When I was growing up, embroidery was a common craft. Everyone knew the basics: chain stitch, blanket stitch, satin stitch. My mother made cocktail napkins decorated with tiny daisies and embroidered geometric designs on clothing and hand towels. When preppy fashion...
The low tire pressure light came on. I pulled off the highway, found a gas station and put air in the tire. But air continued to bleed out all the way home. So I watched tv Twelve hours later, I stared dully at a chirpy morning show in my local Firestone shop’s...
If you go missing in Mexico, your family becomes the search party. If the government looks, chances are high someone will fumble the search. Out of incompetence? Or something more sinister? Eleven years ago this month, 43 students disappeared. From the Ayotzinapa...
In my previous career as a CIA intel officer, I focused on counterdrug efforts. Bringing Mexican cartel kingpins to justice was a big goal. So I gave a silent cheer when Mexico transferred 26 organized crime figures to the US this week. Federal Security Minister Omar...
“Pigs in human clothes are helping unearth the missing in Mexico.” The image of pigs dressed in Burberry plaid snuffling for truffles came to mind as I skimmed the headline. Over 130,000 people have gone missing in Mexico since 2006 with around 6,000 clandestine...
Let’s talk about mentors for a moment Especially when you are taking on a new challenge, a mentor can show the way, guide you around obstacles, or simply be a sounding board. Being a mentor is a way of both giving back and helping others rise to their fullest...
Carlota Montoya Perez, the fictional mayor of Acapulco in the Detective Emilia Cruz series, was “born” long before Claudia Sheinbaum became president of Mexico last year. (That’s her official presidential portrait.) Yet the two women, one fictional and one real, are...
All books are born alone . . . without any reviews. Given that about 1% of readers actually take the time to write a review, those who do are truly rock stars. BARRACUDA BAY, the latest Detective Emilia Cruz novel, came out last week. The first reviews are in, too....
The long-awaited continuation of the award-winning Detective Emilia Cruz mystery series is out now, taking you into the dizzying, dangerous world of money laundering and cross-border intrigue. BARRACUDA BAY is the 9th book with Emilia Cruz, the first female police...
The top question I get from readers? “Is Detective Emilia Cruz based on a real person?” Yes, sort of. Emilia is a composite of three different people. All contribute in unique ways to the character, including Emilia’s analytic skills, innate suspicion of others’...
Drum roll, please! Graphic artist Matt Chase has created another signature piece of art for the next book in the Detective Emilia Cruz series, BARRACUDA BAY. Cover Reveal The background color was inspired by the cover for PACIFIC REAPER, which both Matt and I love,...
Just another day in paradise, except for the dead police lieutenant in the bottom of a speedboat drifting in the still waters of Puerto Marques, the small bay-within-a-bay on the southeastern tip of Acapulco. That's really when the story gets rolling for Detective...
In BARRACUDA BAY, the upcoming Detective Emilia Cruz mystery set in Acapulco, elections for mayor are coming up fast. Incumbent Carlota Montoya Perez, an enigma to Emilia, wants another term but faces a determined and well-funded rival. This is the second election...
With winds of up to 165 mph, Category 5 Hurricane Otis tore through Acapulco in late October, leaving a trail of unprecedented devastation. It strengthened so quickly there was little time to prepare for the strongest storm to ever hit Mexico's Pacific coast. In just...
She Said, He Said A CLIFF DIVER scene from Franco Silvio’s Point of View The Detective Emilia Cruz series is written from Emilia's point of view as the first female police detective in Acapulco. She's got some tricky geography to navigate in that position. Not only...