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RESEARCH NOTES: HAT DANCE
Every book introduces the reader to a unique piece of Mexican culture, history or heritage.
In the case of HAT DANCE, that element is lucha libre, the popular wrestling sport that feels uniquely Mexican.
More importantly, HAT DANCE turns on Emilia’s ongoing hunt for woman who are missing from greater Acapulco, inspired by the hundreds of missing and murdered young women and girls in Ciudad Juarez near the US-Mexico border.
MISSING WOMEN
One of the biggest influences was the history of women missing from the border city of Ciudad Juárez. According to the U.S Committee For Refugees and Immigrants:
“In 1993, the women of Ciudad Juárez started to disappear. Alma Chavira Farel was the first: at fourteen years old, she was found strangled to death. From there, the count of the missing and the dead rose. Bones surfaced in the desert expanse surrounding the city, fragments handed to mothers who wondered what happened to their daughters.
"Today, there are at least 2,526 murdered women from Juárez. The killings did not stop there, but spread, becoming a national crisis of murder and enforced disappearance.”
https://refugees.org/justice-for-our-daughters-murder-and-disappearance-of-women-in-mexico/
These remain unsolved murders. Meanwhile, the numbers of women who go missing in Mexico mount every day.
PHOTO: Rally for the disappeared, Ricardo Martinez Gonzalez via Pexels.com
Newspapers run ads placed by family members, cities are plastered with the faces of the disappeared and shoes have become symbols of the missing in huge rallies to focus attention on an issue that continues to worsen as organized crime erodes civil authority.
PHOTO: Clipped by author from a local newspaper
THE DEAD WOMEN OF JUAREZ by Sam Hawken was an eye-opener and helped me see how fiction about contemporary crime can resonate with readers.
Published in 2011, it follows Kelly Courter, a washed-up Texan boxer, and Rafael Sevilla, a Mexican detective, as they try to find out the truth about the rising numbers of murdered and missing women.
I've written about the missing persons angle in the Detective Emilia Cruz books on Substack, notably in The Ghosts that Haunt my Crime Fiction.
LUCHA LIBRE
Masks, costumes and personas are part of the spectacle for lucha libre wrestling, translated as “free fight.” Tag team wrestling is part of the fun of watching a lucha libre tournament. Three-man teams are called Trios, which triples the free-for-all aspect of the event.
Male lucha libre wrestlers are known as luchadores (singular = luchador.)
A luchador’s “character” or alter ego persona are a big part of the sport. Spectators may never know a luchador’s real name or ever see their face unmasked.
PHOTO: Victorious luchador by Juan Trevilla via Pexels.com