''Twenty-fourth Level'' is a mystery novel by

Kenneth Benton Kenneth Carter Benton, CMG (4 March 1909 – 14 October 1999) was an English MI6 officer and diplomat from 1937–68. Following retirement, Benton began a second career as writer of spy and crime thrillers. Early life and education Benton at ...

set in

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

in the 1960s.

Plot summary

Overseas Police Adviser Peter Craig interviews a Rio, Brazil diamond dealer to investigate the source of unusual stone samples that have appeared at the International Diamond Institute in London. In the course of a social engagement, Craig encounters and quarrels with Graben, a violent and corrupt engineer that he arrested while working in West Africa. Graben is accompanied by the Alcidia. That evening, Craig survives an assassination attempt. When the police are called, they reveal that the diamond dealer has been murdered. The police agree to question Graben, who has disappeared. The investigation leads into a nearby favela, then to a gold mine near

Belo Horizonte Belo Horizonte (, ; ) is the sixth-largest city in Brazil, with a population around 2.7 million and with a metropolitan area of 6 million people. It is the 13th-largest city in South America and the 18th-largest in the Americas. The metropol ...

, which is owned by Alcidia's father. Alcidia and Craig meet at the mine's Casa Grande, and discover they are attracted to one another. Alcidia instructs Craig on how best to infiltrate the mine. Exploring the mine, Craig discovers a cache of diamonds on the mine's lowest level and realises that Graben has been covertly mining the stones, while buying stock in the mining company with the proceeds. Graben arrives with a Brazilian

capoeirista Capoeira () is an Afro-Brazilian martial art that combines elements of dance, acrobatics, music and spirituality. Born of the melting pot of enslaved Africans, Indigenous Brazilians and Portuguese influences at the beginning of the 16th centu ...

henchman, Jair, and a captive Alcidia, and locks Alcidia and Craig in a mineshaft. The pair manage to alert the mineworkers, just before losing consciousness from the mine's extreme heat, and are treated at the mine's hospital. Craig escapes the hospital and confronts Graben and Jair. Craig convinces Jair that Graben has been deceiving him, and Jair kills Graben then attacks Craig. Craig manages to kill Jair and returns to the mine hospital with letters that prove Graben's guilt. Craig wakes up to discover that de Sa has taken his evidence against Graben and is covering up the murders to draw attention away from Alcidia and Craig, but insists Craig leaves the country. Craig and Alcidia arrange to meet in London, but the novel ends on a sour note as both realise their romance will have to end before it has begun.

Characters in "Twenty-fourth Level"

*Peter Craig – protagonist; international police advisor for

Her Majesty's Government ga, Rialtas a Shoilse gd, Riaghaltas a Mhòrachd , image = HM Government logo.svg , image_size = 220px , image2 = Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom (HM Government).svg , image_size2 = 180px , caption = Royal Arms , date_es ...

*Moacyr Lima de Sa – Brazilian gold mine owner *Alcidia de Sa – his daughter *Colonel Pessoa –

Guanabara State The State of Guanabara ( pt, Estado da Guanabara, ) was a state within the Fourth Brazilian Republic from 1960 to 1964, and the Federative Republic of Brazil from 1964 to 1975. It included the city of Rio de Janeiro. The state was established in ...

police chief *Horst Graben – mine engineer

References

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External links

Section from Craig Thrillers website on ''Twenty-fourth Level''
1969 novels Cold War spy novels Novels set in Minas Gerais {{ColdWar-novel-stub