newest Detective Emilia Cruz audiobook
PACIFIC REAPER
Has Acapulco’s first female police detective been cursed by Santa Muerte, Mexico’s feared and forbidden saint of death?
Emilia Cruz, the first female police detective in Acapulco, takes on a voodoo-like cult in an effort to stop a range war between rival cartel gangs. But when she does, everyone close to her has a brush with death.
Now it’s her turn . . . Will Emilia be the next victim when she goes undercover on the eve of the Day of the Dead?
Listen to the audiobook, narrated by Leanne Maksin in a compelling, award-worthy performance.
Mystery Author
Carmen Amato
There’s a piece of my 30-year CIA career in everything I write.
In the Detective Emilia Cruz mystery series, you'll go on a gripping journey through Mexico's drug war. Based on my own counterdrug experience, it's a place where loyalty is for sale but violence comes cheap.
There’s more action and drama in my standalone contemporary thrillers and the historical Galliano Club trilogy, inspired by my grandfather who was a deputy sheriff in New York during Prohibition.
Thanks for being on this journey with me!
I spy mystery ahead
Your Invitation
If you’re an armchair sleuth happiest when solving a mystery in far-flung parts of the world, I invite you to join the Mystery Ahead newsletter community.
Praise for Detective Emilia Cruz
Read the Reviews
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
Astounding . . . a haunting page-turner . . . The tragedy of decent members of society caught in the crossfire stayed with me long after I finished the book. – Nightstand Book Reviews
The story is full of nonstop action and suspense, but what really got to me in this book is the range of strong emotions I’ve felt while reading it . . . Emilia is a character that is close to my heart. – MysterySequels
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
A real page-turner . . . Detective Cruz is a fully fleshed out character. Tough, but not above shedding a few tears, she bears the scars of a violent past while handling being the first and only female detective in Acapulco. – BookLife Prize
Amato weaves a vivid tapestry that depicts both the beauty and ugliness of Acapulco. Her attention to clothing, food, and other details of the cityscape bring life to her characters . . . with danger and betrayal never more than a few pages away. – Kirkus Reviews
Danger and Deception
Books by Carmen
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
Progress report
Working on
- DRAGON CARTEL: Detective Emilia Cruz #10 60%
- MOSCOW SYNDROME (contribution) 95%
Events
Coming Up
28 Nov Better on Draft podcast guest appearance
The Shop Talk Blog
Follow Along
Romantic thriller with a paranormal twist hits #KindleScout
"She inherited a secret her soul doesn't know." That's the tagline on the cover of AWAKENING MACBETH, my latest romantic thriller. I want your vote Amazon's Kindle Scout program allows readers to nominate books they would like to see published and AWAKENING MACBETH is...
5 Presidential Election Thrillers Better Than #Election2016
Exhausted by the run-up to the US presidential elections on 8 November 2016? Exchange those robo calls and campaign ads for some election thrills of the literary variety with 5 presidential election thrillers These novels are a definite improvement over the real...
Book Review: Midnight Sun by Jo Nesbo
For those mystery lovers who reveled in Jo Nesbo’s Harry Hole series, his new stand-alone novel Midnight Sun will be a bit of a surprise. Midnight Sun is easier on the blood pressure than Harry, with a sympathetic protagonist and the wooded setting of Norway’s remote...
“Authorize” Advice from Pulitizer Prize Author Richard Ford
Last year, I was lucky enough to attend the F. Scott Fitzgerald Literary Festival. Pulitzer Prize winning author Richard Ford was guest speaker and winner of the 2015 F. Scott Fitzgerald Award for Outstanding Achievement in American Literature. Ford is the author of...
Book Review: The Blackhouse by Peter May
In The Blackhouse by Peter May, the setting is the remote, windy, and rainswept Hebrides islands off Scotland’s western coast. The murder is gruesome and mimics a recent killing in Edinburgh being investigated by police detective Fin McLeod. Fin’s young son has just...
The Importance of a Fatal Flaw
Mysteries are all about complicated people solving complicated plots. We love characters with issues—even a Fatal Flaw--that make them vulnerable and real. It’s why Spenser has his Code, why John Rebus hangs out in the Oxford Bar, why a 1000-year-old spirit lives...