Sun, Feb 3, 2002
An urn commissioned in a Cambodian monastery by the Chinese emperor for the remains of Confucius is about to be destroyed by systematic bombing of a whole province - so DeViega, Sidney's mentor's Gural Nataz murderer, tricks and kidnaps her and Nigel (and their secretary on the home front, as additional blackmail leverage) to get to it through a heavy mined area and decipher the I-ching on the way in before bombs hit it.
Sun, Feb 10, 2002
Sydney drags Nigel along to Istanbul, having heard her former mentor professor Alan Evans is missing. He's actually murdered, they can barely convince Turkish police detective Kemal Ochmar not to arrest them for breaking into his room but join forces to investigate who was after what clues. It's the work of a modern feminist extremist 'Amazons sisterhood', whose ruthless leader Natasha Tripova breaks out of jail by sheer force. While working out they're after the legendary magical gold belt of Amazon queen Hippolyte, whom only Hercules could wrestle down and win as bride, Nigel gets abducted like Evans before to decipher inscriptions, which he does brilliantly. Sydney only comes to the rescue when he's already venturing into the booby-trapped mausoleum.
Sun, Apr 14, 2002
Scotland Yard calls Sidney and Nigel to identify a 5th century murder weapon. It turns out to be the burial cross of King Arthur, but besides the victim several others are looking for it, and more killing follows while they search for it in its historical hiding place and unravel the murderous plot.
Sun, Apr 21, 2002
When Nigel is charmed by brilliant student Lorraine to show her their offices (and kiss), a burglar knocks out Sidney, but what was robbed? They find out in Madrid, where Professor Lamenza invited them to follow the trail of the Spanish crown hidden from Napoleons army by Carlos IV, the necessary filters to read lemon ink have been switched, and Lorraine is actually Reena, who has teamed up with her lover Raoul to get the crown which everyone goes in search of in Andalusia, while trying to get rid of the others.
Sun, Apr 28, 2002
Sidney inherits from the best relic hunter of the previous generation a key, and rushes with Nigel on the hunt for the one treasure he never found: Pandora's box, which was guarded by the clan of the Persian sultanate of An-Najaf. The (equally fictitious) successor state is however in revolution, and though a resourceful local father proves a welcome guide in the capital, the military dictator has taken residence in the ancient palace, plundering all archaeological remains...
Sun, May 12, 2002
While Nigel rehearses his keynote speech in a Seville hotel room, a woman nearly breaks his nose demanding something. It turns out she was after the water from the Fountain of Youth, which the dying explorer Ponce de Leon sent to the Spanish king, who sent one bottle via the English ambassador to Elizabeth I. Nigel's brother Preston is desperate to find it in order to save his British Museum job. As Duke Andrew, the ambassador's heir, only agreed to see him within 48 hours, Preston and Sydney are off to England. Nigel stays for his speech and equally disastrous workshop but joins them by the time they are scheming against Sean James, a rival relic hunter and the duke's gambling creditor.
Sun, May 19, 2002
When Sidney and Nigel are about to enter the site of a Bristol lecture, a surprisingly young author on the Celts approaches them to follow up immediately on a tip about a map to the "astronomicons", the lost keys to the druid cult in Stonehenge, hidden since the Romans conquered Britain. The soon learn it is an occasion to steal the map from the Gurul Nataz, it comes with an armed bomb and the youngster is no author but Andreas, the honest son of Sid's arch-enemy Fabrice De Viega -who survived, as they suspected. Junior assures them he hates his dad even more, being duped in a boarding school since his mother's death, but it turns out Fabrice risks everything to help them in order to save Andreas' life - but can even this bizarre alliance brave the ruthless crime syndicate?