{"title":"Manuel Ramos","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"moony-s-road-to-hell-book-manuel-ramos-9780826329493","title":"Moony's Road to Hell","description":"It all starts with the murder of INS agent Kiko Vigil, shot by an unknown gunman in a Larimer Street bar in Denver where he was drinking with the wife of Elias Garza, a major smuggler of illegal immigrants. Private investigator Danny Mora, known to his oldest friends as Moony, is hired by a colleague of Vigil's to look into the shooting. Did Vigil make the fatal error of sleeping with Garza's beautiful wife, or is that just a cover story? Was the INS on the verge of ruining Garza's business? Moony's quest for the truth leads first to his old nemesis, Garza's sleazy attorney Victor Delgado. Soon the sleaze factor is surpassed by blood as the bodies begin to pile up. Like Manuel Ramos's earlier series of crime novels featuring Luis Montez, Moony's Road is populated by ageing idealists who remember the glory days of Chicano activism in the 1970s. This noir thriller tinged with sharp social commentary will attract new fans to an author known as a founder of the Chicano\/Latino mystery genre.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49658662125841,"sku":"GOR012801930","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0826329497.jpg?v=1751011016"},{"product_id":"brown-on-brown-book-manuel-ramos-9780826331694","title":"Brown-on-Brown","description":"This novel marks the return of Manuel Ramos's character, Luis Montez. A Denver defence attorney who is always just one step ahead of his creditors and not too particular about the cases he takes on, Montez's next client is Dominic Santos. Santos has been charged with torching the property of a powerful Anglo San Luis Valley rancher and causing the death of a hired hand. The backdrop of Brown-On-Brown is the ever-present Chicano\/Anglo disputes over water rights in Colorado's San Luis Valley. Ramos effectively provides the Chicano perspective on water and land disputes while guiding the reader through a maze of multiple murders.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":49809095262481,"sku":"CIN0826331696G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0826331696.jpg?v=1786130106"},{"product_id":"ballad-of-rocky-ruiz-book-ilan-stavans-9780810120907","title":"The Ballad of Rocky Ruiz","description":"\u003cdiv\u003e \u003cdiv\u003eThis debut novel in the acclaimed Luis Montez series introduced a hero unique in detective fiction: a world-weary middle-aged lawyer steeped in the politics, history, and culture of the golden age of Chicano activism.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e Twenty years ago, a gang attacked four Chicano student activists and shot down their leader, Rocky Ruiz. Now the survivors, Montez's former compatriots in the movement, are in danger. One is killed, another beaten, and a third driven into hiding. Enter Teresa Fuentes, a beautiful young lawyer determined to solve the mystery and just as determined to avoid becoming involved with Montez. To save his friends, Montez must reexamine the central event of their shared past-the murder of Rocky Ruiz. 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One is killed, another beaten, and a third driven into hiding. Enter Teresa Fuentes, a beautiful young lawyer determined to solve the mystery and just as determined to avoid becoming involved with Montez. To save his friends, Montez must reexamine the central event of their shared past-the murder of Rocky Ruiz. Just as difficult, he finds, may be to untangle his feelings for Teresa Fuentes.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50191655305489,"sku":"CIN0312955693G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0312955693.jpg?v=1750812634"},{"product_id":"desperado-book-manuel-ramos-9781558857704","title":"Desperado","description":"Gus Corral can't quite believe it when an old high school buddy he hasn't seen in years asks him for help. Artie Baca looks as cool as ever; the hippest guy in high school now looks like a GQ cover boy, Chicano style. And like always, Artie has women problems, even though he's married. He's being blackmailed because of an imprudent fling--caught on video, of course. Artie has a prosperous real estate business and can afford to pay off the young girl, but he'll reward Gus handsomely for his help in convincing her that there won't be any future payments. \u003cp\u003e Gus's life hasn't been as successful; he manages his ex-wife's second hand shop after losing his job in the recession and claims to also work as the night watchman so he can live there too. He can really use the money Artie is offering and agrees to help, even though he knows Artie probably deserves the shake down. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e But before Gus can deliver the money, Artie is dead and the police want to know why the deceased was carrying a check made out to his old high school chum. And when an armed stranger breaks into the shop in the dead of night, Gus knows there's more to the situation than meets the eye. An investigation into Artie's involvement in the gentrification of Denver's north side leads to harrowing encounters with dangerous criminals, both from the area and south of the border. Suddenly Gus is ensnared in the theft of one of the most revered religious symbols in the Catholic Latino world, a cloak bearing the image of the Virgen de Guadalupe. He's caught between warring gangs, and soon he and the people he cares about most are in a life-and-death predicament. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e Manuel Ramos returns to novel-length crime fiction with this gripping story that twists and turns like a roller coaster, where the outlook is grim and there's no honor among thieves.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50296846483729,"sku":"CIN1558857702G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":51417339429137,"sku":"CIN1558857702VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1558857702.jpg?v=1786279925"},{"product_id":"golden-havana-night-book-manuel-ramos-9781558858671","title":"The Golden Havana Night","description":"Ex-con Gus Corral is at peace with his new life as a private investigator. He's good at his job, even if he's mostly a delivery man or a go-for guy trying to expose, or protect, someone else's secrets. \u003cp\u003e An unexpected visit by Joaqun Kino Machaco, the Colorado Rockies' all-star center fielder who defected from Cuba as a teen, disrupts his routine. The famous ballplayer needs help: His brother has a gambling problem and owes a lot of money to a Cuban criminal who's threatening their family. He needs Gus to travel to the island with his brother to hand over half a million dollars in cash. Not only will Gus need to keep the money safe from the inveterate gambler, he'll have to convince the entrepreneur to leave Machaco's family alone after the payoff. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e Gus' visions of relaxing on warm, beautiful beaches accompanied by Latin jazz and rum concoctions are immediately dashed. A hail of bullets, violence virtually unheard of in the autocratic nation, leaves one dead and several wounded and leads to unforeseen ramifications that will come to a shocking, bloody conclusion in Denver. Narrated by Gus Corral in his sardonic voice, \u003ci\u003eThe Golden Havana Night\u003c\/i\u003e reveals a complicated, secretive island where nothing is really secret.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50389176123665,"sku":"CIN1558858679G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1558858679.jpg?v=1786278585"},{"product_id":"ballad-of-gato-guerrero-book-manuel-ramos-9780312109356","title":"The Ballad of Gato Guerrero","description":null,"brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":50520830345489,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ WELL_READ \/ SBYB","offer_id":50520838734097,"sku":"CIN0312109350A","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0312109350.jpg?v=1750941593"},{"product_id":"angels-in-the-wind-book-manuel-ramos-9781558859203","title":"Angels in the Wind","description":"Felon-turned-PI Gus Corral returns in another fast-paced mystery as he searches for a young runaway and finds more than he bargained for when human traffickers try to put an end to his case.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50659041542417,"sku":"CIN1558859209G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50764341248273,"sku":"CIN1558859209VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1558859209.jpg?v=1750829843"},{"product_id":"ballad-of-gato-guerrero-book-manuel-ramos-9781558859920","title":"The Ballad of Gato Guerrero","description":"Attorney Luis Montez and Felix \"Gato\" Guerrero, childhood friends who have survived numerous obstacles, are finally prospering. Luis is making more money in his chosen profession than he ever has and is excited about his work. Felix has gotten his life back in order after his time in Vietnam and the tragic deaths of his wife and daughter. He has even found love again. But Felix has always had a knack for getting into trouble--and this time he's dragging Luis along with him!Felix's new beloved is a girl from their past who worked her way out of Denver's Northside barrio by marrying into the city's most notorious crime family. Her husband runs the business and people who mess with him--or his things--end up with their brains splattered all over the county. As Luis juggles his caseload, including one against the local police for beating up a Mexican-American woman, and helping her hoodlum son, he gets caught up in the lovebirds' attempt to escape her dangerous husband. But he's not the only one looking for El Gato, and all too soon bodies start piling up around them!Originally published in 1994 by St. Martin's Press and reissued by Northwestern University Press in 2004, this riveting second installment in the Luis Montez Mystery series of five novels takes readers on a wild ride through Denver's mean streets and deadly encounters with young gangbangers, established gangsters and even those tasked with protecting residents--cops who continue to harass brown people with impunity.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51037540974865,"sku":"NIN9781558859920","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1558859926.jpg?v=1751341169"},{"product_id":"ballad-of-rocky-ruiz-book-manuel-ramos-9780312092719","title":"The Ballad of Rocky Ruiz","description":"This debut novel in the acclaimed Luis Montez series introduced a hero unique in detective fiction: a world-weary middle-aged lawyer steeped in the politics, history, and culture of the golden age of Chicano activism. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eTwenty years ago, a gang attacked four Chicano student activists and shot down their leader, Rocky Ruiz. 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A gringo is credited with the theft, but Gus Corral's great-grandfather was there too. As often happens to Chicanos, his role was given short shrift. But the Corral family has taken care of the skull for as long as Gus can remember. It's a jolt when Panchito is stolen from his sister's house. It's the only connection to the old-timers of the family, so Gus knows he will have to get to the bottom of the disappearance, even if it means tangling with thieves and thugs. \u003cp\u003e A variety of characters--writers, attorneys, Vietnam vets, cops, soldiers--populate these stories in which situations frequently aren't what they seem. An old man knows more about the disappearance of a neighbor than he lets on. A barber is involved in something that brings a ski-mask wearing, gun-toting hoodlum into his shop. 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They're both staying at friends' nearby houses and have heard of each other. He looks for her in the following days but doesn't see her again. Back in Denver, Montez is approached by a private detective, Conrad \"Rad\" Valdez, who's working a missing-persons case. Apparently, the lawyer was one of the last to see Rachel. The two Mexican Americans from different generations begin to share information, and Montez learns Rachel was adopted by the very wealthy Vargas family after her birth mother died in labor. Oddly, she believed that Oscar \"Zeta\" Acosta, a radical Chicano writer and activist, was her real father. She had made plans to meet him, even though he disappeared in 1974!As Montez works his own cases while continuing to unravel more about the missing woman, he learns that the young detective had a relationship with her. Could Rad have had something to do with her disappearance? And was the firebomb thrown into Denver's community bookshop--that killed a writer friend--connected to the case? Nothing is as it seems, including the Vargas family secrets that soon threaten Luis Montez and his own father! The fourth installment in Ramos' Luis Montez Mystery series of five novels follows the compelling search for Rachel Espinoza while introducing readers to another chapter in the Chicano civil rights movement.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":52107923095825,"sku":"CINB0DGB3YWGFG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":53665781678353,"sku":"NIN9798893750089","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9798893750089.jpg?v=1757121015"},{"product_id":"essays-in-christian-mythology-book-manuel-ramos-9780761833888","title":"Essays in Christian Mythology","description":"Essays in Christian Mythology deals with Christian literature interpreted as myth. 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But the night brightens when an old friend from the Chicano student civil rights movement turns up with a beautiful woman on his arm. Teresa Fuentes, a new attorney about to start at a prestigious Denver firm, is much younger, but that doesn't keep Luis' imagination from running wild. As the weary attorney dreams about the mysterious woman and deals with his faltering law firm and an ethics investigation, he's shocked to learn another friend from the activist days is getting threats about \"the old business,\" the murder of their friend Rocky Ruiz twenty years ago by men in white robes. And when compadres get beaten up, murdered or go into hiding, Luis can't ignore that history may be repeating itself. Are the crazy racists back to finish what they started so long ago? Is it just bad luck that Teresa's arrival in town coincides with the violence? Or is there a deeper connection? Originally published in 1993 by St. Martin's Press and reissued by Northwestern University Press in 2004, this gripping first installment in the Luis Montez Mystery series introduces readers to the Denver attorney and activist who appears in four subsequent novels.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":52471761830161,"sku":"CIN1558859853G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":53606035980561,"sku":"CIN1558859853VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9781558859852.jpg?v=1759831470"},{"product_id":"brown-on-brown-book-manuel-ramos-9798893750232","title":"Brown-On-Brown","description":"Luis Montez despises Harry López, a con man he has represented many times and who still owes him money. But when the petty criminal asks him to consider taking on a distant cousin as a client, the lawyer sets aside his distaste because he needs the money. Montez meets with Fermín Santos, a wealthy rancher from the San Luis Valley, whose son Dominic has been imprisoned again. He is accused of threatening a neighboring Anglo rancher--who also happens to head up the water company. The Santos patriarch has been fighting for water rights for decades. His land sits above a huge aquifer, but rights were lost generations ago, and the water is exported to other parts of Colorado and even California. Before Montez can even deposit the retainer, Santos' son is killed in a jailhouse riot. Dominic's wife convinces the attorney to keep the check, claiming she needs his help to avoid more violence. Against his better judgement, Montez agrees to travel to the valley to investigate. There, he is attacked in a bar's parking lot, badly beaten and left for dead. Is there more going on than rights to the liquid gold below the earth's surface? Originally published by the University of New Mexico Press in 2003, this riveting read about an issue that has become even more relevant as the planet heats up is the fifth and final installment in the Luis Montez Mystery series.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":53665792852241,"sku":"NIN9798893750232","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9798893750232.jpg?v=1781462302"}],"url":"https:\/\/www.worldofbooks.com\/collections\/author-books-by-manuel-ramos.oembed","provider":"World of Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}