James McKelvey, North Canton, Ohio

Thoughts of secret maps, ciphers and the search for buried treasure hooked me as a young adult when I first read an account of the Beale story many years ago. The story was set in Virginia during an exciting period of American history; the time of Thomas Jefferson, the Lewis and Clark expedition, and the frenetic westward expansion of our nation. The combination of history and a true-life treasure adventure was irresistible to me. In the many decades following that first encounter, I often imagined scenarios for the unknown details in the Beale story, postulated solutions for the Beale ciphers, and [later] occasionally searched the web for any news on this great tale to see if someone had struck it rich.

It was in a recent web search that I made a serendipitous discovery of two new books on the subject written by Stephen Matyas: Beale Treasure Story—The Hoax Theory Deflated and Beale Treasure Story—New Insights. The book descriptions were intriguing, so I immediately ordered both volumes to read on a two-week summer vacation. I was not disappointed with my decision as both books provided an amazingly detailed accounting of the Beale story resulting from years of dedicated research by the author. The two-volume set can be best described as more than I could ever have accomplished had I the time, intelligence and tools to pursue all the angles for a solution to the Beale mystery. Dr. Matyas lays out a fascinating progression of scientific analysis and factual discovery for many aspects of Beale's life and the encounters that occurred in the story. The author also presents convincing opinions where gaps still exist to weave together a very convincing account of likely events. The approach offers a very satisfying mix of fact and plausible fiction of key details regarding Thomas J. Beale and company.

Dr. Matyas is a cryptanalyst and dedicated part of his career to cipher solutions and code-breaking using some of the most powerful technology and methods our country has to offer. His knowledge and skill convinced me he left no stone unturned in his years of investigation of the Beale story. The appendix of each volume is an incredible reading experience in itself. Dr. Matyas expertly dissects the facts from the fiction with friendly precision, and offers analytical insight as to what can be reasonably concluded. Yet, in many ways, the volumes read like an unsolved mystery novel. I highly recommend these books for anyone with an interest in the Beale account, especially those who find the process of solving the mystery just as exciting as unearthing the treasure itself.

 Charly in Franklin, MA

I purchased these books about one month ago [January 2013] and wished that they were available twenty years ago when I started this search for the Beale Treasure part time and stopped after the 911 incident. The books contain so much valuable information regarding the history of this Treasure and many possible insights to the documents and codes used to try to resolve the issue. I find the two books extremely helpful as it has reignited my interest once again in the Beale Treasure. The books are large enough to be placed on a table for research purposes with the text spaced out nicely and not compressed for reading and research. These items would certainly be a valuable asset to a serious treasure searcher. They would certainly be a valuable asset also to any treasure hunting club or organization.