Spice and the Devil's Cave - Agnes Danforth Hewes, Lynd Ward

This is an adventure tale set in Portugal during the age of exploration. I don't want my tepid response to turn others off as there really is some good stuff here, particularly for the history buff - a very interesting locale and moment in time with a surprisingly diverse cast of characters. But the truth is that it could have been about half as short and I would have been very happy indeed.