Hit List: The Best of Latino Mystery [Paperback]

Sarah Cortez (Author, Editor), Liz Martinez (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 31, 2009

In Lucha Corpi's story, ''Hollow Point at the Synapses,'' her unique narrator a bullet describes the instant before killing a young Peruvian woman: ''I feel the pull of the hammer. The pressure mounts. I am now in place. The moment is upon me. Swiftly and efficiently, I will do what I must, what I was created for. In an instant, I am off, traveling at a speed reserved only for death.''
This groundbreaking anthology of short fiction by Latino mystery writers, Hit List: The Best of Latino Mystery, features an intriguing and unpredictable cast of sleuths, murderers and crime victims. Reflecting the authors' and society's preoccupation with identity, self, and territory, the stories run the gamut of the mystery genre, from traditional to noir, from the private investigator to the police procedural, and even a ''chick lit'' mystery.
''The Right Profile'' features a Miami private investigator who goes undercover to prove a deadbeat father can pay child support, and she delights in testifying against him in court. In ''The Skull of Pancho Villa,'' someone has stolen the family heirloom and it's up to Gus Corral to get it back. And in ''A New York Chicano,'' a successful bachelor from El Paso a graduate of NYU working for Merrill Lynch in Manhattan gets his revenge against a xenophobic newscaster.
Hit List collects for the first time short fiction by many of the Latino authors who have been pioneers in the mystery genre, using it to showcase their unique cultures, neighborhoods and realities. Contributors include award-winning writers such as Carolina Garcia-Aguilera, Alicia Gaspar de Alba, Rolando Hinojosa, Manuel Ramos and Sergio Troncoso, as well as emerging writers who deserve more recognition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Billed as the first-ever anthology of mystery short stories by Latino authors, this volume will disappoint readers looking for fiction examining distinctively Latino themes. Of the 17 selections, the best is Edgar-finalist Manuel Ramos's The Skull of Pancho Villa, a terse, twisty tale of theft purporting to tell the real story of the fate of that relic. A.E. Roman's smart-ass New York City PI, Chico Santana, gets a nice lead-in to his debut novel, Chinatown Angel (Reviews, Jan. 12), in a tale of revenge, Under the Bridge. While Lucha Corpi's Hollow Point at the Synapses may be the first story told from the perspective of a bullet traveling from a sniper's rifle to the target's head, that novelty comes across more gimmicky than clever. Other contributors include such established writers in the genre as Mario Acevedo, Carolina García-Aguilera and Steve Torres. (Mar.)
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Review

These works of short fiction…are noteworthy for their meticulous structure, complex characters and concise and unpredictable plots…a collection that is ideal for reading on the metro or at the beach or cafe. --Latin American Herald Tribune

Editors Sarah Cortez and Liz Martínez have succeeded in bringing together some of the best mystery fiction being written today…Suffice it to say that the stories in Hit List will engross, entertain and fully satisfy any lover of mystery fiction. --El Paso Times

For a real shake-up, dive into Hit List: The best of Latino Mystery, edited by Sarah Cortez and Liz Martinez (Arte Publico Press, University of Houston, $19.95). One of the best in this collection is also one of the shortest-Lucha Corpi's startling Hollow Point at the Synapses, written from the point of view of a bullet racing towards its female victim. Cold yet curious, the bullet doesn't understand the killer's motives until it hits its target, whereupon the bullet merges with the dying woman's brain, experiencing her entire life, and finally, the reason for her death. Utterly compelling, utterly heartless, this story is a true original. Also enjoyable is Arthur's Munoz's Made in China where we view a marriage every bit as worn and chipped as the rose patterned serving dish the wife received as a gift 33 years earlier. And for history/conspiracy buffs, we get Manuel Ramo's intriguing The Skull of Pancho Villa, wherein a not-too-ethical Gus Corral goes hunting for the mythical skull, which was supposedly stolen from his family. Hit List is compiled of 17 genre-busting stories, some of them tender, some of them brutal, all of them offering an intriguing Latino slant on our favorite genre. --Mystery Scene Magazine

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Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Arte Publico Pr; First Thus edition (March 31, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1558855432
• ISBN-13: 978-1558855434
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,714,686 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fine collection should engross any lover of mystery (not just Latinos), April 19, 2009

By 

Daniel Olivas (West Hills, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Hit List: The Best of Latino Mystery (Paperback)

With the newly released "Hit List: The Best of Latino Mystery" (Arte Público Press, $19.95 paperback), editors Sarah Cortez and Liz Martínez have succeeded in bringing together some of the best mystery fiction being written today.

This anthology features the work of Mario Acevedo, Lucha Corpi, Sarah Cortez, Carolina García-Aguilera, Alicia Gaspar de Alba, Carlos Hernandez, Rolando Hinojosa-Smith, Bertha Jacobson, John Lantigua, Arthur Muñoz, R. Narvarez, L.M. Quinn, Manuel Ramos, S. Ramos O'Briant, A.E. Roman, Steven Torres and Sergio Troncoso.

In the foreword to "Hit List," Ralph E. Rodriguez, an associate professor in the Department of American Civilization at Brown University, observes that the reader "will find no boring Latino caricatures or stereotypes in this volume." There is no doubt about that.

The anthology begins with a tightly wound, two-page bit of tough-talking noir by best-selling novelist Mario Acevedo titled "Oh, Yeah." In it, the narrator attempts to teach a seemingly dimwitted accomplice named Canela how to play a supporting role in an armed robbery. Of course, things go awry, but with a twist only an accomplished writer such as Acevedo could pull off.

There's some great humor here, too, such as S. Ramos O'Briant's sardonic "Death, Taxes ... and Worms," where we're introduced to a very proper Nellie Gallegos, who knows a trifle more about the death of her neighbor than she initially admits.

Several of the stories veer into wonderfully strange territory. "The Skull of Pancho Villa" by mystery novelist Manuel Ramos is based on various rumors as to the whereabouts of the Mexican revolutionary's head. The narrator, Gus Corral, informs us that the skull ended up in his family and recounts how it gets stolen from his sister's house. If you don't laugh out loud while reading this story, you have no sense of humor.

In "Nice Climate, Miami," award-winning author Rolando Hinojosa-Smith, a professor of English at the University of Texas at Austin, brings us an icy killer named O'Hara who is hired to kill a man who has failed to pay a debt. The fact that O'Hara does not appear to have any connection to Chicano or Latino culture is proof that the editors saw no reason to pigeonhole or unduly restrict Latino mystery. Hinojosa-Smith's piece is crisp and smart and fits perfectly in this anthology.

But ethnic identity is certainly part of the collection. Sergio Troncoso's "A New York Chicano" involves one Ricky Quintana, an El Paso native who has made it in New York working for Merrill Lynch and who has developed a deep hatred for a bloviating, anti-immigrant host of a television show titled "America's Watch." What Quintana does to appease this hatred proves that he hasn't lost his identity at all.

No mystery collection would be complete without a lost soul or two. Alicia Gaspar de Alba's "Short Cut to the Moon" gives us exactly that in a troubled young woman who goes deep into alcoholic homelessness when she believes that her cousin has been murdered. Her search for the truth eventually converges with an understanding of her desperate need for help.

Space constraints do not allow for a description of each story in this landmark anthology. Suffice it to say that the stories in "Hit List" will engross, entertain and fully satisfy any lover of mystery fiction.

[This review first appeared in the El Paso Times.]

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hit List: The Best of Latino Mystery, May 20, 2009

By 

I. Articola (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Hit List: The Best of Latino Mystery (Paperback)

Very good compilations of mysteries, especially the one written by L. Quinn. Simply wonderful and a must read.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Friend Opens the Door, May 18, 2009

By 

Coach Lynne "Knitter Nurturer" (Bay Area, California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hit List: The Best of Latino Mystery (Paperback)

I'm not a fan of short stories, but my friend (L.M. Quinn) has a story in this collection called "A Clear Cut Case of Murder." Makes it required reading, no? It's written with a consistent mood, it's intellectual, interesting, and her characters are well drawn, from a cancer ridden research analyst drawn into a murder mystery to "missing husbands and non-existant nephews" (P. 109) ...a story like a vacuum that sucks you in from the first paragraph.

To paraphrase a clever bit of marketing, betcha can't read just one!

I found myself absorbed in murder, mayhem, money, revenge, twists, and sorrow, with plenty of "GOTCHA!"

In Lucha Corpi's "Hollow Point at the Synapses," I met a cold steely character brought to life, like magic.

Sarah Cortez, one of the capable editors of the collection, shows us relationships turned inside out, in "In My Hands."

Carolina Garcia-Aguilera's "The Right Profile," is as satisfying as seeing a cop pull over the guy who just sped by you at 90 MPH.

Each one of these authors deserves his/her own kudos, but I don't have time here to continue. This is a group of stories for everyone. Even the Spanish words, when they're included don't require a facility for the language. The characters are