Ellie Smart is a professional cliff diver, but not an adrenaline junkie. Riiiight. A native of Missouri and former collegiate diver at UC Berkeley, with a Masters degree in sports and exercise science, Smart is the only American woman with a permanent billet on the...
My 2021 Gift Guide features everything a mystery lover needs for the year ahead. Keep scrolling to find reader favorites from the Mystery Ahead newsletter, non-fiction reads that go inside the Detective Emilia Cruz mystery series and the Galliano Club thriller series,...
I keep waiting for coronavirus to call a time out but, uh, so far . . . no. It's turning me into an armchair traveler. You, too? I have missed museums. Not that I'm a rabid art hound, but museums are a great reason to get up and go somewhere new to refuel my creative...
I have a suggestion or two how to fix Hollywood's Latino diversity problem. Well, maybe not fix. But at least make a good start. The problem in perspective In a recent commentary for CNN, Felix Sanchez, chairman and co-founder of the National Hispanic Foundation for...
Every Detective Emilia Cruz novel uses unique aspects of Mexican culture to create crimes and situations that would not be possible anywhere else. In PACIFIC REAPER, Emilia confronts the cult of Santa Muerte, the saint of death embraced by drug cartels. Someone is...
My favorite teacher was Mr. Taverna. He was the only male teacher in the elementary school and undoubtedly the most famous. Everyone in town knew that Mr. Taverna was a great teacher and it was quite a coup if you got in his fourth grade class. First, his math...
Mexico's rich culture is a big part of my Detective Emilia Cruz series set in Acapulco and inspired a new project: The Insider's Guide to the Best of Mexico. This free guide is a collection of great stories from 36 experts who shared their insider tales of where to...
As a mystery writer, my Detective Emilia Cruz police procedural series usually explores the dark side of Mexico: cartel violence, police corruption, and missing persons. But Mexico's rich culture is as much of a character in the books as Emilia herself. Mexico's art,...
Although many of my books are set in Mexico, and I write frequently about current events there, the years I spent in Greece also live in my heart. So I can't help worrying about how the Greek economic crisis will impact the friends who still live there. The crisis...
Can a mystery author who writes about sunny Mexico really love cold places? Yep. Besides Mexico, where my mystery series is set, my favorite country (except for home) is Norway. Not only does the country have superb natural vistas of mountains and fjords, but...
If you read this blog with any regularity you know the following; I am a mystery author I drink too much coffee I love Pinterest and Twitter I find inspiration in unlikely places Talavera Pottery The latest thing to jog my imagination is talavera, the beautiful and...
After a few bites of the cake Raul seemed to realize that she was waiting. “He read about the United States and wanted to go. He tried to cross the desert but the Virgin abandoned him because what he was doing was wrong. He got lost and died in the sun.” “I’m so...
I’ve been thinking about visual inspiration lately, as I tackle KING PESO, the 4th Emilia Cruz mystery. Thankfully, Mexico is replete with visual cues to creativity, from large (the Basilica of Guadalupe, Mexico City’s Zocalo, assorted volcanoes) to small (shots of...
She came back a moment later with a box decorated in the traditional rayada carved lacquer technique. It was the size of a loaf of bread and the bottom was fitted with a small drawer with a tiny gold knob."This is a most special and precious item," Tifani said as she...
Three places I love are bleeding and all I can do is watch and pray. Mexico As many readers know, my years in Mexico and Central America provided the impetus for my mystery and thriller novels and part of my heart will always be in Mexico. But the country has been...
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