Crimson Moon [Paperback]

Lucha Corpi (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 2004

A woman’s harrowing fall down the side of a weedy cliff has left her struggling for every breath. A discarded manuscript is found buried under rotting food in a garbage dump. Falsified identities and faces half-hidden in the shadows of the Chicano Civil Rights Movement threaten to be unmasked. Private Investigators Justin Escobar and Dora Saldaña struggle through this web of bizarre clues in two cases they are working to solve. When these tangled threads lead them to a violent showdown involving F.B.I. misdeeds thirty years in the past, these two intrepid agents of Brown Angel Investigations find themselves in a deadly snare.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

Weaving the student movements at Berkeley, a serial rapist within the government’s ranks, a militant Chicano brown power group in Denver, and even the Zapatista movement in Chiapas, Mexico, Corpi has once again penned an intriguing thriller that revisits one of the most disturbing chapters for the American psyche: the civil rights struggles and student revolts during the late 1960s and early 1970s.

About the Author

Lucha Corpi is a poet, novelist, and children’s book author. She has written three other mystery novels featuring Brown Angel investigations and Gloria Damasco, the first Chicana detective in American literature: Black Widow’s Wardrobe (Arte Público Press, 1999), Cactus Blood (Arte Público Press, 1995), and Eulogy for a Brown Angel (Arte Público Press, 1992, 2002). Her first poetry collection, reissued by Arte Público Press in 2001, is entitled Palabras de mediodía/Noon Words. She is the recipient of numerous awards and citations, including a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship, the PEN Oakland Josephine Miles Literary Prize in fiction and the Multicultural Publishers Exchange Book Award of Excellence in Adult Fiction. She has been a tenured teacher in the Oakland Public Schools Neighborhood Centers Program since 1977.

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Arte Publico Press (March 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1558854215
• ISBN-13: 978-1558854215
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.7 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #659,244 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The first Chicana detective in American literature, May 4, 2005

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Crimson Moon (Paperback)

With a tenure of over thirty years as a teacher in the Oakland Public School Neighborhood Centers Program, Lucha Corpi also enjoys distinction as a poet, children's book author, and mystery novelist. She has won the PEN Oakland Josephine Miles Literary Prize, the Multi cultural Publishers Exchange Book Award of Excellence in adult fiction, and also was the recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship.

Gloria Damasco enjoys her own prestige as the first Chicana detective in American literature. At the beginning of this tale of shadows and intrigue, a woman is found after falling down a shrub-filled cliff. She is in a coma, and it is up to private investigators Justin Escobar and Dora Saldana to untangle the clues. The story harkens back thirty years to the corruption of two F.B.I. agents; one of them now a dying old man. But the second F.B.I.. agent is a rapist, and leaves a trail of despair and desolation among the women he attacked:

"'I opened my eyes again the next morning in the hospital. I had been raped, a nurse told me. Should she contact the police on my behalf? Did I want to press charges? Back then nurses and doctors were not required to call the police if they suspected rape. It was up to me. All I could think of was what my mother would say if she found out. I said no, no cops. All I could feel was a great sadness at his betrayal. Why had he, this man I loved, let that happen to me? I hated him.'"

Lucha Corpi packs this tale with a history of the Chicano movement in the United States and the struggles of the Chicano brown power group in Denver and the Zapatista movement in Chiapas, Mexico that took place in conjunction with the Civil Rights movement of the late 1960's and early 1970's. Police brutality was a major concern back then, and from this chronicle that Corpi provides, it was even worse for those involved in the Chicano movement.

Corpi writes a matter of fact narrative that underscores the deep passion underlying the events, both past and present. Her tale juxtaposes the slow demise of the innocent woman whose life was shattered by a man who should have been her protector. It is up to her son to see that justice is finally served, along with the detective work of Justin and Dora, who barely escape alive.

Shelley Glodowski
Senior Reviewer

2.0 out of 5 stars Not as I expected..., January 18, 2007

By 

S. Dean (Simi Valley, CA, United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Crimson Moon (Paperback)

With this being a featured book in my Chicana Literature class, I expected more from this book.

I realize that Chicana literature is considered a newly recognized genre, and the mystery within that umbrella is even more of a newly charted area. However, with every mystery there has to be a certain level of plausibility. The likelihood of as many things ending up being as interconnected as this is bordering on absurd.

The falling off the cliff scene is too slow.

The story is also particularly character-heavy. There are too many characters introduced too quickly. So much so that I had periodically take notes just to be able to follow what was going on with which characters and who had connections to whom.

Overall, a less than remarkable book that I'm glad to have read, but really feel that Chicana literature needs to step up to the plate a little more. Especially considering the brilliant storyteller Lucha Corpi is in person. I really feel that perhaps she should write her memoirs and thereby tell a much more deep and meaningful piece of literature.

3.0 out of 5 stars I'm Glad I read it, but it could have been much better, December 31, 2005

By 

Israel I. Garcia (San Francisco, CA Aztlán) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Crimson Moon (Paperback)

Although I enjoyed the story line (especially since Chicano/a mystery novels come rare), the narrative was somewhat dry. I would have loved more details, and in a more artistic (but not flowery) writing style. Also, the dialogue at times seemed unreal because of the sentence structure and vocabulary. On top of that, the story did not test my intellect, and certain crucial events were inserted for the convenience of the author and the story. Yet, it is a quick read (can be read in one full day), so I suggest reading it because it is a Chicano/a mystery novel and to familiarize yourself with Lucha Corpi's novels.