The streets in the Mile High City are still a mess following the blizzard that blew through recently, but attorney Luis Montez happily agrees to meet his client’s attractive sister. Lisa Esch—and her extremely well-to-do parents—are pleased with his efforts, and she wants to thank him for helping her problematic brother Jimmy, an addict with a penchant for trouble.
Montez is feeling good about the case too; the judge has recently granted his motion to suppress evidence in the traffic stop that led to Jimmy being charged with possession of a controlled substance. But after Montez spends a night with Lisa, his case goes south fast. The detective who arrested Jimmy Esch dies under mysterious circumstances; Jimmy is found dead, beaten to a pulp; and Lisa has disappeared, with Montez the last to see her. The cops believe he was in on a scheme with the dead lawman, and the lawyer suddenly finds himself in jail. A conviction for bribery—not to mention murder—would mean disbarment and the end of his legal career!
As Montez struggles to prove his innocence, he must deal with several personal problems, including the hospitalization of his ailing father and the recent breakup with his girlfriend. The third installment in Ramos’ Luis Montez Mystery series of five novels leads readers on a breathless chase through Colorado and west to California as the activist and attorney finds himself running from the law, desperate to figure out who set him up to take the fall for murder!
“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
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
“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
“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 book shelves.”—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
“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 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
“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
“A powerful, distinctive series.”—Publishers Weekly on The Ballad of Gato Guerrero
“The evil and retribution are distributed with a hand so generous it smacks of second-novel blues, though Ramos miraculously ties up more loose ends than you’d ever have imagined.”—Kirkus Reviews on The Ballad of Gato Guerrero
“Ramos trades the intensity of Luis’s first two cases for nonstop, pleasantly incredible action.”—Kirkus Reviews on The Last Client of Luis Montez
MANUEL RAMOS is the recipient of several literary awards for his books, which include 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.
