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...
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...
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...
How to Find Love at Mexico City’s Markets
Love to find that perfect travel memory? Love authentic handcrafts? Head for Mexico City's markets. Markets inspired much of the atmostphere I wrote into THE HIDDEN LIGHT OF MEXICO CITY, the...
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...
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...
Wicked Culture
A stroll through an outdoor book fair lining Mexico City's Paseo de la Reforma boulevard a few months ago gave me the inspiration for the third novel in the Emilia Cruz mystery series. Most of the...
Rude in Any Culture
Back when I started this blog, I talked about what it means to be a World Citizen, someone who can go anywhere because they understand and embrace the culture in which they find themselves. I...
Finding my Audience
Who do I write for? This was a simple question posed to me a couple of months before The Hidden Light of Mexico City was released and it was simple to answer. Me. Well, not just a readership of one!...
The Art of Casco Viejo
Panama's old city, known as Casco Viejo, is located on a small peninsula that juts into the Pacific. It is a UNESCO World Heritage site with a warren of narrow streets and old buildings that were...
Padre Ricardo and the Sacristy of Santa Clara
The Hidden Light of Mexico City contains a number of references from my own experiences in Mexico City. I've already written about the class struggle of simply standing in a line but also wanted...
Why Read a Book About Mexico Now
Reading about Mexico now is a mix of highs and lows. Fiction can't substitute for facts but it can lead us to become interested enough in an issue to find out what is really going on. That is the...
A tale of Mexico: the school bus and the thriller
THE HIDDEN LIGHT OF MEXICO CITY is a political thriller, with characters based on many people I met in Mexico City. And a bus. The setting Let me set this up for you. Our house was at the start of...
Remembering Resistance
In my travels, it has struck me that a culture reveals its true strength by what it chooses to remember and preserve. Often that means museums, but it also means UNESCO World Heritage Sites,...
The Kitchen UN
Oslo in June is a wonderful place. Clouds scud across a cobalt sky and the harbor is thronged with boats, tourists, and the smell of lilacs. After months of Arctic winter grey, the city is...
Land of the Unexpected
Once upon a time, I took a trip with a similarly adventurous-minded girlfriend to Papua New Guinea, which bills itself as "The Land of the Unexpected." I doubt it has changed much since then; it is...
At the End of the Line
Let's set the scene Luz filled out a form to cash the check at a mahogany counter then went to the end of the line. It moved very slowly and grew very long. Luz had ample time to look...
Celebrate Greek Culture Now More Than Ever
Greece has overspent itself to the brink of destruction and angry citizens are showing their contempt for further austerity measures by firebombing downtown Athens. Talk continues of defaults and...
A Walk in Her Shoes
I recently was on a plane heading from Central America to the United States. I had the aisle seat. Next to me, in the middle seat, was a middle-aged woman who was obviously new to airline travel. ...