Hit List Signing at Murder By the Book

From Murder By the Book's Web site:

Friday, May 8, 6:30 p.m.
Anthology group signing!
Hit List (Arté Publico Press)

A group of authors will sign & discuss their contributions to a new groundbreaking anthology of short fiction by Latino writers, Hit List: The Best of Latino Mystery (edited by Sarah Cortez & Liz Martinez; Arte Publico; $19.95). The anthology features an intriguing and unpredictable cast of sleuths, murderers and crime victims. 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” follows a Miami private investigator who goes undercover to prove a deadbeat father can pay child support. 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 now working in Manhattan gets his revenge against a xenophobic newscaster.

The authors of stories featured in Hit List lead us through their barrios where executions, vengeance and mayhem are carried out with a bang. Contributors include award-winning writers such as Carolina García-Aguilera, Alicia Gaspar de Alba, Rolando Hinojosa, John Lantigua, Manuel Ramos, Lucha Corpi, and Sergio Troncoso, as well as emerging writers who deserve more recognition.

The anthology contains a foreword by Ralph E. Rodriguez, Ph.D., author of Brown Gumshoes: Detective Fiction and the Search for Chicana/o Identity (University of Texas Press, 2005).

Editor Sarah Cortez, a poet, educator, and law enforcement officer, is the author of a poetry collection, How to Undress a Cop (Arte Público Press, 2000), which won the PEN Texas Literary Award in Poetry. She edited Windows into My World: Latino Youth Write Their Lives (Piñata Books, 2007), which won a 2008 Skipping Stones Honor Award. She lives and works in Houston, Texas.

Editor Liz Martinez, a New York State investigator, has published short stories in numerous anthologies and magazines, including Manhattan Noir (Akashic Books, 2006) and Police Officer’s Quarterly. She lives and works in New York City.

Arte Público Press is the nation’s largest and most established publisher of contemporary and recovered literature by U.S. Hispanic authors. Its imprint for children and young adults, Piñata Books, is dedicated to the realistic and authentic portrayal of the themes, languages, characters, and customs of Hispanic culture in the United States. Based at the University of Houston, Arte Público Press, Piñata Books and the Recovering the U.S. Hispanic Literary Heritage project provide the most widely recognized and extensive showcase for Hispanic literary arts and creativity. For more information, please visit www.artepublicopress.com.

Authors confirmed for the signing: Sarah Cortez, Lucha Corpi, Rolando Hinojosa. More to come!

And of course, Murder By the Book also carries The Lineup #1 featuring works by Hit List authors Sarah Cortez and R. Narvaez.