September 2013 Conversations with Las Comadres: Teleconference Series
Every Broken Trust, A Mystery — Outside Links: Book Author Publisher
Missing in Machu Picchu — Outside Links: Book Author Publisher
LISTEN TO THE INTERVIEW Length: 00:44:58 | Size: 8.1 MB
September 2013 Book of the Month
Every Broken Trust, A Mystery
By Linda Rodriguez
Published by Minotaur Books
ISBN-13: 978-1250030351
A party to celebrate the arrival of George “Mel” Melvin, a Kansas City politician accompanied by his troubled teenage daughter, wealthy wife, even wealthier backer, and mysterious employee, rapidly turns into disaster when Skeet’s best friend, Karen Wise, stumbles on a body in Chouteau University’s storage caves and is attacked herself. Skeet gets to Karen in time, but she’s still worried by Karen’s increasing obsession with the dead man’s drunken claim that her husband’s accidental death years earlier was actually murder.
Skeet already has her hands full, serving as chief of campus police and also as the guardian of fifteen-year-old Brian. Brian’s emotional entanglement with Mel’s rebellious daughter, as well as Karen’s fixation on who she believes to be her husband’s murderer, frustrates Skeet’s efforts to keep them both safe and out of trouble. Skeet must struggle against the clock to solve a series of linked murders before she loses Brian forever, and before her best friend winds up in jail—or worse.
About the Author: Linda Rodriguez
Linda Rodriguez is a winner of the Malice Domestic Best First Traditional Mystery Novel Competition. As a poet, she has won the Thorpe Menn Award and the Midwest Voices and Visions Award. Her first mystery novel, Every Last Secret, was selected by Las Comadres National Book Club, was a Barnes & Noble mystery pick, and is a finalist for the International Latino Book Award.
Rodriguez is president of the Borders Crimes chapter of Sisters in Crime, a founding board member of Latino Writers Collective and The Writers Place, and a member of Wordcraft Circle of Native American Writers and Storytellers, Kansas City Cherokee Community, and International Thriller Writers. Linda lives in Kansas City, Missouri.
September 2013 Additional Conversation
Missing in Machu Picchu
By Cecilia Velástegui
Published by Libros Publishing
ISBN-13: 978-1594487484
High in the Andes Mountains on the legendary Inca Trail, four thirty-something professional women embark on an Ivy League hike to help them confront their online dating dependency, only to find themselves victims of a predator’s ruse, and soon in a fight for their very lives. The women are eager to leave relationships behind for a while, but their intent to cast off their search for a soul mate falls by the wayside when handsome, magnetic Rodrigo, their hike leader, proves too mesmerizing to resist. Friend is pitted against friend as the women vie for Rodrigo’s attentions. Rodrigo manipulates them into participating in a heinous ancient sacrifice that will guarantee the success of his megalomaniacal dreams. But unbeknownst to the hikers, they have been under the vigilant presence of Taki and Koyam, two elderly indigenous women who understand the danger the women are facing at the hands of Rodrigo.
About the Author: Cecilia Velástegui
Cecilia Velástegui is the International Latino Book Award winning author of the psychological thrillers with historical intrigue: Traces of Bliss and Gathering the Indigo Maidens. She was selected on the 2012 Las Comadres and Friends National Latino Book Club in partnership with the Association of American Publishers.
Velástegui was born high up in the Andes Mountains in Quito, Ecuador, where she spent her childhood. Although she now lives at sea level in Monarch Beach, California, she has two friendly pet alpacas. Velástegui was raised in California and France, and has traveled extensively in over 50 countries. She received her graduate degree from the University of Southern California, and speaks four languages. She serves on the board of directors of several cultural and educational institutions.
Velástegui donates a portion of the proceeds of her novels to fight human trafficking, the underlying theme of her novels.