Created by Noreen Cedeño
Here’s an eye of a different color.
Noreen Cedeño’s raspy-voiced MAYA LASTER does plenty of the regular private investigator things, albeit reluctantly, because–although she has the required license and all that–what she really is is a genetic genealogy investigator, running a one-woman agency in Dallas with the catchy title of Laster Genetic Genealogy and Investigation.
A mild-mannered, middle-aged former middle school teacher with a weakness for chocolate (she keeps a bag in her desk drawer) and an interest in genealogy, she managed to turn a hobby into a career, “finding the missing and giving identities to the genetically unmoored.”
She first appeared in “Disappearance of a Serial Spouse” in Black Cat Weekly #79 in March 2023, trying to track down a client’s father, who had disappeared when she was only four years old. In her second case, “A Matter of Trust,” Maya’s hot on the trail of any possible heirs to a sizable trust… and then the bodies start to fall.
Trouble? Not exactly her business. She’s much more comfortable surfing the web, prowling databases, sending out emails and working the phone, while occasionally pondering the value of her work.
She perseveres, however, concluding that “I’d become a genetic genealogist to connect people, but finally realized that another part of the job mattered more. Connecting people gave me a warm glow of pleasure but finding facts and truth for my clients was an achievement that gave me long-term satisfaction. The truth would stand no matter how people responded to it.
But it’s her desire to avoid trouble that makes these slow burn procedurals so engaging. Sure, they’re a little dry but an original viewpoint, a singular voice and intriguingly complex cases make this character one to watch.
More, please.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
N. M. Cedeño is a short story writer and novelist from Texas who grew up in the Dallas area, once lived in Amarillo, and currently lives near Austin. She is active in Sisters in Crime (the Heart of Texas Chapter) and is a member of the Short Mystery Fiction Society.
SHORT STORIES
- “Disappearance of a Serial Spouse” (March 2023, Black Cat Weekly #79)
- “A Matter of Trust” (October 8, 2023, Black Cat Weekly #110)
Respectfully submitted by Kevin Burton Smith.
