ONCE UPON A TIME My hometown of Rome, New York, was a close-knit community where almost everyone was Italian, Irish, or Polish and a Roman Catholic. Five hours away from New York City and the Statue of Liberty by train, the city was surrounded by dairy farms, with...
I was recently asked if the coronavirus pandemic had changed what readers want from mystery authors. Maybe. Right now, I think readers appreciate a good tale of overcoming the odds. That’s why polar history resonates with me right now. The early exploration of...
What??!! A new historical mystery series? But, but . . . Read on. One of my earliest memories is of my grandfather coming home from Revere Copper and Brass, yelling “Ann!” When my grandmother replied, he inevitably came back with “Huh?” the first sign of the...
NARCO NOIR, Detective Emilia Cruz Book 8 will be released on 16 April! Emilia goes undercover as a taxi driver to catch a killer, but a dangerous detour takes her to a movie set and the choice that will change her life forever. Cover reveal Once again, artist Matt...
November 19, 2019 Mystery author and 30 year veteran of the Central Intelligence Agency, Carmen Amato walked mystery and thriller authors through the federal intelligence agency in a webinar for Sisters in Crime. Entitled "Inside the CIA for Mystery and Thriller...
He put the cord over my head. It scratched against my neck, heavier than I expected. My heart was beating too fast. The noise buffeted me, my vision a blur . . . Nope, I wasn't strangled, but won the Silver Falchion award for THE ARTIST/EL ARTISTA in the...
IT'S NEW RELEASE DAY!RUSSIAN MOJITO, Detective Emilia Cruz Book 7 is out now and on sale for Kindle for $0.99!To promote the book, both PACIFIC REAPER and 43 MISSING are also on sale! It's a limited time event, so grab your copies now. RUSSIAN MOJITO is a...
RUSSIAN MOJITO, Detective Emilia Cruz Book 7, will be released on 6 June. It is undoubtedly the most complex mystery I've ever written. Emilia's whole future is on the line. Mystery writing: the big start Every Emilia Cruz novel has multiple plot lines. My...
Cue the drum roll!RUSSIAN MOJITO, Detective Emilia Cruz Book 7, will be available soon. Mark your calendar:23 May: Kindle pre-order6 June: Kindle release23 June: Paperback releaseAbout RUSSIAN MOJITORUSSIAN MOJITO takes up where 43 MISSING left off. Emilia...
The first quarter of 2019 has been an exciting time. Two recognitions have come my way, for which I am both surprised and grateful. CrimeMasters of America The Detective Emilia Cruz series won the Poison Cup award from CrimeMasters. I was quite overwhelmed...
My "Simplify" theme for 2019 led to some housekeeping and that in turn led to the discovery of a lost chapter of THE HIDDEN LIGHT OF MEXICO CITY. Backstory The novel was originally an 800 page (Not. Kidding.) all written from the point of view of the...
My most recent book, 43 MISSING: Detective Emilia Cruz Book 6, was inspired by the events of September 2014 when 43 students from a teacher's college in the town of Ayotzinapa, near Acapulco in Mexico's state of Guerrero, disappeared in the nearby town of...
The Killer Nashville International Writer’s Conference was the first of its kind I’ve ever attended. I didn’t know quite what to expect but tried to put my best foot forward: Served on 3 panels (Writing Spies and Espionage, Settings, Witness Reliability),...
I'm heading to the Killer Nashville mystery writer's conference, where 43 MISSING, the 6th Detective Emilia Cruz novel, is a finalist for the Silver Falchion award for Best Procedural. The award has multiple categories and many of the finalists are very...
“But the novel is set in Mexico,” she said. “All the characters are Mexican.” “That’s right,” I replied. “Lives of the people fighting the drug cartels. And Mexico’s class structure.” More than 5 years ago, I was speaking on the phone to a well-known American author...