Devil's Kitchen

Hard-boiled detective story in the tradition of Raymond Chandler. Manny Aguilar, Tucson Police detective, is given the case of a severed head. He finds out the head belongs to a drunk named Bernard Harper. They track down his daughter, who identifies the body, and as the circle widens it includes a Mexican drug lord in business with an American land developer, and things start to get ugly.One of the best parts of the book was Manny’s girlfriend Reina, a strong, beautiful, loving woman who dabbles in mysticism. Manny has a dead grandmother communicating with him, but he is not as open to it as is Reina. There’s also a scene at a cemetery in Mexico on The Day of The Dead that is absolutely amazing writing. It was so vivid, and written so clearly, that it, above all, is what I will remember from this book.The author writes with great authority on policing, guns, and the dark side of Tucson and of life in general. There were a lot of characters, and it became confusing at times, but the author never lost the thread, and at the end it all made perfect sense.

It was a fun read with a menu of hard boiled detective served up with a large portion of jalapenos.