BARRACUDA BAY: Cover reveal and Release Date

BARRACUDA BAY: Cover reveal and Release Date

Drum roll, please!

Graphic artist Matt Chase has created another signature piece of art for the next book in the Detective Emilia Cruz series, BARRACUDA BAY.

Cover Reveal

The background color was inspired by the cover for PACIFIC REAPER, which both Matt and I love, while ocean tones of blue and green evoke Acapulco Bay. The pop of red adds even more menace to the dark denizen of the deep.

This is the 10th cover Matt has created for the series, fitting it in around his work for major publications including The Washington Post and the New York Times Review of Books.

I hope you love it as much as I do.

Barracuda Bay A Detective Emilia Cruz novel

Release date

In honor of my mother, who passed away late last month, BARRACUDA BAY will be released on her birthday, 20 February 2025.

My mother Jean, early 2000s

She was a huge supporter of my second career as a mystery author. Even after dementia prevented her from reading, she kept a dog-eared copy of CLIFF DIVER in the storage compartment of her walker.

Shout Club

If you’d like to help get the word out about Detective Emilia Cruz’s return, after a nearly 2 year hiatus (while I wrote and published the Galliano Club historical fiction series) I’d love to have you aboard.

You’ll get an Advance Reader Copy of BARRACUDA BAY and a box full of Mexican-themed goodies. In return, be first to share reviews, list the book on Goodreads, and let social media friends know about the book. More to come but if you love books and would like to participate, please drop an email to carmen@carmenamato.net.

DIABLO NIGHTS Cover Reveal and Kindle Release

DIABLO NIGHTS Cover Reveal and Kindle Release

The third installment of the Emilia Cruz mystery series, featuring the first and only female police detective in Acapulco, is out on Kindle!  The paperback version will be available in August.

And finally–the Cover Reveal! The final cover, shown here, is a slight variation of the winning cover which was one of four offered in a reader poll three weeks ago.

DIABLO NIGHTS is more of a psychological thriller than the previous two Emilia Cruz mysteries, CLIFF DIVER and HAT DANCE. Emilia’s is pulling threads and following leads and reacting to the news she gets at every turn. The emotional toll on her is high, but it leads to a new understanding of the resources available to her.

Here’s the Amazon description.

A religious relic lures Emilia Cruz, Acapulco’s first and only female police detective, into a labyrinth of drug cartel smuggling and revenge killings in DIABLO NIGHTS, the third novel in the explosive Emilia Cruz Mexico mystery series.

The relic, from Mexico’s Cristero War, also surfaces a long-hidden personal secret that Emilia cannot share with the man in her life, hotel manager Kurt Rucker.

The relic’s authenticity is in doubt, however, as Emilia and her partner, senior detective Franco Silvio, find a murder victim aboard a cruise ship. The victim’s pockets are lined with Ora Ciega, a rare heroin strain from Colombia that promises more drug war violence for Acapulco’s already bloody streets.

The Ora Ciega trail leads Emilia to a second body; that of Yolanda Lata, the mother of a girl for whom Emilia has been searching; as well as to a dead Customs official who had valuable information about the cruise ship murder. When stalkers shadow Emilia, the only conclusion is that she’s getting close to the Ora Ciega smugglers. Meanwhile, she’s assigned to train a rookie detective with friends in high places.

The destinies of Ora Ciega, the religious relic, the rookie, and the missing girl merge into a fateful trip into the hills above Mexico’s Costa Chica coast south of Acapulco. In a lonely place where vigilante groups have replaced civil authority and the crash of surf competes with gunshots, Emilia will face the biggest challenge of her police detective career. But it’s nothing compared to the shocking climax waiting for her back in Acapulco.

THANK YOU

I’ve gotten so many emails asking when the next Emilia Cruz novel was coming out adn can finally say “Here it is!” Thank you to all the readers who have enjoyed the series so far. I appreciate all the mail and the generous Amazon reviews, too!

2016 Update

Like the rest of the Detective Emilia Cruz series, DIABLO NIGHTS got a redo this year with a new cover and new description, which you can see here. The 4th novel in the series, KING PESO, was released in August and the television and film rights were sold. Emilia could be coming to a screen near you!

Again, thank you for reading and staying connected!

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cover reveal

CARMEN AMATO

Mystery and thriller author. Retired Central Intelligence Agency intel officer. Dog mom to Hazel and Dutch. Recovering Italian handbag addict.

 

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