A Death in Mexico -- Jonathan Woods

You're seen those stories on the news that warn you about travel to Mexico, right?  A Death in Mexico is an even more effective cautionary tale.  A couple of American revelers in San Miguel Allende stumble across the body of a (formerly) beautiful woman, her eyes gouged out.  Inspector Hector Diaz is rousted out of bed to investigate.  Diaz is a mess.  He drinks too much, he smokes too much, and his stomach problems are a constant irritation.  


There's so much corruption and the drug lords have so much power that Diaz doesn't believe much in the possibility of justice.  But that doesn't stop him from doing his job, or trying to, and he pulls the reader along with him through a surreal landscape with a couple of woo-woo moments that might involve ancient spirits.  At the end, justice becomes a more personal thing than a systemic one.


New Pulp Press continues to impress with the quality of its offerings.  A Death in Mexico is an unusual procedural that will take you down some mean, nightmarish streets, indeed.  Check it out.