RESEARCH NOTES: KING PESO

KING PESO started out as a serial killer story, but as readers have come to know, a Detective Emilia Cruz book rarely takes you on the journey you expect.

In KING PESO, Acapulco is rocked by the execution-style murders of three law enforcement officers in as many weeks. Emilia has a personal connection to each victim.

Each victim brings the killer progressively closer to her.

But instead of investigating, she gets a new assignment inspired by a police unit in India while murder clues lead to a casino that mimics a building in Nicaragua.

And the serial killer is too close for comfort.

ALL FEMALE POLICE UNIT

Las Palomas, the all-female unarmed unit that Emilia is assigned to instead of investigating the so-called El Trio killer, was inspired by news articles about all-female police units in India where violent crimes against women are all too common. At the same time, women often don’t want to report crime to male officers in fear of being mistreated by them as well.

Articles like this one in the Hindustan Times from 2017 claim that units are “shaking up the male-dominated force in conservative northwest India, hitting the streets to combat sex crimes and a pervasive culture of silence around rape.”

In KING PESO, Acapulco’s ambitious mayor Carlota Montoya Perez wants to use an all-female police unit to bolster the city’s reputation and smarten up tourist areas. Stopping crime is a secondary objective.

PHARAOH CASINO

For a mystery writer and anyone who has ever seen a movie set in Las Vegas, casinos are the perfect spot for crime like cheating at cards, rigged slots, outright theft and money laundering.

The inspiration for the El Pharoah casino in KING PESO came from a building in Managua, Nicaragua that looked like the giant head of an Egyptian pharaoh, similar to the Las Vegas casino which I’ve never seen in person. 

 PHOTO: Pharaoh casino in Las Vegas by Linda Saya Scott via pixabay

I never went inside the casino in Nicaragua, which seemed to favor a very specific clientele.

BTW It was in Nicaragua where I first heard the terms “femicide” and “auto-hotel.” The latter is a brothel specifically for quickies. Drive in, take care of business and drive out. Fast, economical and disgusting.

There was a brothel in the same shopping center as the grocery store where I regularly shopped.

Also in Mangua, a man who murdered his wife was fined $15.

I could go on, but you get the picture.

PS: Crimes against women in Nicaragua prompted me to write about domestic violence versus worship of the Holy Mother: https://carmenamato.net/the-marymujer-paradox/

PRISONS

One of the most striking scenes in KING PESO is when Emilia visits her partner in prison. He's been wrongfully accused of the murder of his wife. His supposed motivation was to get her out of the way in order to have a romantic relationship with Emilia.

I dug into my own prison experience and firsthand accounts of Mexican prisons to put the reader in Emilia's shoes in the scene.

As an 18-year-old freshman expected to do community service as part of the academic curriculum, volunteering at a prison was the most interesting option on offer. I taught prisoners to read.

Jamesville Penitentiary outside Syracuse NY was a minimum security prison built in 1901. The place was an unlovely monolith with a single entrance that could have passed for a hospital or a spartan dormitory. It’s gone now, replaced by the modern Jamesville Correctional Facility run by the Onondaga Sheriff’s Office.

PHOTO: Vintage image Jamesville Penitentiary via ebay

I had no idea what to expect when I rang the buzzer at the front entrance to the forbidding old building. I was fingerprinted and received a list of rules like “Never give your address to a prisoner.” After that, it was just me, the prisoner of the week and some elementary schoolbooks.

Sadly, many of the prisoners were around my age, incarcerated for theft or drug crimes. Few were interested in learning to read or gaining any other useful skills.

From Jamesville to Mexico . . .

Father Richard Junius, the pastor of St. Patrick’s church in Mexico City ministered to prison inmates and shared his insights about conditions in the local lockup when I was president of the parish council there. I channeled Father’s Richard’s descriptions when writing the scene in which Franco Silvio, Emilia Cruz’s partner, is being held in a communal prison when accused of murdering his wife.

ICYMI: Father Richard was murdered in the rectory of his church in Mexico City. His killer has never been found and many questions remain about his death, including mine which you can find here:  https://carmenamato.net/the-man-in-the-sacristy/

He is the inspiration for Padre Ricardo, the recurring character who helps Emilia cope with the moral ambiguities of being a cop in Mexico.