Carmen Amato uses lessons from a 30-year career with the Central Intelligence Agency to craft crime fiction loaded with mystery and deception.
Find all her books here, organized by series. Click individual book covers for more or links to series pages.
Detective Emilia Cruz Mystery Series
Emilia Cruz is the first female police detective in Acapulco. If the drug cartels don’t get her, another cop will.
Poison Cup award for Outstanding Series, 2019 & 2020, CrimeMasters of America; Silver Falchion Award for Story/Collection, 2019, Killer Nashville
Emilia investigates the death of a dirty cop in the explosive series debut.
As Acapulco burns, Emilia hunts for a violent arsonist and a missing girl in Book 2.
A religious relic, a cruise ship murder, and a rookie cop put Emilia’s life in danger in Book 3.
Emilia gambles it all to save her partner from a serial killer targeting cops in Book 4.
Emilia goes undercover as a devotee of Santa Muerte, Mexico’s forbidden saint, in Book 5.
Based on a true crime, Emilia grapples with a shocking mass kidnapping in Book 6.
Can Emilia deliver a dose of Mexican justice to a Russian killer in Book 7?
Emilia plays both a taxi driver and a movie star in the undercover role of a lifetime in Book 8.
Detective Emilia Cruz Short Reads
This prequel collection of short stories captures Emilia’s first years as a detective.
Emilia and her partner go undercover in this very unexpected Christmas murder mystery novella.
A black notebook and a man with nine fingers draw Emilia into a maze of mistaken identities and gang rivals
Detective Emilia Cruz Extras
This bilingual tale won the 2019 Silver Falchion Award for best short story.
Get the first 6 complete novels in this Kindle boxed set.
Standalone Thrillers
Expect Carmen’s signature blend of complex mystery, layers of deception, and high-wire action.
A drug cartel is poised to buy Mexico’s presidency and only one man stands in the way.
Romantic suspense with a supernatural twist pits a college professor and an Iraq War vet against eternal evil.
Galliano Club Thriller Series — coming soon
In 1926, it’s hard to get a beer, thanks to Prohibition. But in Lido, New York, there’s plenty of secrets, lies, and murder on tap at the Galliano Club.
Based on tales told by Carmen’s late grandfather, a former Deputy Sheriff of Oneida County, NY.
A dead body behind the Galliano Club sets off a chain reaction of crime and deception in this Prohibition-era thriller based on Carmen’s home town.
Barman Luca Lombardo and dancer Ruth Cross are caught in a web of blackmail ensnaring everyone connected to the Galliano Club.
Hanna Gorski is determined to discover who murdered her sister and deliver her own brand of justice. The Galliano Club will never be the same.
