Russian collusion comes to Acapulco . . . The murder rate just skyrocketed.Driven to the edge by her own secrets, can the first female police detective in Acapulco give Russia a dose of Mexican justice?National Public Radio — “A thrilling series”CrimeMasters of America — Poison Cup award, Outstanding SeriesSurvivor of a deadly cartel ambush, Detective Emilia Cruz returns to Acapulco to recover … Outstanding Series
Survivor of a deadly cartel ambush, Detective Emilia Cruz returns to Acapulco to recover from the trauma. Before she can catch her breath, however, her penniless stepfather is kidnapped by a ruthless gang.
At the same time, a Russian guest is murdered by a cold-blooded killer in the luxury hotel managed by her boyfriend, Kurt Rucker.
As the kidnappers terrorize Emilia’s family, more Russians are killed in a gun battle that rocks Acapulco. Emilia discovers a strange connection between the triple homicide and fuel thieves robbing Mexico’s underground gas pipelines.
Soon she’s on a midnight stakeout, waiting and watching for the thieves.
But Emilia is really on a collision course with the killer . . .
And his Russian boss.
Russian Mojito is a rollercoaster of a crime cocktail, with Russians and kidnappers pouring the drinks. From brutal slayings to Russian mobsters, this police thriller with a killer twist is Emilia’s most controversial case yet.
Grab your copy today!
The Detective Emilia Cruz series earned the coveted Poison Cup award for Outstanding Series from CrimeMasters of America.
Russian Mojito is recommended for fans of international police series, including the John Rebus series by Ian Rankin, the Harry Hole series by Jo Nesbo, the Shetland and Vera Stanhope series by Ann Cleeves, the China Thrillers and Enzo Files books by Peter May, the Armand Gamache series by Louise Penny, the Commissario Brunetti series by Donna Leon, and the Department Q series by Jussi Adler-Olsen.
Fans of Don Winslow’s cartel and border thrillers set in Mexico will also want to read the Acapulco-based Detective Emilia Cruz police series.
Carmen Amato’s crime fiction is based on the counterdrug expertise gained during a 30-year career with the Central Intelligence Agency. Amato is a recipient of both the National Intelligence Award and the Career Intelligence Medal.
BOOKS BY CARMEN AMATO
The Detective Emilia Cruz series
CLIFF DIVER
HAT DANCE
DIABLO NIGHTS
KING PESO
PACIFIC REAPER
43 MISSING
RUSSIAN MOJITO
MADE IN ACAPULCO
Suspense
THE HIDDEN LIGHT OF MEXICO CITY
AWAKENING MACBETH
more
Acapulco detective Emilia Cruz returns from Mexico City and is given a six-week medical leave to recover from her traumatic experience. Life seems to have other plans. Her stepfather, the simple knife sharpener Ernesto, is kidnapped by a vicious gang and held for a two million dollar ransom. Pressure mounts as the kidnappers send videos, the police negotiation team appears to be worthless, Russian gangsters are tearing up the place, Emilia’s former partner Silvio gets promoted to Lieutenant and now heads up her division, and Kurt Rucker, Emilia’s on again off again boyfriend is called back to London Headquarters. It’s nonstop action and a great read. I love this series!
Emilia Cruz, the gritty but stylish police detective at the center of the author Carmen Amato’s mystery series, has a foot planted in both of the worlds that dominate the world-famous resort city she serves — Acapulco.
She moves easily, but not without guilt, between the glitzy beachfront hotels that dominate Acapulco’s skyline and the hyper-violent crime and corruption that seethes beyond that luxurious tourist bubble.
As a lover, she lives in the bubble with her boyfriend, the manager of one of those gleaming hotels. As a cop, she tackles the worst that other world of crime and corruption serves up, battling ruthless narcos and crooked politicians and officials, including more than a few who also wear a badge and hate her for being honest and a woman.
Fans of Amato’s earlier work are familiar with this dynamic and the emotional strain and guilt Cruz feels and the author so deftly portrays. In her latest Cruz novel, Russian Mojito, Amato uses this to heighten the tension of the double mysteries presented within — the kidnapping of the detective’s stepfather by a gang known as Los Colectores and the murder of a Russian travel writer in the hotel where she lives.
The kidnapping touches on another ongoing storyline of the Cruz novels — her tortured relationship with her mother, a trauma-scarred woman who retreats into simple-minded focus on a rosy version of the past to avoid the reality of the present. The mother also wants to avoid a painful memory — giving away her son, Cruz’s brother, to a wealthy woman when their father is killed in a car wreck. The brother becomes a criminal monster known as El Acólito, who becomes a taunting obsession Cruz can’t catch.
The primary action in Russian Mojito centers on the kidnapping and the murder case, stretching Cruz, whose nerves are already shattered from her last case, as thin as a guitar string that’s about to snap. The kidnappers’ ransom demand is unusually high and they don’t seem willing to negotiate. And the murder case leads Cruz and her hard-charging former partner and current boss, Franco Silvio, to the trail of gasoline thieves, known as huachicoleros, and the double-murder of a wealthy Russian hotelier and his wife who had made Acapulco their home.
As always, Amato spins a taut tale, keeping the reader off balance and guessing just as much as Cruz does. The pace is swift and the action is realistically and unflinchingly portrayed. Cruz is a tough but tortured cookie, driven by guilt and obsession. And that’s what makes her so damn interesting.
Another page-turner from a favourite author – Russian Mojito Book #7 of the Detective Emilia Cruz series delivers. I love the toughness and the vulnerability of Detective Cruz as she battles her way through corruption, kidnappings, family relationships and her culturally challenging love affair with Kurt Rucker. I highly recommend this series. Cheers Lynda L. Lock (Isla Mujeres Mystery series)