Latino Voices
2 total works
A beautiful would-be novelist spells trouble for crime-solving attorney Luis Montez The sun, the sand, a young beauty named Rachel in a white bikini - there's no better way to recover from the aches and pains of your latest case. At least that's what attorney and part-time detective Luis Montez thinks until the woman gives him the manuscript of her novel and vanishes. Montez just wants to rebuild his Denver practice, but an aggressive young P.I. with an emotional attachment to Rachel draws him in. With the woman's powerful adopted family on one side and unexplained death of a writer friend on the other, Montez digs up a series of long-told lies and long-hidden ugly truths. He also finds himself confronting one of the great unsolved mysteries of recent Chicano history. What happened to Oscar ""Zeta"" Acosta, the iconic activist-writer presumed dead since 1974? More to the point, what made Rachel Insist the legendary Brown Buffalo was alive - and that he was her real father?
Luis Montez goes from rags to riches to rallroaded; Hard-luck attorney Luis Montez has hit the big-time at last. He's successfully defended Jimmy Esch, the good-for-nothing son of a powerful Denver family. No small bonus, Jimmy's attractive sister Lisa is, as the saying goes, appreciative. It's enough to make a man quit moping about a lost love. What a difference a day makes. Inside of twenty-four hours, a cop rumored to have received bribes from Montez takes a header off a mountain, Jimmy Esch is found butchered, and the cops consider the attorney their top suspect. Lisa - Montez's alibi - has conveniently disappeared. As if all that wasn't enough, Montez must also cope with the news his father is in the hospital. Distracted by family strife and a media circus, Montez broods on the latest wrong turns in his life. Then he decides to act. Jumping bail, he heads across the Rockies to the barrios of San Diego. It's not easy to unravel the perfect set-up when you're down to your last cent. But Montez pursues the truths that will clear his name, and ultimately confronts the powerful force that is Family.