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 Emilia Cruz in CLIFF DIVER, the first book in the series. I had the opportunity to rewrite the whole shocking day in a blog post for the “Day in the Life” column on on Dru Ann Love’s popular drusbookmusing.com blog.
It’s called This is how it began…Just Another Day in Paradise. Find the post here: https://drusbookmusing.com/emilia-cruz/
As the narrator of the post, Emilia tells the tale of the fateful career-changing day herself.
Here’s a sample:
My partner Rico Portillo squinted up at me as he knelt by the body. “It’s the lieutenant all right,” he said. “This is gonna be bad.”
I knew what he meant.
Lieutenant Inocente was a dirty cop.
Two years ago, he had tried to prevent me from becoming the first female police detective in Acapulco and would have succeeded if Rico hadn’t agreed to partner with me. In retaliation, Rico and I were assigned to minor cases and administrative tasks. Bigger investigations were reserved for favored detectives who generated bribes and kickbacks and shared with the boss.
This is different, because Emilia is not the narrator of the books. From CLIFF DIVER to NARCO NOIR, and BARRACUDA BAY coming in 2025, you the reader experiences the action through Emilia’s deep point of view. That is, you are absorbing what she is thinking and feeling every step of the way, plus getting a dose of the environment that impacts her, from Acapulco’s beach resorts and deluxe hotels to poverty-stricken and gang-riddled streets far from the ocean.
What would you do if your boss suddenly turned up dead and you had to handle the situation? Could you figure out what it takes to survive as an honest (mostly) cop in today’s Mexico?
Here’s that link again: https://drusbookmusing.com/emilia-cruz/
Also, stay up to date with news about BARRACUDA BAY, Detective Emilia Cruz #9 when you join me on Substack: https://mysteryahead.substack.com.
