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
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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
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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
3 Innovating Bookstores Turning Pages and Heads
As I mentioned last week, I've been giving the notion of the Bookstore of the Future some thought. Over the next 6 weeks I will be collecting ideas from authors, book bloggers, publishers and book store owners on the topic of how bookstores can innovate in order to...
A Book Savor Chat with CARTEL RISING Author Guillermo Paxton
The Book Savor series grew out of my love for good books, great friends, and interesting conversations about books. This week the author of THE PLAZA and CARTEL RISING, Guillermo Paxton, talks about the books he savors. 1.Carmen Amato: What was the first book you read...
MADE IN ACAPULCO: Prequel to the Emilia Cruz Mystery Series Novels
The Emilia Cruz mystery series delivered another bit of entertainment to mystery lovers yesterday with the release for Kindle of MADE IN ACAPULCO, a collection of short stories that take place before the action in the full-length Emilia Cruz novels....
On Learning from Mistakes
I made two mistakes recently. The first was an expensive one. Mistake 1 Flush from my record-breaking (my records, anyway) month in September, spurred by the publication of short story The Beast in the Huffington Post’s Fiction 50 showcase, I went for some...
The Enduring Magic of Book Night
Other families have Game Night or Movie Night. We have Book Night. It started out as a means of self defense. We had two kids under the age of 5. My husband and I both had full time, demanding jobs, and he was pursuing a college degree at night. Reading for Survival I...
Book Review: Cartel Rising by Guillermo Paxton
There are various subsets within the crime fiction genre; “tartan noir” for books set in Scotland and “Nordic noir” for those that take place in the Scandinavian countries. If there is a “narco noir” sub-genre for crime fiction set in Mexico, then Paxton is surely the...






