Signature Series
Detective Emilia Cruz
Latest Release
Barracuda Bay
From Acapulco’s beaches to the streets of Washington, DC, the stakes couldn’t be higher in this electrifying, page-turning thriller.
Acapulco’s latest homicide is the sister of the city’s mayor. It’s up to Detective Emilia Cruz to find the killer. The victim’s ex-boyfriend has motive but no link to the crime scene, which has a sinister past complicating Emilia’s investigation.
Before Emilia can solve the case, she’s given a task in Washington, DC where a deadly gave of political intrigue awaits.
Her only chance to survive lies with a man she once vowed to kill.
Praise for Emilia Cruz
Carmen Amato has created a character that deserves to be recognized as an equal alongside well known favorites by created by by Hammett, Larson and Padura. I can’t wait to spend more time with Detective Cruz. - Felix Contreras, host, ALTLatino, National Public Radio
Amato brings her characters to life with her vivid writing style and sets them on the streets of a Mexico steeped in Catholicism and corruption . . . Unique and gripping. - OnlineBookClub.org
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DETECTIVE EMILIA CRUZ SERIES
Emilia Cruz is the first female police detective in Acapulco, fighting drug cartels, official corruption and Mexican machismo.
2019, 2020 Outstanding Series award, CrimeMasters of America
2019 Silver Falchion Award, Killer Nashville
CLIFF DIVER | HAT DANCE | DIABLO NIGHTS
KING PESO | PACIFIC REAPER | 43 MISSING
RUSSIAN MOJITO | NARCO NOIR |BARRACUDA BAY
MADE IN ACAPULCO
GALLIANO CLUB TRILOGY
Lido, NY. 1926. At the height of Prohibition, an Italian immigrant and a trigger-happy Chicago bootlegger battle for control of the Galliano Club, where trouble is always on tap.
Based on tales told by my late grandfather, a Deputy Sheriff of Oneida County, NY in the 1920's.
2023 Silver Falchion Award, Killer Nashville
ROAD TO THE GALLIANO CLUB
MURDER AT THE GALLIANO CLUB
BLACKMAIL AT THE GALLIANO CLUB
REVENGE AT THE GALLIANO CLUB
STANDALONE THRILLERS
Contemporary thrillers featuring complex plots, unforgettable characters and layers of risk, power, and deception.
Longlist, 2020 Millennium Book Award
Latest Posts
New Release! BLACKMAIL AT THE GALLIANO CLUB
New release! Today is release day for BLACKMAIL AT THE GALLIANO CLUB, the second book in the Prohibition-era historical thriller series. Grab a seat at the bar. Big things are happening. Beer and Blackmail Lido, New York. The year is 1926, Prohibition is in full...
Book Review: Family Secrets Come with the House in SQUATTER’S RIGHTS
In SQUATTER’S RIGHTS by Cheril Thomas, compelling family secrets come with the house. The first book in the Eastern Shores Mysteries introduces us to attorney Grace Reagan, who just bought the huge money pit on Maryland’s rural Eastern Shore where her mother grew up....
The 3 Golden Rules of Lying and Deception
You’ve been granted a tour of the original Central Intelligence Agency headquarters building outside Washington, DC. Pass the statue of Nathan Hale as you walk through the big glass doors of the front entrance. Try not to gawk. Once inside, the Great Seal stretches...
Book review: THE MONOGRAM MURDERS by Sophie Hannah
I love reading a good mystery as much as I love writing them! Here's what I read this week. A new Hercule Poirot mystery Mystery fans can’t get enough of Agatha Christie’s fussy Belgian detective (cue Sir Kenneth Branagh, please!) and THE MONOGRAM MURDERS shows why....
Release Update and Excerpt: Blackmail at the Galliano Club
Blackmail BLACKMAIL AT THE GALLIANO CLUB is slated for release on 16 February 2023! The Galliano Club historical fiction thrillers take place in 1926, in a fictional upstate New York city modeled on my hometown of Rome, New York. BLACKMAIL is the second book in the...
Book Review: SWEETLAND by Dareth Pray
Debut thriller SWEETLAND takes off like a rocket and never loses speed. Author Dareth Pray is one to watch! Erin Stark is a new kind of female thriller heroine, giving fictional male colleagues like James Reece (THE TERMINAL LIST) and Jack Reacher (BETTER OFF DEAD) a...