This week’s other featured books, “The Neighborhood Division,” by Jeff Vande Zande and “Brothers,Sisters, Strangers,” by Fern Schumer Chapman, can be found by scrolling down below this post, or by clicking the author’s name on our Authors page.
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THE BOOK: Del Rio: A Novel
PUBLISHED: May 18, 2021
THE AUTHOR: Jane Rosenthal
THE EDITOR: Annie Tucker
THE PUBLISHER: She Writes Press
THE BACK STORY: When I retired from teaching and moved to a ranch in the Sierras, I had in mind to write a series of mystery/suspense novels about expats in Mexico, all of the books set in different regions in the country. I lived in Mexico at a young age, still travel there frequently, and know that each of the many different areas —the glamorous culture hub of Mexico City, the mysterious, beautiful, indigenous areas of Oaxaca and Chiapas, and the French-influenced tropical Yucatan— have their own flavor. I wanted to explore those places with all my senses and a sharp eye. Writing mystery novels gave me the chance to do that.
My first novel Palace of the Blue Butterfly was set in Mexico City. It was my intention to set this second novel in the west coast of Mexico. I have always loved the Pacific coast’s “Night of the Iguana”, wild and slightly dangerous feel.
However, intentions are one thing. The real inspiration for Del Rio came while I was doing the most mundane thing in the world—depositing a check. One Saturday, I found myself in a long line of farm workers at the bank near my ranch. Frankly if I had closed my eyes at that moment and simply listened to the conversations in Spanish around me, I might have thought I was on the west coast of Mexico. As the line crept forward, suddenly, and for no reason that I can understand, I heard the voice of my protagonist, Callie, speaking the first few sentences of the book. It really was that woo-woo. After that, I spent the rest of the draft following Callie’s lead all the way to Mexico and back.
WHY THIS TITLE? The novel opens and closes in a fictional town called Del Rio, located somewhere in the Central Valley, an area known as the forgotten California. While terribly impoverished, the valley is home to the most fertile farmland in the nation. Everything flourishes there along the banks of its huge rivers, including crime. The book was named for the town, the rivers, and the communities whose residents flow back and forth between Mexico and California.
WHY WOULD SOMEONE WANT TO READ IT? Fans of California mysteries, of Raymond Chandler, Sue Grafton, Steph Cha and Rachel Howzell Hall, as well as armchair travelers and Mexico aficionados will want to read Del Rio. The novel explores the darker side of the Golden State, poverty, immigration, drug cartels, while speaking to the social issues rural California faces. These issues will be familiar to all Americans. As the saying goes, California is just like the rest of the country only more so.
REVIEW COMMENTS: Not available yet.
AUTHOR PROFILE: I am a retired high school English teacher and former radio journalist. I got my start in education by teaching at-risk, Oakland high-school kids how to create radio documentaries about their lives. I got hooked on teaching! The kids were a handful, but they were great.
After my husband and I retired, we were ready for country life and bought a large ranch in the Sierras. The lives of folks in the small towns of the Central Valley about an hour’s drive down the mountain from the ranch were the inspiration for Del Rio. You can read more about me at janerosenthal.com
AUTHOR COMMENTS: I don’t know that I set out to accomplish anything more than to tell a good story. I am a pretty good raconteur. As my friends will tell you, story-telling is my super-power. That being said, the scenes I witnessed in the valley, the stories I heard, the sounds— music, Spanish talk radio—, the labor struggles for decent wages, the fights against environmental violations over pesticide spraying, strip mining and water rights, plus, the constant crime reports I read in the Fresno Bee made a pretty potent, creative brew. I had to distill it somehow. Telling the story of events in this made-up town, their connection to Mexico and to the wealthy, glamorous cities of California was a way I could make sense of the world around me.
SAMPLE CHAPTER: Go to my website janerosenthal.com and read the first chapter.
WHERE TO BUY IT: Amazon, IndieBound, Barnes & Noble
PRICE: $16.95
CONTACT THE AUTHOR: You can contact me at janerosenthal.com
Snowflakes in a Blizzard 