This gritty novel set in Denver features blackmail, murder and gang warfare.
Gus Corral can’t quite believe it when an old high school buddy he hasn’t seen in years asks him for help. Artie Baca looks as cool as ever; the hippest guy in high school now looks like a GQ cover boy, Chicano style. And like always, Artie has women problems, even though he’s married. He’s being blackmailed because of an imprudent fling—caught on video, of course. Artie has a prosperous real estate business and can afford to pay off the young girl, but he’ll reward Gus handsomely for his help in convincing her that there won’t be any future payments.
Gus’s life hasn’t been as successful; he manages his ex-wife’s secondhand shop after losing his job in the recession and claims to also work as the night watchman so he can live there too. He can really use the money Artie is offering and agrees to help, even though he knows Artie probably deserves the shake down.
But before Gus can deliver the money, Artie is dead and the police want to know why the deceased was carrying a check made out to his old high school chum. And when an armed stranger breaks into the shop in the dead of night, Gus knows there’s more to the situation than meets the eye. An investigation into Artie’s involvement in the gentrification of Denver’s north side leads to harrowing encounters with dangerous criminals, both from the area and south of the border. Suddenly Gus is ensnared in the theft of one of the most revered religious symbols in the Catholic Latino world, a cloak bearing the image of the Virgen de Guadalupe. He’s caught between warring gangs, and soon he and the people he cares about most are in a life-and-death predicament.
Manuel Ramos returns to novel-length crime fiction with this gripping story that twists and turns like a roller coaster, where the outlook is grim and there’s no honor among thieves.
Click here to listen to an interview with Manuel Ramos about his novel, Desperado: A Mile High Noir.
Finalist, 2014 International Latino Book Award for Best Novel-Mystery
Winner of the 2014 Colorado Book Award for Mystery
“As invigorating as a dip in a Rocky Mountain stream.”—Mystery Scene Magazine
“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.”—The Denver Post
“Desperado is a page turner that keeps you hooked…It’s a gritty tale written vividly and clearly in a compelling style.”—AlvaradoFrazier
“Manuel Ramos’ clean prose style—sometimes dark and grim, sometimes wickedly funny—sets the mood perfectly. The contrasts are sharp, the shadows are deep. Everyone has an agenda. In this noir world, one good punch in the nose deserves another, though you never know when it’s coming.”—Don’t Need a Diagram
“Edgar Award finalist Manuel Ramos writes some of the smoothest mystery fiction I have encountered in a long time.”—Third-Chance Book Reviews
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
“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
“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
“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
“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, an attorney who also has taught Chicano literature courses at Metropolitan State College of Denver, is the author of several crime fiction novels. He was born in Florence, Colorado. One of his grandfathers was a coal miner and the other a veteran of the Pancho Villa’s army. His father, a construction worker, and his mother raised Manuel to appreciate education. He graduated from Colorado State University with honors in 1970, and received his law degree from the University of Colorado in 1973.
After a few years in private practice, Ramos accepted a staff attorney position with the Denver legal aid program, and the bulk of his legal career has consisted of providing legal assistance to the indigent. Today, he is the Director of Advocacy for Colorado Legal Services, the statewide legal aid program.
Manuel Ramos is the author of numerous crime fiction novels, including The Ballad of Rocky Ruiz (1993), Blues for the Buffalo (1993), The Ballad of Gato Guerrero (1994), The Last Client of Luis Montez (1996), Moony’s Road to Hell (2002), and Brown-On-Brown (2003). Most of these novels feature Ramos’s popular Chicano detective, Luis Montez, and several have garnered critical and popular recognition such as the Colorado Book Award and the Chicano/Latino Literary Award (University of California at Irvine), as well as an Edgar nomination from the Mystery Writers of America.
In King of the Chicanos (2010), Manuel Ramos paints a gritty and convincing portrait of Ramón Hidalgo, a fictional leader of the Chicano Movement who struggles against oppression as well as his own personal demons.
He is co-founder of and regular contributor to La Bloga (www.labloga.blogspot.com), an award-winning Internet magazine devoted to Latino literature, culture, news, and opinion.
Learn more at manuelramos.blogspot.com.
