Sonny Baca

Created by Rudolfo Anaya
(1937-2020)

They call SONNY BACA the seeker (he’s been searching low and high), not just for the meaning of his own dreams, but for the cultural roots of crime, in this exceptional quartet of novels

Albuquerque, New Mexico private investigator has a background you don’t see often in the Shamus Game —he’s a former high school teacher. He’s also a former husband, but currently in a hot relationship with a Chicana restaurant owner. He continually puts her off, but nonetheless relies on for spiritual and physical help when working a case.

Woo-woo? You’re soaking in it.

And the past speaks loudly in this series. Troubled by dreams, Sonny is the grandson of a legendary lawman, whose pistol he carries, and the author seeds his high-flying adventures not just with multiple discursions into Sonny’s past, with plenty of present-day action: hot air balloons, drug dealers, missing girls, political assassinations, and medical experiments. He also adds a layer of mysticism and magic of Chicano culture, and Sonny’s on-going battle with his nemesis, the evil bruja and local big power broker Raven. Which means Sonny’s back-up includes, not the standard extra-large socipath, but coyotes and a currendera (healer).

So… not your average P.I.

And that’s even before Sonny finds himself confined to a wheelchair, with doubts her’ll ever walk again, following a skirmish with Raven.

Not bad for a series of books published by a university press —in this case, the University of New Mexico Press.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Rudolfo Anaya is considered one of the big shots in contemporary Chicano and New Mexican literature. He was a well-respected professor emeritus of English at the University of New Mexico, with a slew of literary awards in his CV, including the Premio Quinto Sol and a National Medal of Arts. He’s probably best known his classic Bless Me, Ultima, a perennial assigned read in American high schools. Other books, besides the Sonny Baca series, include Tortuga, Heart of Aztlan, Alburquerque, Rio Grande Fall, Serafina’s Stories, The Man Who Could Fly and Other Stories, and Rudolfo Anaya: The Essays. Children’s books include Farolitos of Christmas, My Land Sings, Elegy on the Death of César Chávez, Roadrunner’s Dance, and The First Tortilla.

UNDER OATH

• “(Anaya) tries his hand at detective fiction but continues to shine brightest with his trademark alchemy: blending Spanish, Mexican and Indian cultures to evoke the distinctively fecund spiritual terrain of his part of the Southwest… Although the narrative pace is often bumbling, Anaya blends elements of nuclear waste-management and ancient tradition with considerable credibility and offers a memorable cast of locals. But best here is Sonny’s convincing attachment to the land and the traditions that have shaped him.”
  — Publishers Weekly on Zia Summer
• “With Sonny Baca we’re light-years from the wisecracking, hard-boiled, noir-drenched p.i.s who walked the mean streets when the genre was young. Sam Spade may be turning over in his dreams.”
  — Kirkus Reviews on Shaman Winter
• “The fast-paced story line of Shaman Winter is fascinating and absolutely eerie as the master paints a vivid picture of the spirituality of another culture… Anyone who enjoys a brilliant tale that is a bit different needs to try the Baca novels or for that matter any of the works of Mr. Anaya.”
  — Harriet Klausner on Shaman Winter

NOVELS

• Zia Summer (1995) | Buy this book | Kindle it!
• Rio Grande Fall (1996) | Buy this book  | Kindle it!
• Shaman Winter (1999) | Buy this book | Kindle it!
• Jemez Spring (2005) | Buy this book | Kindle it!

FURTHER INVESTIGATION

• I Ain’t Afraid of No Ghosts
  Things That Go Bump in the Night, and the Eyes Who Go After Them
• That Left Hand Turn at Albuquerque
  And Other New Mexico Eyes

Respectfully submitted by Kevin Burton Smith, with additional info from Susan Sotelo, of the University of Arizona, who’s doing research on the Chicano detective novel.