MYSTERY AUTHOR | CIA VETERAN

Carmen Amato

I learned a few things about danger, deception and resilience during a 30-year career with the CIA. As an author, those lessons play out on the page, especially in the Detective Emilia Cruz mystery series set in Acapulco. 

Join me for high-stakes crime fiction fueled by  authentic tradecraft and tomorrow's headlines.

"A must-read for lovers of smart, character-driven crime fiction with a global edge." - Reader's House

 

Crime fiction author Carmen Amato, a CIA veteran and creator of the Detective Emilia Cruz series, smiling in a professional portrait.

LATEST RELEASE

Dragon Cartel thriller cover

DRAGON CARTEL

Acapulco police detective Emilia Cruz is already stretched to the max hunting cartel assassin El Barracuda when she agrees to take on the case of a missing Customs inspector.

At the same time, the interrogation of a mysterious Chinese national turns a local crime into an international puzzle.

A missing inspector. A cartel assassin. And a conspiracy that links Mexico and the United States to China.

DRAGON CARTEL is the 10th mystery in the award-winning Detective Emilia Cruz series. Available at your favorite online book store. 

SIGNATURE SERIES

Meet Detective Emilia Cruz, the first female police detective in Acapulco.

Think Narcos meets Hawaii 5-0, as she navgates cartels, corruption and social inequality while hunting for Mexico's missing.

Explore

3D cover of CLIFF DIVER the 1st Detective Emilia Cruz police procedural

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

3D cover of Murder at the Galliano Club historical fiction thriller

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

Political thriller The Hidden Light of Mexico City by Carmen Amato

STANDALONE THRILLERS

Contemporary thrillers featuring complex plots, unforgettable characters and layers of risk, power, and deception.

Longlist, 2020 Millennium Book Award

Latest Posts

The Power of Daddy

Once upon a time, when we lived in Panama, I was walking the dog and passed a construction site where the workers were engaged in a furious argument. The Spanish flew too fast for me to catch every word but anger came through in every red-faced yell and hostile...

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The Hidden Lovers of San Miguel

In the political thriller THE HIDDEN LIGHT OF MEXICO CITY, Luz and Eddo briefly escape a political scheme to buy the Mexican presidency with drug money, and spend time away from the world in the lovely Mexican town of San Miguel de Allende.  A 4-hour drive northwest...

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5 Ways to Save What Matters

A recent walk through Panama's Casco Viejo--with its alternately sad and hopeful mix of gutted buildings, slumdog shacks, churches, and newly restored upscale shops and hotels--reminded me of the importance of cultural preservation.  While this historic district goes...

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Why We Keep Searching

Whatever remains to man unknown, in this world of ours, is by so much a burden on the spirits of all men . . . every mystery made plain, every unknown land explored, exalts the spirit of the whole human race--strengthens its courage and exalts its spirit permanently....

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The Girl on the Other Side of the Earth

When my daughter was little I wanted to give her a sense of her place in the world. We got a globe and calculated the exact opposite spot if one drew a straight line through the center of the earth from where we were.  We hit China.We started to tell each other...

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