When you think of Salem, Massachusetts, your mind instantly goes to the witch trials of 1692. But I was there this week for a very different darkness. Along with absorbing conversations about the Hispanic Noir genre and a recommendation for a must-watch Netflix series with a heartbreaking history, the week also involved rescuing my face from a liquor store window.
Please read on.
Photo by Bee Felten-Leidel via Unsplash
Salem Meets the Noir
This week I was at Salem Meets the Noir, a bi-lingual conference on Hispanic Noir literature, television and cinema. Hosted by Salem State University, the audience was mostly university professors and graduate students.
I gave the keynote on Day 1, sharing the personal experiences in Mexico that inspired me to write, starting with political thriller THE HIDDEN LIGHT OF MEXICO CITY and then the Detective Emilia Cruz series.
The audience peppered me with questions for almost 45 minutes. We would have gone longer but time simply ran out. To say that this was an engaged audience is an understatement!
Later, I did a reading, choosing a scene that fictionalized an experience described in the keynote. Everyone made the connection and asked more questions.
On Day 2, we had a virtual Q&A session at the House of the Seven Gables with Silvia Moreno-Garcia, the Canadian author of MEXICAN GOTHIC and VELVET WAS THE NIGHT.
Silvia was warm and thoughtful as she described her writing process. A fellow plotter, she uses sticky notes to write outlines, too!
New perspectives
As a crime fiction author, I don’t run into phrases like narrative structure, ideological positioning, and trauma fiction very often.
Readers want to know the story behind the story. Fellow authors inevitably talk about marketing. In contrast, the conference’s academic approach focused on cultural context with an emphasis on social and women’s issues.
Bottom line? A fascinating week among new friends.
My new coven. At the House of Seven Gables with university professors (L to R) Inma Pertusa, Terri Carney, Eva Paris, and Melissa Stewart.
An eye-opener
One of the most memorable presentations was about the Netflix series, The Enternaut. Based on a 1957 graphic novel by Argentine writer Héctor Germán Oesterheld, it’s a dystopian tale in which toxic snow kills everyone it touches.
Oesterheld was part of the opposition during the 1970’s military dictatorship in Argentina. He and his entire immediate family were “disappeared,” a euphemism for “killed by the authorities.”
A surviving grandson held the rights to the 1957 graphic novel and agreed to the series with the proviso that it be filmed in Buenos Aires. Viewers can’t help but see parallels in the story to what happened to Argentina under dictatorship, with the toxic snow “disappearing” people.
The Entrenaut swept top honors at the 2026 Premios Platino awards for Spanish-language film, including Best Actor and Best Series. Now that the Count of Monte Cristo is done on PBS, I’ll be watching Season 1 on Netflix. It’s in Spanish with English subtitles, like the official trailer.
Saved from the bin
I did a double-take in front of a liquor store located midway between my hotel and the campus of Salem State University.
A poster announcing the conference with my picture and that of Silvia Moreno-Garcia was in the window above a display of Chilean sherry!
When the conference was over, I walked in and asked for the poster. The clerk offered to recycle it but I promised to handle that for him.
I have just the spot on my office wall for the “recycling.”
Salem Shorts
What you need to know about visiting Salem:
Full of narrow winding streets, Salem is very walkable. Many sidewalks are old brick. Bring comfortable shoes.
The Hawthorne Hotel is the perfect location. Two rooms are supposedly haunted: 324 and 612. I stayed in room 624 but didn’t meet any ghosts.
Be ready for lots of commercial witchy tours, museums, and shops. Wand shop Wynotts on Essex St. was right out of Harry Potter.
There’s a Little Free Library on Lafayette St near the historic Saltonstall School where you can find a signed copy of THE HIDDEN LIGHT OF MEXICO CITY.
#excerpt
In DRAGON CARTEL, releasing 16 June, Detective Emilia Cruz has a new boss. Captain Cardona is only interested in homicide cases that give him a boost up the ladder of success.
~
The new jefe ran every morning meeting the same way. His attention circled the table, looking for high-visibility cases and more or less ignoring the rest.
“Detective Cruz?” Cardona drawled.
“The task force is leaving this afternoon,” Emilia had to be careful not to be too specific about the El Barracuda task force. “I’ll be gone for a few days.”
“Anything else?”
“No, jefe.” The Lastra investigation was strictly unofficial. Emilia knew Cardona would never sanction one of his detectives to touch a nearly-cold missing persons case.
Cardona pointed to Sandor.
Emilia put her head down and pretended to take notes. Cardona clearly hated the fact that he was shut out of the federal-level El Barracuda task force, denying him the prestige and important contacts he imagined came with participation. Emilia could have told Cardona he was all wrong, that all her reports disappeared into oblivion and the closest she got to the seat of power was a video call, but the less she engaged with the arrogant pendejo, the better.
Sandor wrapped up his brief of the cases he and Macias were handling, including the murder of a yacht broker aboard a massive private vessel.
“Let’s go over the details in my office after the meeting,” Cardona said.
It was a phrase that all the detectives knew was code for This case belongs to me now.
Don’t forget - Mark your calendars for 16 June!
#reviewoftheweek
A huge thank-you to Sandra Nikolai, author of the terrific Megan Scott/Michael Elliott series, who analyzed HAT DANCE and the character of Emilia Cruz on Instagram, saying in part:
Dealing with volatile situations involving corrupt police to drug cartels to hookers demands brains as well as brawn, and Emilia doesn’t let us down.
We are privy to her innermost thoughts from start to finish which heightens the suspense when she’s forced to face her demons in more ways than one . . .
A well-rounded character you can’t help but admire. The rest of the cast is painted with equally vivid strokes of realism.
#noticed
FINDING PENROSE by Paula Sheridan is based on a true story from South Africa. In 1922 a young boy is stolen from his home in the mountains, stripped of his past, and forced into a life of shadows. Decades later in Durban, the life he built for himself unravels.
From the publisher—For readers of powerful humanitarian tales: If you were moved by the resilience in The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, the historical gravity of 12 Years a Slave, or the personal triumph in A Long Walk to Water, you will find a friend in Penrose.
Get FINDING PENROSE on Kindle.
That’s all for this edition. Thank you for spending this time with me.
Until next time, Carmen
PS: A percentage of book sales and affiliate links go to support veterans and first responder organizations. When you buy a book, invite me on a podcast or recommend this newsletter, you help me help others. Thank you.
MY BACKSTORY— I learned a few things about danger, deception and resilience during a 30-year career with the CIA focusing on counterdrug and technical collection. Now a mystery author, those lessons play out on the page, especially in the Detective Emilia Cruz mystery series set in Acapulco. Starting with Cliff Diver, the series is a back-to-back winner of the Poison Cup Award for Outstanding Series from CrimeMasters of America. I’ve also written historical and political thrillers, essays about the craft of crime fiction, and live with a very large white dog named Bear.
In case you missed earlier newsletters:
Carmen was the perfect keynote for a noir conference. She attended every meeting of each day and have the patience to respond to every single question we all had about her series with Emilia Cruz, and about her experiences working with the CIA. It is not very often that we had the opportunity to talk about an author while having her/him with us in every activity organized in a conference. I can’t wait to finish reading all the books of her series (I am in book #5), and I am sure very eager to have the very new book coming in June!
Ooo, I love the tension of the new boss! Trouble waiting to happen and yet another obstacle for Emilia!