Luis Montez despises Harry López, a con man he has represented many times and who still owes him money. But when the petty criminal asks him to consider taking on a distant cousin as a client, the lawyer sets aside his distaste because he needs the money.
Montez meets with Fermín Santos, a wealthy rancher from the San Luis Valley, whose son Dominic has been imprisoned again. He is accused of threatening a neighboring Anglo rancher—who also happens to head up the water company. The Santos patriarch has been fighting for water rights for decades. His land sits above a huge aquifer, but rights were lost generations ago, and the water is exported to other parts of Colorado and even California.
Before Montez can even deposit the retainer, Santos’ son is killed in a jailhouse riot. Dominic’s wife convinces the attorney to keep the check, claiming she needs his help to avoid more violence. Against his better judgement, Montez agrees to travel to the valley to investigate. There, he is attacked in a bar’s parking lot, badly beaten and left for dead. Is there more going on than rights to the liquid gold below the earth’s surface? Originally published by the University of New Mexico Press in 2003, this riveting read about an issue that has become even more relevant as the planet heats up is the fifth and final installment in the Luis Montez Mystery series.
Praise for the work of Manuel Ramos:
“One thing is almost as certain as death and corruption: Manuel Ramos’ Chicano angst. You’ll find plenty of all three in his jazzy, fast-paced and delirious whodunits, which stand as an unparalleled achievement in American crime literature.”—Ilan Stavans
“Ramos succeeds brilliantly in marrying style and substance to form a seamlessly entertaining novel [with] characters and scenes deeply etched with admirable brevity and skill.”—Publishers Weekly, starred review, on Blues for the Buffalo
“Ramos’s finely crafted tales contribute a welcome Hispanic voice to the mystery genre.”—Publishers Weekly on The Last Client of Luis Montez
“Ramos tells a gripping story with panache and humor, offering an inventive plot, a cast of appealingly oddball characters, and a refreshing and likable hero.”—Booklist on The Last Client of Luis Montez
“Ramos trades the intensity of Luis’s first two cases for nonstop, pleasantly incredible action.”—Kirkus Reviews on The Last Client of Luis Montez
“A powerful, distinctive series.”—Publishers Weekly on The Ballad of Gato Guerrero
“A thickly atmospheric first novel—with just enough mystery to hold together a powerfully elegiac memoir of the heady early days of Chicano activism.”—Kirkus Reviews on The Ballad of Rocky Ruiz
“A very impressive debut.”—Los Angeles Times on The Ballad of Rocky Ruiz
“Manuel Ramos is one of my all-time favorite authors and in My Bad he delivers everything I look for in a noir tale. Gus Corral is the guy I want on my side if I’m in trouble and Ramos proves once again he is the master of creating great characters. Clear your schedule and be prepared to read this blitz attack of noir in one sitting.”—Jon Jordan, Crimespree Magazine on My Bad
“As invigorating as a dip in a Rocky Mountain stream.”—Mystery Scene on Desperado: A Mile High Noir
“A dark mix of North Denver gangsters and Catholicism, but it’s [the] setting that really grips readers. Nostalgia is combined with reality…Ramos gets it right.”—Denver Post on Desperado: A Mile High Noir
“Ramos puts Latinos back in the picture. He is known as a crime writer, but that doesn’t quite capture what he does. His books are love stories, political dramas, mordant cautionary tales. Characters who are Latino, black and white, artists, professionals and laborers are described in staccato chapters, like a catchy corrido.”—Los Angeles Times on The Skull of Pancho Villa and Other Stories
“Ramos explores issues of the border, identity, violence and slights from outside the community, as well as within. They are thought-provoking and unpredictable. Many linger long after they end; and often they contain depth charges that explode in the reader’s mind after the story has ended. His novels belong on your bookshelves.”—Los Angeles Review of Books on The Skull of Pancho Villa and Other Stories
“The Godfather of Chicano noir hits us hard with this collection. Great range, dark visions and lots of mojo—much of it bad to the bone. A fine book!”—Luis Alberto Urrea, author of Into the Beautiful North, on The Skull of Pancho Villa and Other Stories
MANUEL RAMOS is the recipient of several literary awards for his books, which include The Last Client of Luis Montez (Arte Público Press, 2024); The Ballad of Gato Guerrero (Arte Público Press, 2024); The Ballad of Rocky Ruiz (Arte Público Press, 2023), an Edgar Award finalist; Angels in the Wind: A Mile High Noir (Arte Público Press, 2021); The Golden Havana Night (Arte Público Press, 2018); My Bad (Arte Público Press, 2016); Desperado (Arte Público Press, 2013); and The Skull of Pancho Villa and Other Stories (Arte Público Press, 2015). Inducted into the Colorado Authors Hall of Fame in 2021, he lives and works in Denver, Colorado.
