Cliff Diver By Carmen Amato
Set in modern-day Acapulco, a small team of detectives wade through the increasing violence of gangs and cartels, where every night another two or three people lose their lives, widows pray in church while their sons are recruited to crime, their daughters are kidnapped and sold as sex slaves, and orphans wear plastic bottles around their necks, a drop of glue at the bottom, the fumes a way to ward off hunger.
Emilia Cruz is the newest detective on the team – the first and only woman. The welcome mat is deployed only to try and trip her up as she investigates a murder, kidnapping, and millions of counterfeit pesos, all somehow linked.
I felt Cruz’s fear and frustration, the blazing heat of the Mexican sun, and I drooled at the lush descriptions of fish tacos, ceviche with fresh limes, and ice-cold mojitos. The plot was tight, the writing superb, and the climax thrill: everything you could want, the complete package.
This is the first book in the series and I immediately bought and read the next eight books.
The author is a former CIA agent who lived in Mexico and Central America, and is a recipient of both the National Intelligence Award and the Career Intelligence Medal.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Cliff-Diver-Detective-Emilia-Cruz-ebook/dp/B00B76XSUK
https://www.amazon.com/Cliff-Diver-Detective-Emilia-Cruz-ebook/dp/B00B76XSUK
