The Black Minutes

“Breathless, marvelous . . . Latin American fiction at its pulpy, phantasmagorical finest . . . A literary masterpiece masquerading as a police procedural.” —Junot Diaz When a young journalist named Bernardo Blanco is killed in the fictional Mexican port city of Paracuán, investigation into his murder reveals missing links in a disturbing multiple homicide case from twenty years earlier. As police officer Ramón “el Macetón” Cabrera discovers, Blanco had been writing a book about a 1970s case dealing with the murder of several young schoolgirls in Paracuán by a man known as El Chaneque. Cabrera realizes that whoever killed Blanco wanted to keep the truth about El Chaneque from being revealed, and he becomes determined to discover that truth. The Black Minutes chronicles both Cabrera’s investigation into Blanco’s murder and goes back in time to follow detective Vicente Rangel’s investigation of the original El Chaneque case. Both narratives expose worlds of corruption, from cops who are content to close the door on a case without true justice to powerful politicians who can pay their way out of their families’ crimes. Full of dark twists and turns, and populated by a cast of captivating—and mostly corrupt—characters, The Black Minutes is an electrifying novel from a brilliant new voice. “Mr. Solares is a graceful, even poetic, writer, especially in his hard-boiled dialogue and his descriptions of the wildly varied landscapes and ethnic types of northern Mexico.” —Larry Rohter, The New York Times

A finalist for France's most prestigious crime fiction award follows the investigation of police officer Ramón Cabrera into the murder of a journalist that has unsettling links to a corruption-tainted multiple homicide case from years earlier. Original. A first novel.

A detailed account of the bloodiest mutiny in the history of the Royal Navy, from the author of the Lord Ramage novels. Dudley Pope meticulously recounts the butchering of the officers aboard His Majesty’s Frigate Hermione in the West Indies in 1797. The captain of the frigate, Hugh Pigot, was a brutal and sadistic commander who flogged his men mercilessly and drove them beyond the limits of endurance. However, nothing could excuse the slaughter of guilty and innocent officers alike as the mutineers went wild and committed crimes beyond anything Pigot could have dreamed up. Not content with that, they then took the ship into an enemy port and gave her up to the Spanish who, unaware of the true facts for some time, nevertheless greeted them with the contempt they deserved. The Spanish took the ship into their service but, due to an amazing episode of red tape and internal wrangling, never actually got the frigate to sea. Meanwhile, the Royal Navy relentlessly hunted down the mutineers over the next ten years, and of the 33 either caught or who gave themselves up, 24 were either hanged and hung in chains upon gibbets, or transported for life… The events culminate with the daring re-capture of the Hermione under the guns of Spanish forts, with Captain Edward Hamilton leading 100 English sailors in six open boats in one of the most brilliant cutting-out expeditions in naval history. “Hiding high drama behind harsh fact, this true tale of horror and adventure at sea will appeal to naval buffs and historians; romantically-minded landlubbers may object to its factual flavor.” —Kirkus Reviews

Each year, thousands of tourists visit Mount Mitchell, the most prominent feature of North Carolina's Black Mountain range and the highest peak in the eastern United States. From Native Americans and early explorers to land speculators and conservationists, people have long been drawn to this rugged region. Timothy Silver explores the long and complicated history of the Black Mountains, drawing on both the historical record and his experience as a backpacker and fly fisherman. He chronicles the geological and environmental forces that created this intriguing landscape, then traces its history of environmental change and human intervention from the days of Indian-European contact to today. Among the many tales Silver recounts is that of Elisha Mitchell, the renowned geologist and University of North Carolina professor for whom Mount Mitchell is named, who fell to his death there in 1857. But nature's stories--of forest fires, chestnut blight, competition among plants and animals, insect invasions, and, most recently, airborne toxins and acid rain--are also part of Silver's narrative, making it the first history of the Appalachians in which the natural world gets equal time with human history. It is only by understanding the dynamic between these two forces, Silver says, that we can begin to protect the Black Mountains for future generations.