic of Esmeralda, Tommy Hambledon finds himself trapped between hot Latin temperaments and cold 'hostile powers,' waiting for his American opposite number to show up -- waiting, and waiting. . . But to keep things interesting there is a sherry-swilling parrot, a lethal local lottery, and the hostile powers to be stymied, with or without the missing American, and all in the middle of a wild, ravine-filled terrain.