Created by Manuel Ramos
Speaking of books set in Denver, don’t miss Manuel Ramos’ excellent books about LUIS MONTEZ, a well-meaning but burned out Chicano lawyer fighting a losing battle against middle age and crime and his ideals. He studied law during the Chicano Movement, and admires political activism, but is conscious of its excesses.
In much the same way, in fact, as he reveres and is conscious of his own sexual prowess and its limitations. Montez may be on the outs, but he clings ferociously to his ideals, a mental holdover from his early days as an activist.
He’s one of the “more likeable losers in the mystery genre,” according to e-mail correspondant PatZ. And, for what is often quite a hard-boiled series, Luis has a particularly warm relationship with his elderly father. All in all, Ramos brings a distintinctive and passionate voice to the genre, one well worth hearing.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Manuel Ramos is a lawyer for the Denver Legal Aid Society and teaches Chicano literature at the Metropolitain state College of Denver. Ramos’ first novel, The Ballad of Rocky Ruiz, was nominated for a best-first-novel Edgar. He’s also written one novel about private eye Danny “Moony” Mora.
UNDER OATH
- “I could easily get on a soap box about how few readers know of the good Chicano writers, but I won’t. Suffice it to say that Manuel Ramos is simply one of the best.. .”
— PatZ
NOVELS
- The Ballad of Rocky Ruiz (1993) | Buy this book | Kindle it!
- The Ballad of Gato Guerrero (1994) |Â Buy this book |Â Kindle it!
- The Last Client of Luis Montez (1996) |Â Buy this bookÂ
- Blues for the Buffalo (1997) |Â Buy this book
- Brown-on-Brown (2003) |Â Buy this book
FURTHER INVESTIGATION
- Mauuel Ramos
The author’s official website. - Rocky Mountain Eyes
Sleuths, Bounty Hunters and Other Cowboys from Colorado, Montana, Wyoming & Idaho
