"Cliff Diver" by Carmen Amato. Five Stars.
Carmen Amata has become one of my favorite mystery-suspense writers. She joins the pantheon that includes such luminaries as Tess Gerritsen, Colleen McCullough, Eva Hudson, Mark Gimenez, Dominic Piper, Jake Needham and other notables.
Ms. Amato has chosen the perfect setting for her dramas. They take place in Acapulco, a border town in a developing country renowned for its corrupt officials, near useless bureaucracy, its proliferation of drug lords and downtrodden lower classes who suffer from brutal violence and a social system that features the downsides of trickle-down economics. Ms. Amato gives us a glimpse of real life on the other side of the barbed-wire fence. She doesn't need to resort to paranormal psychopaths. The evil bleeds into every street corner, every restaurant, every hotel, every government office.
Emilia Cruz, the hero and lead detective, faces an uphill battle from the word go. She has grown up in a poor barrio and joined the police force where she has spent years as a uniformed cop. A high score on a proficiency test has given her the chance to become a city detective. But she's the junior officer in the department, which means she gets jobs that no one else wants. She can't even use the washroom in peace because the john is communal with no doors on the toilet stalls. She has to bring her own roll of toilet paper and then suffer embarrassment when the guys use the urinals and stare at her through the wall mirror.
In Acapulco (Mexico) everyone is underpaid. The easiest way to advance is to accept bribes from the drug lords. Hence, one-third of the public officials are on the take. In this motley environment, no one can trust anyone else. It makes for a very uneven and roughshod application of the laws. Emilia Cruz has her own case file of missing persons, mostly children and young teenagers. Other detectives won't touch these disappearances because they will likely lead to trouble with armed enforcers of the drug lords.
By pure chance Emilia stumbles onto an important case when she finds a huge stash of counterfeit US money in the false compartment of a luxury sedan. She also meets a handsome ex-marine (Kurt Ricker) who manages a plush resort catering to wealthy nortamericanos. Her involvement with Kurt is a kind of cultural shock where she steps from slum world to ultramodern and back.
Shortly after, the boss of Acapulco detectives is found dead. A shady character in the upper echelon of government decides to make Emilia the new head of detectives. She takes tons of abuse from the older, better qualified gumshoes. But Emilia proves everyone wrong when she turns the department around, rids it of unproductive kickbacks and gets doors installed in the communal toilet. She also manages to solve a major case and finds the killer of her former boss.
Other characters in the narrative:
Kurt Ricker = nortamericano boyfriend
Franco Silvio = senior detective, former kickboxer
Obregon = chief of police union
Carlota = mayor of Acapulco
There is more, but you'll have to buy the book.
Carmen Amata has become one of my favorite mystery-suspense writers. She joins the pantheon that includes such luminaries as Tess Gerritsen, Colleen McCullough, Eva Hudson, Mark Gimenez, Dominic Piper, Jake Needham and other notables.
Ms. Amato has chosen the perfect setting for her dramas. They take place in Acapulco, a border town in a developing country renowned for its corrupt officials, near useless bureaucracy, its proliferation of drug lords and downtrodden lower classes who suffer from brutal violence and a social system that features the downsides of trickle-down economics. Ms. Amato gives us a glimpse of real life on the other side of the barbed-wire fence. She doesn't need to resort to paranormal psychopaths. The evil bleeds into every street corner, every restaurant, every hotel, every government office.
Emilia Cruz, the hero and lead detective, faces an uphill battle from the word go. She has grown up in a poor barrio and joined the police force where she has spent years as a uniformed cop. A high score on a proficiency test has given her the chance to become a city detective. But she's the junior officer in the department, which means she gets jobs that no one else wants. She can't even use the washroom in peace because the john is communal with no doors on the toilet stalls. She has to bring her own roll of toilet paper and then suffer embarrassment when the guys use the urinals and stare at her through the wall mirror.
In Acapulco (Mexico) everyone is underpaid. The easiest way to advance is to accept bribes from the drug lords. Hence, one-third of the public officials are on the take. In this motley environment, no one can trust anyone else. It makes for a very uneven and roughshod application of the laws. Emilia Cruz has her own case file of missing persons, mostly children and young teenagers. Other detectives won't touch these disappearances because they will likely lead to trouble with armed enforcers of the drug lords.
By pure chance Emilia stumbles onto an important case when she finds a huge stash of counterfeit US money in the false compartment of a luxury sedan. She also meets a handsome ex-marine (Kurt Ricker) who manages a plush resort catering to wealthy nortamericanos. Her involvement with Kurt is a kind of cultural shock where she steps from slum world to ultramodern and back.
Shortly after, the boss of Acapulco detectives is found dead. A shady character in the upper echelon of government decides to make Emilia the new head of detectives. She takes tons of abuse from the older, better qualified gumshoes. But Emilia proves everyone wrong when she turns the department around, rids it of unproductive kickbacks and gets doors installed in the communal toilet. She also manages to solve a major case and finds the killer of her former boss.
Other characters in the narrative:
Kurt Ricker = nortamericano boyfriend
Franco Silvio = senior detective, former kickboxer
Obregon = chief of police union
Carlota = mayor of Acapulco
There is more, but you'll have to buy the book.
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