Last time I shared an interview I did with world famous author Carmen Amato. Her Emilia Cruz series has been optioned for a TV series. You have to run fast to keep up with this author.
This week, we're going one step further. Carmen interviews her lead character Emilia Cruz. Emilia is the first, and only, female detective on the Acapulco police force. If you've read her adventures, you're going to love this interview. If you haven't read her books, you're going to want to get them.
Carmen is running the show from here on out.
This week, we're going one step further. Carmen interviews her lead character Emilia Cruz. Emilia is the first, and only, female detective on the Acapulco police force. If you've read her adventures, you're going to love this interview. If you haven't read her books, you're going to want to get them.
Carmen is running the show from here on out.
Carmen's Interview with Acapulco police detective Emilia Cruz
What do you hope your obituary will say about you?
That I died of old age. In bed.
Cops in Mexico die young. Hunted down by cartel gangs. Gunned down on the street.
I hope I beat the odds.
Is there anyone you’d like to acknowledge and thank for their support?
He knows what I owe him and how I feel, even if the words don’t come easily.
His name is Kurt Rucker and he manages the Palacio Réal hotel on the eastern side of Acapulco. Kurt has created an oasis for me, where I can forget the crime and violence on the streets, at least for a little while.
How do you feel about social media websites such as Facebook and Twitter? Are they a
good thing?
As you know, social media sites play an important role in almost every police investigation. Gang members like to boast about their killings and crime on social media and it is often the first place we find information. But it works against us as well.
In Mexico, the best defense a cop has against the cartels and gangs is to be as anonymous and “unfindable” as possible. If one of them gets online information related to our identity, they’ll share it. Finding and killing the cop becomes a deadly game. This is why law enforcement officers who raid cartel hideouts are always masked.
Sometimes I think about setting up a Twitter account to ask for information to help me find women from Acapulco who have gone missing. An anonymous tip line. I call those women Las Perdidas, the Lost Ones.
What makes you angry?
My partner, Franco Silvio, is the most infuriating man in the world. He’s the senior detective in the squadroom and probably the smartest, but masks it by being rude and stubborn. As a former boxing champ, he can also be physically intimidating and downright scary.
He once told me he’d do whatever it took to make my life miserable so I would quit being a detective. He didn’t believe women should be in that job. But I am the first female police detective in Acapulco and I’m here to stay.
We ended up working a drug smuggling case together. It involved a stakeout at Acapulco’s Maxitunnel, the main artery for traffic into the city. The smugglers used water delivery trucks to get drums of drugs in and out of the city and had a processing zone under the tunnel’s maintenance area. Franco and I saved each other’s life that day.
I think it is a shock that he now has a female partner. He may never really get over it.
Do you know your neighbors?
Imagine living in a hotel. People come and go all the time.
I live in the penthouse of the Palacio Réal hotel with Kurt, so it’s not exactly like having neighbors. Kurt’s best friend, Jacques, head chef at the hotel restaurant, is a neighbor. Both men are marathoners and triathletes.
Jacques is French and amusing and thankfully didn’t tell Kurt when I spilled wine on a party guest to avoid having to answer questions about how Kurt and I met. I didn’t want the woman, whose husband is probably Russian mafia, to know I am a cop.
Kurt and I met during an investigation. He came to inquire about an impounded car that belonged to a departed hotel guest. He didn’t know it was loaded with drug money to pay a ransom.
Next thing I knew, my lieutenant washed up dead in a boat on the Palacio Réal’s private beach. Once again, I was thrown together with Kurt. I don’t know if I would have survived—literally—that investigation without him.
What does love mean to you?
I’m uncomfortable answering that. Next question, please.
What social issues interest you the most?
What if someone you cared about went missing? Your mother, your sister, your wife.
And no one did anything to help you?
I keep records on women from Acapulco who have gone missing. I try to find them when the official effort is over. Only about 1% of crimes in Mexico result in conviction, one of the lowest rates in the civilized world.
Why? Corruption, incompetence, lack of resources. Take your pick. They are all to blame.
But I’ll keep looking for Las Perdidas. Someone has to.
What is your favorite quality about yourself?
I’m a good liar.
What is your least favorite quality about yourself?
I’m a frequent liar.
What is your favorite quote, by whom, and why?
“The thief thinks that all men are thieves.” It’s an old Mexican proverb.
I see the truth in it every day, from the city official who assumes everyone else is as rabidly ambitious and will do anything to get what they want, to the street gang member who assumes that everyone else has such little regard for life.
What are you most proud of accomplishing so far in your life?
I’m the first and only female police detective on the Acapulco force. I scored the highest on the written exam that year, got an endorsement from my patrol sergeant, and won the hand-to-hand combat competition. In the final bout, I beat a guy everyone thought was going to win, by choking him. He tapped out but the crowd was so loud I never heard him.
Even after all that, the lieutenant in charge of detectives refused to let me take the job unless one of the other detectives agreed to be my partner. Rico Portillo stepped up. He gave me my chance.
I heard that some chica from New York wrote a story about how I came to be a detective and gives it away for free. Que estupida.
What is your favorite food?
Acapulco is famous for seafood and I love it all. My favorite might be pescado empapelado; marinated fish wrapped in foil and grilled with lemon and garlic and tomato. Open the foil packet and the smell is tantalizing.
There’s a tiny loncheria near the fishing docks on Avenida Azueta. Three tables and the best fish in the world.
What’s your favorite place in the entire world?
The balcony outside my bedroom at the Palacio Réal. It wraps around two sides of the penthouse and overlooks both the ocean and the hotel’s famous outdoor Pasodoble Bar. The balcony is decorated with teak chaise lounges, cobalt cushions, and glazed pots full of geraniums.
I can be up there at night and look over the wall and see a dozen ceramic lanterns, each as big as a barrel, like a dramatic barrier of flames and color between the water and the edge of the Pasodoble’s lower terrace. I stare at the ocean and clear my head when I’m worried about a case or furious over my latest argument with Franco Silvio. On the balcony, I’m hidden but still free.
Where do you see yourself in five years?
I know I have one of the most dangerous jobs in the world. The violent crime rate in the state of Guerrero, where Acapulco is located, is so high that the life expectancy rate has dropped. The number of femicides and missing women continues to rise.
In five years, I hope I’m alive and working as a detective.
I hope I’m still with Kurt, because, well . . .
Oye, would you look at the time! I have to be . . . uh . . . at a meeting for a case. Yes, a really important case. You understand, I’m sure.
Detective Emilia Cruz is featured in the novels Cliff Diver, Hat Dance, Diablo Nights, and the collection of short stories Made in Acapulco by mystery author Carmen Amato. Originally from New York, Carmen’s experiences living in Mexico and Central America drive the authenticity and drama of her writing. Visit her website at carmenamato.net for a free copy of The Beast, the first Emilia Cruz story.
That's it for this week. Next week I'll interview mega-author Jinx Schwartz.
That I died of old age. In bed.
Cops in Mexico die young. Hunted down by cartel gangs. Gunned down on the street.
I hope I beat the odds.
Is there anyone you’d like to acknowledge and thank for their support?
He knows what I owe him and how I feel, even if the words don’t come easily.
His name is Kurt Rucker and he manages the Palacio Réal hotel on the eastern side of Acapulco. Kurt has created an oasis for me, where I can forget the crime and violence on the streets, at least for a little while.
How do you feel about social media websites such as Facebook and Twitter? Are they a
good thing?
As you know, social media sites play an important role in almost every police investigation. Gang members like to boast about their killings and crime on social media and it is often the first place we find information. But it works against us as well.
In Mexico, the best defense a cop has against the cartels and gangs is to be as anonymous and “unfindable” as possible. If one of them gets online information related to our identity, they’ll share it. Finding and killing the cop becomes a deadly game. This is why law enforcement officers who raid cartel hideouts are always masked.
Sometimes I think about setting up a Twitter account to ask for information to help me find women from Acapulco who have gone missing. An anonymous tip line. I call those women Las Perdidas, the Lost Ones.
What makes you angry?
My partner, Franco Silvio, is the most infuriating man in the world. He’s the senior detective in the squadroom and probably the smartest, but masks it by being rude and stubborn. As a former boxing champ, he can also be physically intimidating and downright scary.
He once told me he’d do whatever it took to make my life miserable so I would quit being a detective. He didn’t believe women should be in that job. But I am the first female police detective in Acapulco and I’m here to stay.
We ended up working a drug smuggling case together. It involved a stakeout at Acapulco’s Maxitunnel, the main artery for traffic into the city. The smugglers used water delivery trucks to get drums of drugs in and out of the city and had a processing zone under the tunnel’s maintenance area. Franco and I saved each other’s life that day.
I think it is a shock that he now has a female partner. He may never really get over it.
Do you know your neighbors?
Imagine living in a hotel. People come and go all the time.
I live in the penthouse of the Palacio Réal hotel with Kurt, so it’s not exactly like having neighbors. Kurt’s best friend, Jacques, head chef at the hotel restaurant, is a neighbor. Both men are marathoners and triathletes.
Jacques is French and amusing and thankfully didn’t tell Kurt when I spilled wine on a party guest to avoid having to answer questions about how Kurt and I met. I didn’t want the woman, whose husband is probably Russian mafia, to know I am a cop.
Kurt and I met during an investigation. He came to inquire about an impounded car that belonged to a departed hotel guest. He didn’t know it was loaded with drug money to pay a ransom.
Next thing I knew, my lieutenant washed up dead in a boat on the Palacio Réal’s private beach. Once again, I was thrown together with Kurt. I don’t know if I would have survived—literally—that investigation without him.
What does love mean to you?
I’m uncomfortable answering that. Next question, please.
What social issues interest you the most?
What if someone you cared about went missing? Your mother, your sister, your wife.
And no one did anything to help you?
I keep records on women from Acapulco who have gone missing. I try to find them when the official effort is over. Only about 1% of crimes in Mexico result in conviction, one of the lowest rates in the civilized world.
Why? Corruption, incompetence, lack of resources. Take your pick. They are all to blame.
But I’ll keep looking for Las Perdidas. Someone has to.
What is your favorite quality about yourself?
I’m a good liar.
What is your least favorite quality about yourself?
I’m a frequent liar.
What is your favorite quote, by whom, and why?
“The thief thinks that all men are thieves.” It’s an old Mexican proverb.
I see the truth in it every day, from the city official who assumes everyone else is as rabidly ambitious and will do anything to get what they want, to the street gang member who assumes that everyone else has such little regard for life.
What are you most proud of accomplishing so far in your life?
I’m the first and only female police detective on the Acapulco force. I scored the highest on the written exam that year, got an endorsement from my patrol sergeant, and won the hand-to-hand combat competition. In the final bout, I beat a guy everyone thought was going to win, by choking him. He tapped out but the crowd was so loud I never heard him.
Even after all that, the lieutenant in charge of detectives refused to let me take the job unless one of the other detectives agreed to be my partner. Rico Portillo stepped up. He gave me my chance.
I heard that some chica from New York wrote a story about how I came to be a detective and gives it away for free. Que estupida.
What is your favorite food?
Acapulco is famous for seafood and I love it all. My favorite might be pescado empapelado; marinated fish wrapped in foil and grilled with lemon and garlic and tomato. Open the foil packet and the smell is tantalizing.
There’s a tiny loncheria near the fishing docks on Avenida Azueta. Three tables and the best fish in the world.
What’s your favorite place in the entire world?
The balcony outside my bedroom at the Palacio Réal. It wraps around two sides of the penthouse and overlooks both the ocean and the hotel’s famous outdoor Pasodoble Bar. The balcony is decorated with teak chaise lounges, cobalt cushions, and glazed pots full of geraniums.
I can be up there at night and look over the wall and see a dozen ceramic lanterns, each as big as a barrel, like a dramatic barrier of flames and color between the water and the edge of the Pasodoble’s lower terrace. I stare at the ocean and clear my head when I’m worried about a case or furious over my latest argument with Franco Silvio. On the balcony, I’m hidden but still free.
Where do you see yourself in five years?
I know I have one of the most dangerous jobs in the world. The violent crime rate in the state of Guerrero, where Acapulco is located, is so high that the life expectancy rate has dropped. The number of femicides and missing women continues to rise.
In five years, I hope I’m alive and working as a detective.
I hope I’m still with Kurt, because, well . . .
Oye, would you look at the time! I have to be . . . uh . . . at a meeting for a case. Yes, a really important case. You understand, I’m sure.
Detective Emilia Cruz is featured in the novels Cliff Diver, Hat Dance, Diablo Nights, and the collection of short stories Made in Acapulco by mystery author Carmen Amato. Originally from New York, Carmen’s experiences living in Mexico and Central America drive the authenticity and drama of her writing. Visit her website at carmenamato.net for a free copy of The Beast, the first Emilia Cruz story.
That's it for this week. Next week I'll interview mega-author Jinx Schwartz.
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