Signature Series
Detective Emilia Cruz
Narcos meets Hawaii 5-0 in this award-winning police series set in Acapulco.
With a fierce, unforgettable female cop who's looking for Mexico's missing.
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 social inequality amid the hunt for Mexico's missing.
2019, 2020 Outstanding Series Award, CrimeMasters of America
2019 Silver Falchion Award, Killer Nashville
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
STANDALONE THRILLERS
Contemporary thrillers featuring complex plots, unforgettable characters and layers of risk, power, and deception.
Longlist, 2020 Millennium Book Award
Latest Posts
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Inside my CIA Career: Media Matters
What the heck is OSINT My resume includes this line: OSINT Analyst/Editor, Foreign Broadcast Information Service. Wrote, edited, and briefed analytical conclusions and OSINT reporting content to all levels of inter-and intra-agency audiences. OSINT is shorthand for...
Inside my CIA Career: Secrets of Great Dialogue
Competing Motivations As happened so many times over the course of a 30-year CIA career, I was either a participant or an observer in a dialogue. Not the conversation that happens when you are both talking about the same thing or want the same thing, but a...
Inside my CIA Career: Make it “Actionable”
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Inside my CIA Career: The Moving Picture Show
Thanks to my CIA Career If you’ve read the last few books in the Detective Emilia Cruz police series set in Acapulco, you may have noticed that video plays an important role in providing clues and solving the mystery. In 43 MISSING, the footage from police interviews...
Book Review: True Fiction by Lee Goldberg
TRUE FICTION by Lee Goldberg This outrageously campy thriller is pure escapism. Prepare to suspend disbelief, enjoy a zany premise, and get carried away. The premise Ian Ludlow, author of the he-man soldier of fortune Clint Straker thriller series, is a former TV...