MADE IN ACAPULCO: Prequel to the Emilia Cruz Mystery Series Novels

MADE IN ACAPULCO: Prequel to the Emilia Cruz Mystery Series Novels

Oct 31, 2013 | #booknews, #EmiliaCruz

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. Paperback will be available on Amazon next week. The collection contains 5 short stories, including The Beast, which explains how Emilia fought her way into the Acapulco police department’s detectives squadroom, and The Cliff, which is the original Emilia Cruz story that became the basis of CLIFF DIVER. Related post: MADE IN ACAPULCO: Excerpt and Book Release News

An Updated Edition

This 2013 edition of MADE IN ACAPULCO has nearly all new content, considerably updating it from the 2012 first edition of MADE IN ACAPULCO, which was essentially only The Cliff in a Kindle Single format. The 2012 edition was unpublished when CLIFF DIVER came out, because the first section of the book and the story were so similar. The Cliff remains in this expanded 2013 edition of MADE IN ACAPULCO, however, for those who might not yet have read CLIFF DIVER. After all, it is the original Emilia Cruz story and introduces the Emilia-Kurt relationship in a way that flows perfectly with the other stories. Oddly enough, the handful of reviews for the 2012 edition reappeared on the sales page of the 2013 edition yesterday. Given the dates and enhanced content, these old reviews now don’t make sense. However, the book description does contain an explanation of the two editions so maybe that will help stem the confusion.

Bonus Content

This edition of MADE IN ACAPULCO also includes the first two chapters of political thriller THE HIDDEN LIGHT OF MEXICO CITY. To my surprise, the Emilia Cruz series has eclipsed HIDDEN LIGHT in terms of sales and reviews. I hope this teaser can introduce more readers to a romantic thriller that I’ve always felt was the book Most Likely To Be Made Into a Movie. See the dreamcast here HIDDEN LIGHT is being featured this week on JustRomanticSuspense.com, where it is the only cover without a bare-chested man! The tagline accompanying the cover image reads “He fights cartels and corruption. She’s a light in the dark.” Sigh.

Of Wine and Bathtubs

Speaking of HIDDEN LIGHT, I was at a dinner party last night and one of the guests, a college professor whom I’d met once before, let me know she was enjoying the novel. It was her “guilty pleasure,” she said with a meaningful look, adding that the relationship between Eddo and Luz kept her turning pages. “Did it make you want to buy a bigger bathtub?” I asked. Whereupon her eyes got huge, she spilled some wine, and we both burst into knowing laughter.

See how the Emilia Cruz Mystery Series Started

Made in Acapulco_final_300px

Available now on Amazon

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CARMEN AMATO

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

 

MADE IN ACAPULCO story collection is free for all

MADE IN ACAPULCO story collection is free for all

Oct 8, 2013 | #EmiliaCruz

Fact may be stranger than fiction but in some cases they are deliberately similar. I routinely comb the news for inspiration for the Emilia Cruz mystery series so that “action torn from today’s headlines” isn’t just a tagline.  Yes, readers will be entertained by fast-paced tales of intrigue and mystery. But they’ll also learn about the impact of Mexico’s drug war.

Made in Acapulco by Carmen Amato

MADE IN ACAPULCO: The Emilia Cruz Stories is a collection of 5 short stories, many of which were inspired by real events in Mexico. The stories take place before the action in the full-length Emilia Cruz novels, including CLIFF DIVER and HAT DANCE:

The Beast captures Emilia’s struggle to become the first female detective on the Acapulco police force. It previously appeared in The Huffington Post’s Huff/Post 50 Featured Fiction showcase.

Note for missing womanThe Disappeared sees Emilia track a friend who goes missing. This story launches the continuing theme of missing persons, especially women, that runs throughout the series. It was inspired by the numerous reports of missing women in Mexico, such as this 2012 New York Times article about missing and murdered women in Juarez.

Related Post: Finding Mexico’s Missing: New Effort or Whitewash?

The Artist was inspired by Mexican poet Javier Sicilia’s efforts to raise the awareness of the plight of families whose loved ones have gone missing amid Mexico’s drug violence as well as threats to schools in Acapulco in 2011 that caused 140 schools in that city to close. For more see The Huffington Post report on Sicilia’s 2012 “caravan” tour of the United States as well as this report in the Christian Science Monitor about the school closings.

The Date explores the downside of a job that pits Emilia against Mexico’s enduring culture of machismo. It draws on real events that occurred at a nightclub in Mexico in 2006, as reported by the BBC.

The Cliff is the original Emilia Cruz story and was previously published in the now out of print first edition of MADE IN ACAPULCO. Written for a literary critique group, the story was initially entitled So Far from God and introduced Kurt Rucker. CLIFF DIVER, the first full-length Emilia Cruz novel, was based on this story.

The stories in MADE IN ACAPULCO draw on the headlines coming out of Mexico today, but it also shows the warmth and resilience of the Mexican people. Mexico is a beautiful and vibrant country with a rich heritage and culture, and Emilia represents hope for the country’s future.

2018 update: MADE IN ACAPULCO: The Emilia Cruz Stories is permanatly free across all ebook platforms.

Amazon https://amzn.to/2z1PsZH

BN.com https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/made-in-acapulco-carmen-amato/1128330225 

Kobo https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/made-in-acapulco 

Playster  https://play.playster.com/books/10009780985325640/made-in-acapulco-carmen-amato

Apple https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/id1366616267

You are invited to spend some time in Acapulco with Emilia, Rico, Kurt and the infamous Lt. Inocente, among others.

Will this short story collection prove that fact is stranger than fiction? Probably not, although it may show just how much art imitates life.

P.S. If you enjoyed MADE IN ACAPULCO, please leave a review!

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CARMEN AMATO

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

 

Book Review: Cold Service by Robert B. Parker

Book Review: Cold Service by Robert B. Parker

Apr 19, 2013 | #reviews

This review is dedicated to the people of Boston.

I’m still surprised when I run across someone who is a mystery novel fan but who has never read a book by Robert B. Parker, creator of the Spenser novels that have come to define the mystery genre. His tough-as-nail-with-heart-of-gold private detective, whose first name we never know, is as much a part of the Boston landscape for me as Copley Square or Harvard Yard. The hardback editions of the books–and there around 40 in the series–include a map on the flyleaf with all of Spenser’s haunts labelled on it. Locke-Ober’s Restaurant, Faneuil Hall, his apartment on Marlborough Street and the oft-mentioned swan boats in Boston’s Public Gardens.

But we don’t just read Spenser mysteries for the Boston scenery. We read them for great characters, perfect plots, the crisp sparse language.  And Spenser’s firmly rooted code of ethics. He may be a private eye and a self-admitted thug, but he’s got a clear and believable moral compass and expresses it in a way we don’t see very often any more. COLD SERVICE is the Spenser novel that best sets out that code which includes loyalty to friends, standing your ground, but never striking without provocation.

In COLD SERVICE (the title is derived from the saying that revenge is a dish best served cold) his friend Hawk is shot and left for dead. Hawk was protecting a Boston bookie from a Ukrainian mob trying to muscle into the area. Needless to say the bookie and family are dead. With Spenser’s help, Hawk recovers, infiltrates the mob, and stops it from gaining a foothold in Boston.

Not many of the Spenser books revolve so closely around Hawk, although the enigmatic thug/hitman/bodyguard/boxer who plays wingman in almost all the books. Dialogue between them is nearly a work of art:

  • “They tell me I ain’t gonna die.”
  • “That’s what I heard.”
  • There were hard things being discussed, and not all of them aloud.

Without giving away the plot twists, let’s just say this is one of the best of the Spenser series, which is one of the best mystery series out there. The Ukrainian mob is opaque and brutish. Help comes but cannot be trusted.  Strange alliances must be forged to get at the mob, but they are tenuous at best.

The mayor of a small town near Boston holds the key; his administration is synonymous with corruption. Hawk’s quest for vengeance distances him from the surgeon he’s dating and his refusal to adjust his own code eventually pushes her away. Spenser understands Hawk’s code but will not pursue revenge in the same brute force way.

The end is a terrific nail-biter.

robert b. parker

Book Review: A Sunless Sea by Anne Perry

Book Review: A Sunless Sea by Anne Perry

Apr 12, 2013 | #reviews

William Monk is back and better than ever in A SUNLESS SEA, the latest novel by Anne Perry about the amnesiac cop-turned private detective-turned head of law enforcement on the Thames River in 1860’s London. As always, Perry’s vivid descriptions put us right there–aboard the river police boats, turning up our collar as Monk shivers and water plays about his feet, or on the streets of old London with a wide variety of the city’s denizens from high society spoiled girls to the prostitutes who ply their pathetic trade along the city’s wharves.

Plot + Twist

The book starts with a bang as Monk is drawn to the edge of the river by screams and discovers the body of a woman who has literally been gutted. His investigation into her identity and murderer leads to a curious set of circumstances and a perfect plot twist along the way that made me read the discovery twice. Like so many Monk books, the ending weaves together careful clues and secondary characters whose motive makes you curl your lip in dismay.

Pitch-Perfect Characters

All of the series regular characters get a part to play as Monk tries to unravel the mystery, as usual racing against time to provide evidence at a trial. Oliver Rathbone, the lawyer who defends the accused has his moments in the book as he copes with a dissolving marriage, his still unresolved feelings for Monk’s wife Hester, and damning evidence from a previous case he has inherited. Hester, who had more prominence in earlier Monk books but who still stands tall here as the crusading nurse, helps Monk, further defining her role as an independent woman in contrast to London high society’s gawd-help-us types.

Monk himself has gentled a bit from when we first met him in MAN WITHOUT A FACE. Perry demonstrates his emotional journey quite brilliantly. Read the Monk books with Daniel Day-Lewis in mind; I’m quite sure if the author had a movie dreamcast he’d be her pick for the role.

Bottom Line

Like some of Perry’s books, there is some repetition in A SUNLESS SEA as characters spend time mentally rehashing known facts, as if the author wants to keep reminding us of the action so far. But like all the Monk books, it is full of great characters, a well-done historical setting, and an outcome that leaves you wondering when the next book is coming out. A great addition to the series.

Sunless Sea

Book Review: The Lost Ones by Ace Atkins

Book Review: The Lost Ones by Ace Atkins

Mar 8, 2013 | #reviews

THE LOST ONES by Ace Atkins is a well-crafted police procedural featuring the new sheriff of a small Mississippi county. Quinn Colson is back in his home town, fresh from war, and his old high school buddies are, too. Not everyone has come back to gainful employment, however, and Quinn has his hands full as an old crony gets into a gun-running scheme and another turns to drink as a way of escaping the misery of being left with only one arm. Quinn himself has ghosts to lay to rest that include a messed-up sister whose backstory is entwined with Quinn’s–and skillfully explained in a series of flashbacks–as well as the legacy of his uncle, the former sheriff whose last days were marred by scandal.

Perfect-pitch voices

Ace Atkins has a gift for capturing the voices of his characters and is able to assemble a cast who speak to each other–and the reader–with clearly defined personalities which all perfectly fit the rural Mississippi location and their divergent motives. Quinn is clearly the good guy, trying to do the right thing while keeping his own vulnerabilities under wraps. He’s the star of the ensemble but the gun-runner is painted the perfect shade of gray–a once likable small-time guy who went to the show and now finds the small town too confining–but isn’t smart enough to see very far beyond it. By the same token the women in Quinn’s life–notably his mother and his best deputy–have fit themselves into the small town and are trying to make the best of it.

Although the personalities take top honors in this mystery, the action moves  along at a fair pace as Quinn hunts for a couple who are selling children and mistreating them along the way. Switches between Quinn’s investigation through the wilds of rural Mississippi and the crony who is selling weapons to a Mexican gang keeps the suspense going.

Ace Atkins as Spenser

The two plotlines converge nicely and the book wraps up cleanly, making for a classic police procedural mystery. Quinn and the supporting cast make for an excellent read and a series with all the hallmarks of the very best a reader cold want in this genre. It is clear why Atkins was selected to continue Robert B. Parker’s Spenser series–he has the same tempo, gift for authentic dialogue and ability to create compelling characters.

Ace Atkins

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