Book review: RECKONING by Baron Birtcher

Book review: RECKONING by Baron Birtcher

New favorite series alert! Sheriff Ty Dawson solves murder and corruption cases in must-read police procedural RECKONING by Baron Birtcher.

Dawson joins Walt Longmire and Cork O’Connor as lawmen whose investigations are driven by a personal code of honor and the strength it takes to live and prosper in rural places. RECKONING is the long-awaited next book in Baron Birtcher’s police procedural series that takes place in Oregon in the 1970’s.

With Baron Birtcher

With author Baron Birtcher at the Killer Nashville international writer’s conference.

A rancher as well as a lawman, the suspicious death of a city cop in an abandoned resort puts Dawson at odds with power players in Portland. Meanwhile, a federal agency attempts to block a fellow rancher’s access to water. Both high-velocity issues take Dawson down roads littered with deception and false friends.

As the two investigations converge, Dawson finds himself practicing shuttle diplomacy, yet cannot trust anyone at the table.

The story moves briskly, propelled by crackling dialogue and descriptions that engage every one of the reader’s senses. More than any other writer I’ve read, Birtcher delivers a powerful sense of smell; it’s uncanny how this draws the reader into the scene.

There’s more corruption in 1970’s Oregon than you expect, and RECKONING delivers multiple shades of gray when it comes to those looking to grab what they can get, including a couple of really grasping cops you can’t wait for Dawson to outsmart.

Like Longmire and O’Connor, Dawson cannot prevent bad things from happening, but he can coax justice out of hiding.

Evocative writing, a human-sized hero, and a well-told story full of intrigue.

Highly recommended.

Get RECKONING on Amazon

The 2nd coming of Detective Emilia Cruz

The 2nd coming of Detective Emilia Cruz

The Detective Emilia Cruz novels are getting a facelift!!

Starting with CLIFF DIVER, new (2nd) paperback editions of books 1-8 in the Detective Emilia Cruz police procedural mystery series are being released this summer by Laurel & Croton.

While retaining the iconic Matt Chase front cover art, the 2nd paperback editions have larger type, more whitespace, and a much easier to read back cover. The spines are numbered so readers can easily see the series in order.

2nd edition CLIFF DIVER a Detective Emilia Cruz novel

CLIFF DIVER is the first of the new editions to hit bookstores this summer.

back cover comparison

The back cover is a huge improvement over the old. Large font, better contrast, and a watermark of the cliffs at La Quebrada in Acapulco.

 

Cliff Diver by Carmen Amato book spine

Can you find the diver on the spine? Love, love this tiny detail!

25 International Mystery Series to Take You Around the World

25 International Mystery Series to Take You Around the World

A hand-selected list of international mystery series that will take you around the world.

How many have you read?

Globe tor ead around the world

AFRICA

1  Precious Ramotswe series by Alexander McCall Smith

Main character: Precious Ramotswe is the “traditionally built” proprietress of the Number 1 Ladies Detective Agency, in Gaborone, Botswana.

Have to start at the beginning? Yes, because the series continues in a linear fashion like a television soap opera, with major life changes for all the characters happening throughout.

Recommended favorite: Hard to name one, as they are all written with the same measured pace, engaging character development, love for Botswana, and cultural details.

Find on Amazon >>> NUMBER 1 LADIES DETECTIVE AGENCY

2  Tannie Maria mysteries by Sally Andrew

Main character: Maria van Harten is a widow living in South Africa’s Klein Karoo district who becomes the advice columnist, doling out wisdom and recipes suitable for the lovelorn and aggrieved while stumbling across murder and a certain handsome detective.

Have to start at the beginning? Yes, start with RECIPES FOR LOVE AND MURDER, in which Maria corresponds with a woman who seeks advice, then ends up dead, sending Maria–as well as her boss Hattie and the paper’s single investigative reporter Jessie–into a maze that includes a female lover, abusive husband, and strange doings at the local grocery store.

Recommended favorite: So far there are only 2 books in the series, RECIPES FOR LOVE AND MURDER and THE SATANIC MECHANIC, which together create a continuing storyline. Read, then wait breathlessly for the next in the series.

Find on Amazon >>> RECIPES FOR LOVE AND MURDER

3  Inspector Kubu series by Michael Stanley

Main character: Detective David “Kubu” Bengu of the Botswana Criminal Investigation Department is a hefty cop—his nickname “Kubu” means “hippo”–and family man who solves crimes rooted in his country’s culture and spiritual beliefs.

Have to start at the beginning? No. A CARRION DEATH is first in the series, but each book stands alone.

Recommended favorite: DEADLY HARVEST takes on the pervasive influence of witch doctors and their potions called muti that include human body parts.

Find on Amazon>>> A CARRION DEATH

AMERICAS

4  Detective Emilia Cruz series by Carmen Amato

Main character: Emilia Cruz is the first and only female detective on the Acapulco police force, taking on Mexico’s drug cartels, official corruption, and culture of machismo.

Have to start at the beginning? CLIFF DIVER is the first full-length novel in the series and sets up Emilia’s position as not only the only female in the squadroom, but as a relatively inexperienced detective who is forced by the police union to head the investigation into the murder of a dirty cop—her own lieutenant.

Recommended favorite: PACIFIC REAPER pits Emilia against an evangelical priest dedicated to Santa Muerte, Mexico’s forbidden saint of death, and begins a series arc that exposes Emilia’s shocking family secrets.

Find on Amazon >>> CLIFF DIVER

5  Inspector Armand Gamache series by Louise Penny

Main character: Gamache leads the Homicide Department of the Sûreté du Québec. His investigations, however, invariably lead him to the small village of Three Pines, where the unexpected always happens.

Have to start at the beginning? No, each book can stand on its own but details drip out about a series-spanning unsolved crime.

Recommended favorite: HOW THE LIGHT GETS IN is a study in personalities, with everyone subjected to Gamache’s careful scrutiny and probing questions. Plus, the usual dose of Tree Pines quirkiness.

Find on Amazon >>> HOW THE LIGHT GETS IN

6  Spenser series by Robert B. Parker and Ace Atkins

Main character: Spenser, whose first name we never learn, is an ageless private investigator in Boston, Massachusetts who deftly moves between the city’s finest restaurants and its darkest criminal underworld. Series dialogue is a lesson for all wannabe mystery writers.

Have to start at the beginning? No. There are many Spenser novels and they can all be read on their own but starting from the beginning reveals how the characters have evolved over time and allows the reader to catch references to past events in the most recent books.

Recommended favorite: HUGGER MUGGER, in which Spenser investigates crooked horse racing is great, but the series’ triumph is POTSHOT, in which all the crime stoppers Spenser has run into over the lifespan of the series come together to take on a cult.

Find on Amazon >>> HUGGER MUGGER

7  Inspector Lascano series by Ernesto Mallo

Main character: Inspector Perro Lascano is a police superintendent in turbulent Buenos Aires, Argentina, during the height of the right wing military junta’s rule (1976-83) when right and wrong are hideously intertwined.

Have to start at the beginning? Yes. NEEDLE IN A HAYSTACK sweeps us into a mix of crime and mystery, with multi-layered characters and a rich, intimate style.

Recommended favorite: As of this writing, there are only 2 novels in the series available in English, NEEDLE IN A HAYSTACK and SWEET MONEY. Grab them both and stay awake for the next few days.

Find on Amazon >>> NEEDLE IN A HAYSTACK

8  Chief Inspector Mario Silva series by Leighton Gage

Main character: With a stubborn and brooding demeanor, Chief Inspector Mario Silva of Brazil’s federal police has been described by Booklist as “South America’s Kurt Wallander.”

Have to start at the beginning? BLOOD OF THE WICKED sets up Silva as a good cop with a rag-tag but loyal band of underlings caught in Brazil’s pervasive corruption. The book also gives us Silva’s disturbing but important backstory.

Recommended favorite: Impossible to pick just one. Even as New York agents were claiming that books with Latino characters could not sell, this series was breaking down barriers with high quality writing and a insider’s view of a fascinating culture.

Find on Amazon >>> BLOOD OF THE WICKED

ASIA

9  China Thrillers by Peter May

Main character: Beijing detective Li Yan and American forensic pathologist Margaret Campbell solve crimes in modern China even as they carry on a tempestuous relationship. Tremendous sense of place.

Have to start at the beginning? No. Each book stands alone although the central romantic relationship evolves throughout the series, starting with THE FIREMAKER.

Recommended favorite:  No favorites here. Each book is written with vast authenticity, from the pancake vendors on the street corner who trades riddles with Li Yan, to Margaret’s visa troubles.

Find on Amazon: >>> THE FIREMAKER

10  Hiro Hattori series by Susan Spann

Main character:  Ninja-with-a-heart Hiro Hattori has sworn to protect a Jesuit priest in medieval Japan in this absorbing and beautifully researched series.

Have to start at the beginning? The first book, CLAWS OF THE CAT, immediately immerses us in the sights, sounds, norms and culture of medieval Japan.

Recommended favorite: In BETRAYAL AT IGA, as political rivalries threaten peace, trained shinobi assassin Hiro leads Father Mateo from danger in Kyoto to the false safety of Hiro’s clan of trained assassins in Iga. Japan has never been this lovely, this dangerous, or this exciting.

Find on Amazon >>> CLAWS OF THE CAT

11  Superintendent Chris Le Fanu series by Brian Stoddart

Main character: Le Fanu is a British police officer in 1920’s Madras who must navigate through a minefield of colonial intrigue and growing Indian restiveness.

Have to start at the beginning? Yes. The scene is set and historical issues explained in A MADRAS MIASMA.

Recommended favorite: No favorite here—the series simply gets better with each book, as the reader is plunged deeper and deeper into the danger posed by Britain’s unraveling colonial authority. A STRAITS SETTLEMENT was longlisted for the prestigious 2017 Ngaio Marsh Award.

Find on Amazon: >>> A MADRAS MIASMA

BRITAIN & IRELAND

12  DI John Rebus series by Ian Rankin

Main character: Rebus is a hard drinking loner cop in Edinburgh, with a nemesis from the city’s underworld and a female partner who grows a bit more like him every day.

Have to start at the beginning? No. While the later books bring back characters introduced before, there is enough context to follow without any trouble.

Recommended favorite: RESURRECTION MEN is a great novel in which Rebus, whose superiors are fed up with his maverick behavior, is shoved off to a cop charm school with other troublemakers to investigate an old crime that no one wants solved.

Find on Amazon >>> RESURRECTION MEN

13  Dublin Murder Squad by Tana French

Main character: Set in Dublin, Ireland, the books showcase a revolving door of cops rather than the typical mystery series built around one particular character.

Have to start at the beginning? No. Each book stands alone, with a different narrator, but most reference characters and events from other books.

Recommended favorite: IN THE WOODS is the first in the series, and sets a fast pace and unique narrative style. FAITHFUL PLACE was gritty perfection.

Find on Amazon >>> IN THE WOODS

14  George Smiley series by John LeCarré

Main character: George Smiley is a polite and self-effacing spymaster in Britain’s intel service known as “the Circus,” whose demeanor masks his cunning, ruthlessness, and brilliant tradecraft during the Cold War with Russia.

Have to start at the beginning? Although Smiley first surfaces in A PERFECT MURDER, start with TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY.

Recommended favorite: SMILEY’S PEOPLE is a tour de force. Smiley finally matches wits against Karla, the Russian spymaster who recruited moles inside the Circus to bring down British intelligence.

Find on Amazon >>> TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY

15  Shetland series by Ann Cleeves

Main character: Jimmy Perez is a Scottish police detective serving the stormy and remote Shetland islands between Scotland and Norway.

Have to start at the beginning? No, but I would. RAVEN BLACK starts the series with a shocking murder and a plunge into Perez’s personality, empathetic investigative techniques, and a wild and unique landscape.

Recommended favorite: Each one is a whodunit triumph, largely because Cleeves makes everyone a suspect by using quirky personalities and the restlessness of confined and gossipy island communities.

Find on Amazon >>> RAVEN BLACK

16  The Lewis Trilogy by Peter May

Main character:  Raised on the Isle of Lewis in the remote Hebrides islands off Scotland’s Atlantic coast, Fin Macleod is a emotionally damaged Edinburgh detective who returns to investigate a copycat murder and stays.

Have to start at the beginning? Yes, read the three books in order, starting with THE BLACKHOUSE.

Recommended favorite: THE BLACKHOUSE is a gripping thriller that uses seemingly random flashbacks to tell Fin’s backstory; yet each memory is part of a puzzle that comes together in a brilliant and blindingly shocking climax.

Find on Amazon >>> THE BLACKHOUSE

FRANCE, ITALY & RUSSIA

17 Arkady Renko series by Martin Cruz Smith

Main character: Arkady Renko is an ageless Moscow cop who has survived the collapse of the Soviet Union and the rise of a Mafia-riddled Russia. The series is dense and absorbing, with rich descriptions of Russia, the Russian character, and decrepit Lada cars.

Have to start at the beginning? No. The first is GORKY PARK, but it’s a bit slow, especially the last 10%. The last two in the series are missable.

Recommended favorite: The second book, POLAR STAR, is a tour de force–all the action takes place on a rust bucket of a Soviet fishing vessel–but WOLVES EAT DOGS, set in the aftermath of the Chernobyl disaster, is hauntingly memorable.

Find on Amazon >>> POLAR STAR

18  Commissario Guido Brunetti series by Donna Leon

Main character: Guido Brunetti is a commissario of police, equivalent to a detective, in Venice, Italy. The city, with its mildew, high tides, lost aristocracy, immigrant populations, and decaying art and architecture, is a stunning backdrop to the series.

Have to start at the beginning? No, Leon does a good job of building every book as a stand-alone story. The first, DEATH AT LA FENICE, is a whodunit at Venice’s legendary opera.

Recommended favorite: Leon’s books are very consistent but a favorite is DRAWING CONCLUSIONS, which builds to a different style of ending than is her norm.

Find on Amazon >>> DEATH AT LA FENICE

19  Genevieve Lenard series by Estelle Ryan

Main character: Dr. Genevieve Lenard is the world’s leading authority on body language, a skill she developed as a way of dealing with her autism. She works for an elite insurance company in Strasbourg, France.

Have to start at the beginning? Strongly suggested. THE GAUGIN CONNECTION sets out Genevieve’s carefully ordered life and then demolishes it when she meets a reformed art thief.

Recommended favorite: The books link into one long narrative during which Genevieve joins a team of specialists working for the president of France to solve art crimes and catch international terrorists, relying heavily on cyber techniques.

Find on Amazon >>> THE GAUGIN CONNECTION

20  Commissario Salvo Montalbano series by Andrea Camilleri

Main character: Montalbano is a detective in Sicily, where the Mafia, loose women, and endemic corruption complicate every crime.

Have to start at the beginning? No, every one of the 24 books in the series stands alone with a clever cast of regulars and sinister newcomers.

Recommended favorite: All the books deal with significant issues in Italy such as illegal immigration, drug smuggling, prostitution, money laundering, but with a streak of humor that keeps our hero afloat.

Find on Amazon >>> TREASURE HUNT

21  Aimée Leduc murder mysteries by Cara Black

Main character: Aimee Leduc is a fashion-forward private detective in Paris juggling single motherhood, disappearing lovers, and a shadowy organization called The Hand. Her late father was a Paris cop killed by the group, while her super-spy American mother pops in and out of Aimée’s life.

Have to start at the beginning? No, each book stands alone, with preceding events put into context. MURDER IN THE MARAIS starts the series.

Recommended favorite: MURDER ON THE LEFT BANK, is a non-stop action roller coaster that leads us into the famed Gobelins tapestry weaving atelier.

Find on Amazon >>> MURDER IN THE MARAIS

NORDIC COUNTRIES

22  Harry Hole series by Jo Nesbo

Main character: Harry is a police detective in Oslo, Norway. His heavy drinking, some-time drug use, belligerent attitude, and maverick ways hurt him when it comes to personal relationships and other cops, yet often help solve crime.

Have to start at the beginning? Start with THE REDBREAST, which is actually Book 3. Skip the first book, THE BAT, as it neither takes place in Oslo nor is as well written as the rest.

Recommended favorite: POLICE was a tour-de-force, with virtually every chapter a cliff-hanger and secondary characters given fresh leading roles. Follow immediately with KNIFE.

Find on Amazon >>> THE REDBREAST

23  Kurt Wallander series by Henning Mankell

Main character: An over-the-hill, heavy drinking Swedish cop from the small town of Ystad, Wallander constantly struggles with alcohol, self-doubt, and the gray Swedish landscape. Kenneth Branagh played him in a pitch-perfect BBC series.

Have to start at the beginning? There are a lot of Wallander books. Start anywhere.

Recommended favorite: THE WHITE LIONNESS and THE DOGS OF RIGA are both excellent. The latter not only pulls you into multiple murders, but took Wallander to Riga, where Mankell does a fantastic job of viewing the Soviet-era Estonian city and its political corruption through neutral eyes.

Find on Amazon >>> THE WHITE LIONNESS

24  Department Q series by Jussi Adler-Olsen

Main Character: Copenhagen detective Carl Mörck heads up Department Q, a political invention of a cold case unit, with the help of a motley group of assistants, including Assad, a Syrian enigma.

Have to start at the beginning? Yes, THE KEEPER OF LOST CAUSES begins this fantastic series, showing us Carl’s complicated personal backstory, the origin of the unit, and how Assad became Carl’s crime-fighting wingman.

Recommended favorite: THE MARCO EFFECT is a favorite because of a clever young Gypsy boy who becomes a fugitive after witnessing a murder. Carl and Assad must follow his clues to solve the case.

Find on Amazon >>> THE KEEPER OF LOST CAUSES

25  Inspector Anita Sundström series by Torquil Macleod

Main character: Anita Sundström is a police detective in the Swedish city of Malmö, where she wrangles murder investigations, single motherhood, relationships with the wrong men, and snuss, the popular Swedish version of chewing tobacco.

Have to start at the beginning? Yes. MEET ME IN MALMO is a richly twisted story told from multiple points of view, with a jaw-dropping ending.

Recommended favorite: MISSING IN MALMO, the third book, hits the mark with multiple strings of danger and suspense all having to do with missing persons cases.

Find on Amazon >>> MEET ME IN MALMO

Book Review: 10 DAYS by Jule Selbo

Book Review: 10 DAYS by Jule Selbo

This Portland, Maine mystery has it all—a wounded, complicated heroine, a multi-faceted investigation with save-the-world implications, and oodles of atmosphere. Best of all, this is just the first in what promises to be a great new mystery series.

Dee Rommel is a Portland cop on extended leave after losing her leg in a fall off a building while chasing a criminal. She now works for an old family friend who runs a private detective agency. Dee wants to keep her head down and be the bookkeeper as she ponders her future, but neither her personality nor the business are going to give Dee what she thinks she wants.

The boss is out of town donating a kidney when Philip Claren walks in. Claren is a mashup of Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg who wants the agency to find his adult daughter before she marries a potential gold-digger. Taking after him in the brains department, the genius daughter recently left her laboratory and sent him a note about the pending nuptials with the family safe word in it.

Feeling unequal to the task, Dee reluctantly takes on the job and heads to Chebeaque Island via ferry. Not only is it the wedding destination, but Chebeague is also the safe word.

As the tale unfolds, Claren and his daughter are involved in research that connects artificial intelligence with bionic technology. Is the pending marriage an attempt to steal world-changing tech secrets? The reveal presages the open letter recently signed by Elon Musk and other leading tech notables expressing concern over the unregulated rise of AI and calling for a 6-month development moratorium.

Just wow.

Beyond the Claren family, the cast of characters includes Gordy, Dee’s irascible but generous boss; Abshir, a Somali student with a talent for surveillance; and Robbie Donato, a smart cop who sees through Dee’s often prickly exterior and would like to know her much better.

The prose is swift and punchy. The setting is so real you can almost smell the ocean breeze on the boat to Chebeaque. Dee narrates with an inner voice that is tough yet appealing, making this mystery a great mix of exciting plot and colorful personalities.

Highly recommended.

Get 10 DAYS on AMAZON

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Book Review: Family Secrets Come with the House in SQUATTER’S RIGHTS

Book Review: Family Secrets Come with the House in SQUATTER’S RIGHTS

In SQUATTER’S RIGHTS by Cheril Thomas, compelling family secrets come with the house.

The first book in the Eastern Shores Mysteries introduces us to attorney Grace Reagan, who just bought the huge money pit on Maryland’s rural Eastern Shore where her mother grew up.

The old mansion, known as Delaney House, was last inhabited by Grace’s grandmother, Emma Delaney. Grace never knew why her late mother and grandmother were estranged. Buying the house feels like a first step toward righting a wrong from a past she doesn’t understand.

Related post: Book Review: SWEETLAND by Dareth Pray

But to Grace’s surprise, a hitherto unknown uncle and cousin feel entitled to the house, despite Emma’s will which forced the house to be sold at auction. Their goal is to push Grace out.

SQUATTER’S RIGHTS gives us a mystery embedded in the very bones of the house and in the family torn apart inside it. After setting the scene, the narrative is imbued with quickening sense of foreboding.

Grace remains at odds with the uncle and cousins as questions mount. What drove her mother away from Delaney House years ago and why do echoes of distrust and anger linger even now? What secrets did Emma take to the grave? Is Grace’s romantically-inclined contractor who he says he is?

Hints spool out in the form of letters written in the 1950’s by a newly married Emma to her parents back in Asheville, North Carolina. The suspense-building letters are inserted into the current-day action in exactly the right places, driving a two-pronged drama until past and present merge into shocking answers.

Expect spot-on atmosphere and a tantalizing family secret. There are 4 more books in the series, too.

Highly recommended.

Order it on Amazon here.

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Could Gas Prices Make You a Victim of Fuel Thieves?

Could Gas Prices Make You a Victim of Fuel Thieves?

A month ago, the catalytic converter was hacked out of my daughter’s car as it was parked on a street in Chicago. Apparently, thieves troll at night for older cars with catalytic converters because the precious metals inside–palladium, rhodium, and platinum—now fetch unheard-of prices.

If you are in the US, you know that gas has also soared to unheard-of prices. Visiting family in New York last week, the gas station across from my hotel raised prices by 20 cents in 4 days.

As gas prices rise, articles about gas thieves in the US are hitting my inbox. Fuel theft is a phenomenon I mostly associate with Mexico, so I decided to do some digging.

Fuel thieves in the US

A quick search turned up report after report connecting gas prices with fuel theft.

In New York, thieves are drilling directly into a car’s gas tank, according to a Long Island report. https://longisland.news12.com/officials-gas-thieves-take-on-new-potentially-dangerous-way-to-steal-fuel. Newer vehicles have a rollover valve in the gas tank, which prevents the old-fashion method of siphoning gas out of a car’s gas tank. Thieves risk contact between the flammable fuel and a hot drill bit.

Other thieves park over the underground tank supplying a gas station, open a trap door in the floor of their vehicle and drill into the underground tank. https://abc7news.com/california-gas-prices-thieves-targeting-cars-and-stations-high-gasoline/11653156/

Still others hack gas pumps to change the price or spit out more gas. https://fox4kc.com/news/gas-thieves-in-florida-accused-of-hacking-pumps-to-get-basically-free-fuel/

In Nevada, thieves manipulate gas pumps, and fill specially modified trucks and trailers with stolen gas. They haul it to California, which has significantly higher prices for gas, and sell on the black market. https://abc7.com/gas-theft-las-vegas-trucks-stealing-gasoline-cost-of/11939871/ Gas station owners may not realize that the same truck has been fueling up for hours or that a pump has been tampered with until the station’s underground tank goes dry.

And so on.

Fuel thieves in Mexico

In Mexico, gas prices are less of a factor than poverty and corruption.

Fuel thieves are called huachicoleros and they target pipelines owned by Pemex, the national oil and gas utility. Pipelines are well marked and often run through miles and miles of uninhabited rural landscape. The fuel thieves siphon out the fuel, then sell it to gas stations and buyers in the open-air markets that sustain Mexico’s informal economy.

According to Reuters, “While organized crime is a big player, [President Manuel Lopez Obrador] has reserved particular disdain for Pemex, blaming crooked company insiders for much of the illicit trade.” https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mexico-fuel-theft-idUSKCN1PO0ET

But many of the fuel thieves are locals who fill buckets and bottles with stolen fuel. For them it’s a way out of poverty, albeit an extraordinarily dangerous path.

For example, in January 2019, 117 people died in the state of Hidalgo pilfering fuel from a pipeline when a fire erupted. Most of the victims were from a nearby village. When word spread that a tap was gushing, people grabbed whatever receptacle they had at hand and joined the crowd. It was almost like a party until a single, fatal spark.

Days after the blast, the thefts resumed.

Fireball

The tragedy in Hidalgo and dozens of other stories like it inspired me to write RUSSIAN MOJITO, Silver Falchion award finalist and the 7th book in the Detective Emilia Cruz mystery series set in Acapulco.

Emilia tangles with a Russian assassin and crooked Pemex officials as she investigates a murder in the luxury hotel where she lives with general manager Kurt Rucker. On stakeout with the ever-grumpy Lieutenant Franco Silvio, huachicoleros cause a fireball that nearly engulfs the two cops.

Russian Mojito cover

I’m humbled by a review of RUSSIAN MOJITO from Jim Nesbitt, author of the sensational Ed Earl Burch mystery series:

“As always, Amato spins a taut tale, keeping the reader off balance and guessing just as much as Cruz does. The pace is swift and the action is realistically and unflinchingly portrayed. Cruz is a tough but tortured cookie, driven by guilt and obsession. And that’s what makes her so damn interesting.”

If you’d like to leave your own review, here’s the link. Many thanks!

Carmen Amato is the author of the Detective Emilia Cruz police series set in Acapulco and the upcoming Galliano Club historical thrillers. A 30-year veteran of the Central Intelligence Agency, her personal experiences occasionally make their way into her fiction.

Want to know more? Follow on Facebook or get Mystery Ahead updates in your email inbox every other Sunday.

President Trump vs Mexican drug cartel labs

President Trump vs Mexican drug cartel labs

Mark Esper has written about his stint as secretary of defense during the last year of President Donald Trump’s administration in A SACRED OATH. Before the book came out this month, excerpts published in the New York Times revealed that President Trump, frustrated by the constant flow of drugs across the US-Mexican border and convinced that Mexican authorities were losing control, reportedly asked Esper about the possibility of launching missiles to destroy Mexican drug cartel labs.

Esper dismissed the notion out of hand, saying that if he had not been face to face with the president, he would have thought the question was a joke.

I can well believe that reaction. The overwhelming bureaucratic response to the flood of illicit drugs coming into the United States is to rely on a limited suite of options which has neither stemmed the flow of drugs nor the rising number of drug-related deaths.

Related: Hard truths from the drug war from an intel professional

An outsider looking at the situation dispassionately might say: “The substances the cartels are pumping into my country are killing people at an unprecedented rate. What resources do I have to impact this problem?”

According to the CDC, 93,331 people died from a drug overdose death in the United States during 2020, a 30% increase over the previous year. The upward trajectory continued, with 108,000 deaths in 2021. Two-thirds were due to the synthetic opioid fentanyl, which can be produced in a laboratory–no swaths of poppies needed–and pressed into pills that are easy to conceal/disguise/transport. Availability and increased demand have risen together.

The last big effort to stem the drug tide was the Mérida Initiative, a bilateral security cooperation agreement between Mexico and the United States negotiated between presidents George W. Bush and Felipe Calderón. Mexico received nearly $3 billion for military equipment and training, as well as to strengthen a relatively weak judiciary system.

This package and Mexico’s quasi-military approach established a framework for action against the cartels that remains, by and large, the shape of US policy. Meanwhile, we are seeing record highs for US drug deaths, drug gang related crime, deaths in Mexico attributable to organized drug crime, numbers of missing persons in Mexico, and the availability of lab-produced drugs.

A missile strike without the consent of the Mexican government is a non-starter IMHO, but is it any wonder that a US president would be trying to find an outside-the-box solution? What if the proposal was put to Mexico? A partnership to take out the drug labs? No doubt Mexico City would have refused to cooperate but I’ll bet the idea would be crazy enough to provoke a new discussion instead of more of the same.

When I published the first Detective Emilia Cruz mystery, CLIFF DIVER, fentanyl was not yet the scourge it is now. Cocaine was king and bundles of marijuana were still being muled across the US-Mexico border. Drugs weren’t so cheap and the growing season meant seasonal eradication operations. Fentanyl is a new plot twist, but some things never change.

Cliff Diver

I truly appreciate the reviewer who said:

I am in awe of Amato for being brave and shedding light on many home truths.

Read an excerpt of CLIFF DIVER here.

Carmen Amato is the author of the Detective Emilia Cruz police series set in Acapulco and the upcoming Galliano Club historical thrillers. A 30-year veteran of the Central Intelligence Agency, her personal experiences occasionally make their way into her fiction.

Want to know more? Follow me on Facebook or get Mystery Ahead updates in your email inbox every other Sunday.

Book Review: A PALE HORSE by Charles Todd

Book Review: A PALE HORSE by Charles Todd

I’ve been gobbling up the Inspector Ian Rutledge historical mystery series by Charles Todd and A PALE HORSE is a prime example of what makes this post-WWI series so irresistible. You get a travelogue of Great Britain, layers of plot complexity, and a flawed hero who lives on the edge of madness caused by bloody and senseless war.

It’s 1920 and Rutledge is an inspector with Scotland Yard with jurisdiction to investigate across Britain. His first case is an unidentified body wearing a theatrical cloak and a war-time gas mask, found in the ruins of an abbey in Yorkshire. Having spent 4 years as an officer in the trenches of France, Rutledge is somewhat of a ruin himself.

He hears the Scottish voice of his dead sergeant Hamish, a voice so real that he cannot turn around for fear of actually seeing the man. Hamish was executed by firing squad for refusing to lead his men in another suicidal charge through no-man’s land. As the officer in charge, it was up to Rutledge to deliver the final shot. Moments after doing so, a German mortar attack killed everyone in the trench except Rutledge who was shielded when Hamish’s dead body fell on him.

The mystery of the unidentified body in Yorkshire soon merges with that of a missing Berkshire scientist who lived in a small cluster of cottages built near the mysterious silhouette of a horse cut into a chalk hill by ancient people. As Rutledge probes the disappearance, each of the other residents of this strange little community reveal their secrets. Soon Rutledge isn’t just trying to identify the dead or find the missing but solve multiple murders.

I’m always fascinated by plot construction and the Rutledge books follow a 3-act template. Act 1 is all about setting the scene and the pace is measured. Things pick up in Act 2, but Rutledge frequently revisits locations or questions the same people again and again, uncommon technique for a mystery author. The pace is fastest in Act 3 as clues lead to a major climax.

Throughout it all, Rutledge and Hamish debate the cases and taunt each other. Thanks to some of the best writing out there, we see how Hamish is a product of Rutledge’s troubled conscience. Here’s an example from A PALE HORSE, as Rutledge contemplates a lost love:

She was another man’s wife, now. Not his, never his . . .

Hamish, at his shoulder, said only, “It was verra’ different with my Fiona. I should ha’ come home to her, and left you dead in France. Your Jean wouldna’ have missed you . . .”

The voice was sad, as if half convincing himself that this was true.

Together the two men, one of whom didn’t exist, went back to the flat.

Highly recommended. Find A PALE HORSE on AMAZON.

At least you didn’t fall into a narco sinkhole

At least you didn’t fall into a narco sinkhole

Imagine taking a nap on your sofa one afternoon, only to be awakened when the floor collapses, pitching you into a sinkhole.

But it’s not a true sinkhole, it’s a tunnel built by drug cartel smugglers that runs under your house.

This happened last week to a man in Culiacán, in the Mexican state of Sinaloa which is famous for being El Chapo Guzman’s base of operations and the name of his infamous cartel. When the roof of the tunnel caved in, the man fell about eight feet to the bottom of the tunnel.

Luckily, he didn’t suffer major injuries, nor did he fall into a smuggling event in progress. Hard to know which would be worse; a bad tumble or surprising unfriendly cartel smugglers.

As for his property values, well, best not to go there.

The tunnel, which runs under at least eight houses before emptying into a canal, was abandoned a few years ago after discovery by law enforcement. Neighbors used it as a giant trash chute and the tunnel was left to decay. The governor of Sinaloa sent his minister of public works to investigate and promise that the tunnel would be filled in to avoid other homes from collapsing.

This is hardly the first narco-tunnel to make the news. In 2020, the longest narco-tunnel was discovered running between Tijuana, Baja California, and San Diego, California. With a total length of 4,309 feet and running an average of 70 feet below the surface, that tunnel boasted an extensive rail and cart system, forced air ventilation, high voltage electrical cables and panels, an elevator at the tunnel entrance and more.

El Chapo himself famously escaped a México state maximum security prison in 2015 through a mile-long hatch far underground. The shower floor in his cell became a trap door, allowing El Chapo to slip into a narrow tunnel outfitted with a motorcycle on rails to speed him to freedom.

When I wrote the tunnel discovery scene in 43 MISSING, from the Detective Emilia Cruz mystery series set in Acapulco, my goal was to put you inside a similarly dark and terrifying place with Detective Emilia Cruz as she follows cartel killers into a narco-tunnel.

Similar to the tunnel dug for El Chapo, the fictional tunnel has electric lights and a transport system. And yes, an impatient cartel kingpin waits on the other end, confident that he’ll be spirited out of prison.

But besides falling into one, how are narco-tunnels discovered? No spoilers from the book, except this review from Nightstand Book Reviews:

What is uncovered in “43 Missing” is astounding . . . Amato is thoroughly convincing in her version of what might have happened . . . [It] stayed with me long after I finished the book.

If you’d like to leave your own review, use this link to 43 MISSING on Amazon.

Detective Emilia Cruz’s Origin Story

Detective Emilia Cruz’s Origin Story

What is Detective Emilia Cruz’s origin story? How was the mystery series invented?

Well, it started with poinsettias.

Many, many poinsettias.

The following is from the Author’s Note in the new edition of CLIFF DIVER, the first book in the Detective Emilia Cruz mystery series.

Cliff Diver

Where it started

The little church in Mexico City was decorated for Christmas with 100 red poinsettias. Every pew was filled, many with sleepy but excited children, for a special Christmas Eve midnight Mass.

Father Richard was leading us in the Prayer of the Faithful when an armed man staggered up the center aisle, his limbs jerking as he alternately murmured and shouted incomprehensible words. We all shrank back as he made his way towards the altar, an unexpected and volatile presence.

As the congregation looked on in growing panic, the man accosted Father Richard. The priest didn’t move or stop the prayer, just dug through his robes for a pocket. He pulled out a few pesos and pressed them into the man’s hand.

By that time several of the male congregants had come onto the altar as well and they gently disarmed and propelled the drug-addled man through the church to the rear door.

Christmas Mass continued. The addict remained nameless to the shaken congregation. But he stayed with all of us, evidence that Mexico’s own problems were growing as more and more drugs transited the country en route to the insatiable United States.

Growing Violence

We were an American family in Mexico City, embracing a new culture, exploring a vibrant city, and meeting people who were to impact our lives for years to come. But we always knew that the bubble was fragile and as if to prove it, Mexico’s news grew worse in the new year: shootouts in major cities, multiple drug seizures, rising numbers of dead and missing, the murders of mayors, governors and journalists.

Father Richard was murdered three years later. His killer was never found.

Fr Richard Junius

Father Richard Junius

I carried my memories of Mexico with me when we left. I poured them into a new novel, bringing a fast-paced contemporary style to a Cinderella story set against the backdrop of political corruption and cartel violence. The result was the 2012 political thriller The Hidden Light of Mexico City, a story from the heart that took on both Mexico’s rigid social system and the corruption that flows from huge drug profits. The reviews made me sure that contemporary fiction could ignite popular interest in what was happening in Mexico better than the news could.

The Hidden Light of Mexico City political thriller

Related: About The Hidden Light of Mexico City political thriller

Detective Emilia Cruz, the first female police detective in Acapulco, followed soon after.

She lives in a beautiful pressure cooker

Once one of the most glamorous tourist destinations in the world, Acapulco has fallen on hard times, thanks to the drug trade. With one of the highest homicide rates in the Western Hemisphere, Acapulco is a prize being fought over by rival drug cartels.

Tourism continues to be the city’s lifeblood but Acapulco has two faces; one of luxury and one of poverty. Both claw at Emilia and force her to survive between them.

Acapulco, Mexico

Related: Emilia Cruz’s Acapulco

The series is as authentic as the Mexico I experienced and the drug war I fought as a US intelligence officer.

Emilia and I are in it for the long haul. We’ll see if a mystery series can raise awareness of what’s going on in Mexico, with plot elements straight out of the headlines, an authentic dive into one of the most beautiful settings on earth, and a little salsa fresca from my own years living in Mexico and Central America.

An origin story with hope and purpose

When Felix Contreras, the host of NPR’s ALT.Latino show, asked me about the Emilia Cruz character, I told him that she represented hope. Despite Mexico’s drug cartels and high murder rates, good people there are fighting for their country.

Related: Latino Noir broadcast with Felix Contreras

Part of the proceeds from sales of the Detective Emilia Cruz series support children’s cancer research, global water inequality, and US military veterans and first responders.

Detective Emilia Cruz series

The drug addict unknowingly gave a gift that Christmas. The Emilia Cruz series will pay it forward.

Book Review: HEAD WOUNDS by Dennis Palumbo

Book Review: HEAD WOUNDS by Dennis Palumbo

HEAD WOUNDS is the most recent entry in the action-filled Dr. Daniel Rinaldi thriller series by Dennis Palumbo. Dr. Rinaldi is a Pittsburgh-based psychologist and police consultant with a few rough edges and a remorseless, deranged enemy.

The combination is an absolute page-turner.

The premise

Dan Rinaldi lost his wife Barbara 12 years ago in an unsolved mugging gone bad. As he reads a recently obtained dossier on the crime, a bullet smashes his living room window.

Outside, a gun-toting neighbor is angry and drunk. When the police arrive, the wife admits to having told her husband in a fit of pique that she’s having an affair with Dan.

She’s found dead not long after.

Other seemingly random incidents touch Dan’s life. In a shocking twist, Barbara’s killer is responsible.

The villain

Brilliant but unstable, Sebastian Maddox was obsessed with Barbara in college. Just released from prison for an unrelated crime, he wants to punish Dan for “stealing” Barbara by torturing Dan’s nearest and dearest before finally killing Dan in Hannibal Lector-worthy fashion.

A terrifying villain with an easily understood motive who had more than a decade to grow progressively more delusional and macabre, Maddox taps into Dan’s phone, laptop, and car GPS. Remote access to Dan’s digital devices gives Maddox personal details about his victims, which he puts to cunning and horrific use.

The two men play a heart-pounding scavenger hunt across Pittsburgh. Maddox meters out clues as to who the next victim will be and Dan races against time to try and save them. Warned by Maddox that more innocents will die if the police are involved, Dan is aided only by a female FBI agent (and soon-to-be love interest) and a retired FBI profiler. On the run from Maddox’s surveillance and exhausted from the endless tension, the trio nonetheless manage to dig up pivotal background material on the killer.

The entire book is written from Dan’s point of view and we’re in this with him every step of the way. We like his grit and the fact that he’s not some academic lightweight you can knock over with a feather. A former boxer with a bad temper and mean right hook, Rinaldi is a true son of Pittsburgh. A medical professional but not too polished, not too far from his blue collar roots.

The style

The last half of the book is a speeding train. The non-stop pace, brash characters, and roller coaster events have a cinematic quality. I was reminded of the Lethal Weapon movies as well as Speed, The Silence of the Lambs and Harrison Ford’s The Fugitive.

It’s no surprise, then, to find out that author Dennis Palumbo is not only a practicing psychotherapist, but also a former screenwriter. His credits include the feature film My Favorite Year, which starred Peter O’Toole and has been one of my Top 10 favorite movies since forever.

The next Dr. Daniel Rinaldi book, PANIC ATTACK, is out next month.

Your heartrate will have slowed by then.

Highly recommended.

Find HEAD WOUNDS on Amazon.

Fiction author asks: Why do we fall in love?

Fiction author asks: Why do we fall in love?

True Story

I met my husband at a Memorial Day picnic. After burgers and hot dogs, our host hauled out Trivial Pursuit. Teams were assembled and a fierce no-holds-barred game ensued.

To my chagrin, his team won.

Nonetheless, when he called a few weeks later, we made a date for the 4th of July. He was well-traveled, well read, and had interesting things to say. We thought the same way about things that mattered.

Also, he had extremely attractive blue eyes.

We got married 10 months later.

Wedding

Science of love

My own experience helps, but I’ve been researching love for the key relationship in my forthcoming GALLIANO CLUB series.

What makes people fall in love? Is it purely involuntary? Is there a chemical reaction in the brain?

Was I just a sucker for blue eyes and trivia?

Harvard researchers have done an unexpectedly large amount of thinking about the science behind love, which a 2014 article summed up as: “The sensation of being in an altered mental state, intrusive thoughts and images of the beloved, and changes in behavior aimed at getting a reciprocal response.” https://www.health.harvard.edu/newsletter_article/In_brief_Is_it_love_-_or_just_stress_hormones

Those Harvard types even broke down the chemistry behind the phases of love: “Love can be distilled into three categories: lust, attraction, and attachment. Though there are overlaps and subtleties to each, each type is characterized by its own set of hormones. Testosterone and estrogen drive lust; dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin create attraction; and oxytocin and vasopressin mediate attachment.” http://sitn.hms.harvard.edu/flash/2017/love-actually-science-behind-lust-attraction-companionship/

A Yale researcher suggests physical warmth helps the cause of falling in love. Other behaviors that lead to love include positivity, making eye contact, and being a good listener. https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-fall-in-love-using-science-2017-2#on-a-first-date-get-coffee-not-ice-cream-1

Love, literally

Beyond the science, any good fictional romance has to show how an initial spark of attraction turns into something life-changing. I hate books with insta-romances that have no discernible basis. grrrrr

The reader needs to see WHY two people fall in love. The readers has to believe in their love story.

In THE HIDDEN LIGHT OF MEXICO CITY, Eduardo Cortez Castillo and Luz de Maria Alba Mora find a strength in each other that enables each to accomplish a nearly impossible goal. Neither could do it alone.

In AWAKENING MACBETH, Brodie Macbeth and Joe Birnam bond over mutual loss but recognize each other’s emotional vulnerabilities and help heal them. Yet, those vulnerabilities save their lives.

In the DETECTIVE EMILIA CRUZ series, Emilia Cruz sees Kurt Rucker as someone who can help her manage her situation as the only female police detective in Acapulco. She loves his strength and the fact that it comes without the machismo mindset of a Mexican man. Former military, he’s attracted to her independence and the danger that comes with her job.

Each of these relationships are powered by dialogue. A critical initial conversation between the two characters sets the tone.

Love at the Galliano Club

In MURDER AT THE GALLIANO CLUB, the first book in the series set in 1926 in the fictional city of Lido, NY, our lovers have vastly different backgrounds, yet each is hungry for a sense of belonging.

Rudolph Valentino

Silent screen star Rudolph Valentino is the inspiration for Luca Lombardo. Ironically, Valentino died in 1926, the year in which the Galliano Club series is set.

Luca Lombardo is a relatively recent immigrant to the US from Italy. Still a young man, he’s a widower who feels he must atone for the death of his wife and child.

Dorothy Gulliver

Silent film starlet Dorothy Gulliver is my inspiration for Tess Kennedy. She was one of the few silent film actresses to make the transition to talkies.

Tess Kennedy is a modern woman with a college education (Vassar, Class of 1924) and a job in a bank, but coping with a disintegrating family situation.

How will their mutual attraction play out? Will murder, blackmail, and crooked cops get in the way?

Will anyone have extremely attractive blue eyes?

Read more about the GALLIANO CLUB series here.

>>> If you really want to know more about falling in love, the folks at Romantific have all the answers! Check out this post on how long it takes to fall in love!

Falling in Love

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CARMEN AMATO

Mystery and thriller author. Retired Central Intelligence Agency intel officer. Dog mom to Hazel and Dutch. Recovering Italian handbag addict.

 

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