Spider Moon: Curse of the Gold Crescent (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781896817514)

A young journalist is given the assignment to verify the existence of a large, flesh-eating spider roaming the Amazon's underbrush. The giant eight-legged creature was rumored to have attacked livestock and people with lightning speed, and always during a full moon. With Alberto as his Peruvian guide, the young reporter sets out on a journey to discover the truth for himself.

Alberto was a former bush pilot who crash-landed his small single-engine plane while on a mercy mission over the Amazon. He was grateful when the fierce and reclusive Toromona tribe saw him 'fall from the sky' -- he was grateful too that they spared his life and nursed him back to health. He learned to speak their language and took part in their religious ceremonies.

The villagers told Alberto the spider was the size of a mid-sized dog -- with eight legs bristling with hair, and a powerful jaw armed with a deadly pair of four-inch, black hollow fangs -- fangs that injected a powerful venom and could dispatch a fully grown man in seconds.

The Toromona called the creature Ah-bee-too -- a name that meant 'black hollow fang' in their language. They believed it was the supernatural forces of a solid gold crescent-shaped necklace worn by their Chieftain that protected them against the creature's deadly fangs.

Alberto had never seen the giant spider, but he had seen the Chieftain's necklace -- and saw it as an opportunity for quick riches. He was about to learn that the Amazon does not give up her secrets easily, or to just anyone.