The top question I get from readers?
“Is Detective Emilia Cruz based on a real person?”
Yes, sort of.
Emilia is a composite of three different people. All contribute in unique ways to the character, including Emilia’s analytic skills, innate suspicion of others’ motives, and ability to role play.
The first is a woman who held a senior position in Mexico’s intelligence apparatus, whom I met during my CIA career. She was the only woman in that arena, just like Emilia, but more deferential and careful to toe the line, less inclined to buck culture.
The second was our housekeeper in Mexico, a brilliant woman trapped by Mexico’s social hierarchy and expectations for a woman of her class. Capable and observant, she knew how to get things done.
The third is me.
I was often the only woman in the room, too. (Why didn’t I choose an easier career?!) The scene in CLIFF DIVER when Silvio tells Emilia he’ll make her life miserable until she quits because he doesn’t want to work with a woman?
Exact same thing happened to me.
I told the colleague what Emilia says in the book: “Tell me something I don’t know” and got on with the job.
(That colleague left a few months later, following his wife who got a job in a different state. Ironic.)
I think characters that really resonate with us are authentic and relatable because we see our own strengths and weaknesses, resilience and hopes, in them.
Related post: The Detective Emilia Cruz Dreamcast