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Gloria Damasco Mysteries #2
Cactus Blood
She's Gloria Damasco, the Chicana detective tempered during the civil rights movement. And she's involved in solving another mystery complete with gruesome murders. Is it a serial killer that is leaving the corpses strewn with artifacts from Native American rituals? Does it have something to do with the farm workers' union which the victims had worked for in the seventies?
Gloria Damasco and Justin Escobar are the detectives who begin to look into the disappearance and death of the three former activists from the seventies. The trail the sleuths follow leads from the grape vineyards of Delano in 1973 to the old Native American ghost dancing site in the Valley of the Moon. The portentous landscape becomes a fitting site for the surprise denouement foreshadowed by Gloria's mysterious visions.
Gloria Damasco and Justin Escobar are the detectives who begin to look into the disappearance and death of the three former activists from the seventies. The trail the sleuths follow leads from the grape vineyards of Delano in 1973 to the old Native American ghost dancing site in the Valley of the Moon. The portentous landscape becomes a fitting site for the surprise denouement foreshadowed by Gloria's mysterious visions.
249 pages, Hardcover
First published April 1, 1995
2 people are currently reading
84 people want to read
About the author
Lucha Corpi
24 books12 followersPoet, novelist, and children's book writer Lucha Corpi was born in a small town in Mexico called Jaltipan in the state of Veracruz, in 1945. She came to Berkeley, California as a young wife and student at the age of 19. Along with having a child named Arthur, she continued her education and received degrees from UC-Berkeley and San Francisco State University. She currently lives in Oakland, California and has been a tenured teacher in the Oakland Public Schools Neighborhood Centers Program since 1977.
Corpi is the recipient of numerous awards and citations, including a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship, the PEN Oakland Josephine Miles Literary Prize in fiction, and the Multicultural Publishers Exchange Book Award of Excellence in Adult Fiction. She was president of the Centro Chicano de Escritores (Chicano Writers Center), and she is also a member of the international feminist mystery novel circle, Sisters in Crime. Corpi's works include two books of poetry, Palabras de Mediodia/Noon Words and Variaciones Sobre una Tempsted/Variations on a Storm, a children's book, Where Fireflies Dance/Ahi, Donde Bailen los Luciernagas, the novel Delia's Song, and four mystery novels, Crimson Moon, Eulogy for a Brown Angel, Cactus Blood, and Black Widow's Wardrobe, from the Gloria Damasco series. She is also the editor of Mascaras, which contains works from 15 Latina writers.
Corpi says she uses her books "to study all forms of racism, from the very blatant -- police harassing someone just because they're Mexican American -- to the more insidious racism inside our own families" (Beitiks). She follows the stories of women and poor people, immigrant struggles, and of historical/mythical figures. Corpi describes her reason for writing as, "I can remember my grandmother saying, 'There is no justice in this world. ' I think that's why I write--to bring justice into the world" (Beitiks). Corpi uses both Spanish and English in her works. When writing poetry, she uses Spanish, but when writing fiction, she primarily uses English.
Originally published in 1980, Palabras de Medioda/Noon Words, helped to firmly establish Corpi as a Chicana poet. The poetry was written in Spanish, and Catherine Rodriguez-Nieto translated it into English. Reissued in 2001, this book explores personal feelings about the role of women, themes of death and love, and the myth of La Malinche, to name a few. In the preface of the novel, Tey Diana Rebolledo writes, "This book of poems is a clear lyrical narrative of a woman's struggle against silence and of the desire to express herself" (xviii). Within the poetry of the book, Corpi incorporates into her verse ideas of daily-life experiences, consciousness and feeling, and actors on the stage of history.
Her second book of poetry, published in 1990, is entitled Variaciones Sobre una Tempsted/Variations on a Storm. This book proves that Corpi's greatest talent lies in verse. Unfiltered by the standards of a novel, Corpi's poetry is a composition of words that are arranged carefully enough to hide a ghost. At times, it seems that that is what Corpi does. Behind her poetry lies a history of passion and pain. Although it may be history, it is alive, and very much so in her writing. Corpi has the ability to project her own personal feelings as one woman onto a larger scale that encompasses her Mexican heritage. The poetry, written in Spanish and translated into English by Catherine Rodriguez-Nieto, is constructed in such a way that it will keep you walking through it in order to find its true depths.
Lucha Corpi unites imagination with the memories of childhood in her charming children's book Where the Fireflies Dance/ Ahi, Donde Bailen los Luciernagas. In this book, she stresses the importance of music, storytelling, and family in her life, and how these things have helped her to find a path to her own destiny. Her story begins when, one night as a child, her main character and main character's brother venture
Corpi is the recipient of numerous awards and citations, including a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship, the PEN Oakland Josephine Miles Literary Prize in fiction, and the Multicultural Publishers Exchange Book Award of Excellence in Adult Fiction. She was president of the Centro Chicano de Escritores (Chicano Writers Center), and she is also a member of the international feminist mystery novel circle, Sisters in Crime. Corpi's works include two books of poetry, Palabras de Mediodia/Noon Words and Variaciones Sobre una Tempsted/Variations on a Storm, a children's book, Where Fireflies Dance/Ahi, Donde Bailen los Luciernagas, the novel Delia's Song, and four mystery novels, Crimson Moon, Eulogy for a Brown Angel, Cactus Blood, and Black Widow's Wardrobe, from the Gloria Damasco series. She is also the editor of Mascaras, which contains works from 15 Latina writers.
Corpi says she uses her books "to study all forms of racism, from the very blatant -- police harassing someone just because they're Mexican American -- to the more insidious racism inside our own families" (Beitiks). She follows the stories of women and poor people, immigrant struggles, and of historical/mythical figures. Corpi describes her reason for writing as, "I can remember my grandmother saying, 'There is no justice in this world. ' I think that's why I write--to bring justice into the world" (Beitiks). Corpi uses both Spanish and English in her works. When writing poetry, she uses Spanish, but when writing fiction, she primarily uses English.
Originally published in 1980, Palabras de Medioda/Noon Words, helped to firmly establish Corpi as a Chicana poet. The poetry was written in Spanish, and Catherine Rodriguez-Nieto translated it into English. Reissued in 2001, this book explores personal feelings about the role of women, themes of death and love, and the myth of La Malinche, to name a few. In the preface of the novel, Tey Diana Rebolledo writes, "This book of poems is a clear lyrical narrative of a woman's struggle against silence and of the desire to express herself" (xviii). Within the poetry of the book, Corpi incorporates into her verse ideas of daily-life experiences, consciousness and feeling, and actors on the stage of history.
Her second book of poetry, published in 1990, is entitled Variaciones Sobre una Tempsted/Variations on a Storm. This book proves that Corpi's greatest talent lies in verse. Unfiltered by the standards of a novel, Corpi's poetry is a composition of words that are arranged carefully enough to hide a ghost. At times, it seems that that is what Corpi does. Behind her poetry lies a history of passion and pain. Although it may be history, it is alive, and very much so in her writing. Corpi has the ability to project her own personal feelings as one woman onto a larger scale that encompasses her Mexican heritage. The poetry, written in Spanish and translated into English by Catherine Rodriguez-Nieto, is constructed in such a way that it will keep you walking through it in order to find its true depths.
Lucha Corpi unites imagination with the memories of childhood in her charming children's book Where the Fireflies Dance/ Ahi, Donde Bailen los Luciernagas. In this book, she stresses the importance of music, storytelling, and family in her life, and how these things have helped her to find a path to her own destiny. Her story begins when, one night as a child, her main character and main character's brother venture
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
August 30, 2018
From the book jacket: Gloria Damasco, the Chicana detective tempered during the civil rights movement, is involved in solving another mystery complete with gruesome murders. Is it a serial killer that is leaving the corpses strewn with artifacts from Native American rituals? Does it have something to do with the farm workers’ union which the victims had worked for in the seventies?
My reactions
There’s just so much going on here that I don’t know where to begin.
First we have all of Gloria’s vivid and violent dreams … a woman crucified on a cactus, being cornered by a large rattlesnake, blood dripping everywhere. Supposedly Gloria has a gift for premonition, but will all her dreams come to life literally? Or are they more allegorical, portending danger, if not actual crucifixion.
Then we have all the political, social justice issues these characters face and faced. Reminders of the struggles for the farm workers in the ‘70s, with grape boycotts, marches, and violent altercations. And the issues of undocumented workers and their constant fear of reprisal.
Ultimately, though, I found these characters too stupid to live. Attacked in her own home, Gloria says, “No don’t call the police.” Instead she goes off in the dark to chase this provenly violent assailant, and potential killer. S*I*G*H.
Maybe my problem is that I never read the first book in the series, so don’t know enough of the back story, but I never connected with Gloria or Justin, and really didn’t care what happened to any of them. I thought the plot was far too convoluted and the resolution was weak and unbelievable. If it weren’t a book-club selection, I would have abandoned it.
My reactions
There’s just so much going on here that I don’t know where to begin.
First we have all of Gloria’s vivid and violent dreams … a woman crucified on a cactus, being cornered by a large rattlesnake, blood dripping everywhere. Supposedly Gloria has a gift for premonition, but will all her dreams come to life literally? Or are they more allegorical, portending danger, if not actual crucifixion.
Then we have all the political, social justice issues these characters face and faced. Reminders of the struggles for the farm workers in the ‘70s, with grape boycotts, marches, and violent altercations. And the issues of undocumented workers and their constant fear of reprisal.
Ultimately, though, I found these characters too stupid to live. Attacked in her own home, Gloria says, “No don’t call the police.” Instead she goes off in the dark to chase this provenly violent assailant, and potential killer. S*I*G*H.
Maybe my problem is that I never read the first book in the series, so don’t know enough of the back story, but I never connected with Gloria or Justin, and really didn’t care what happened to any of them. I thought the plot was far too convoluted and the resolution was weak and unbelievable. If it weren’t a book-club selection, I would have abandoned it.
February 28, 2008
This book was an easy and enjoyable detective novel. This is not the type of book that is going to change your life, but I also found it a bit more substantial than your average murder mystery for the plane. This is largely because the story uses 1973, the UFW grape boycott and the Chicano moratorium on the Vietnam War as an essential context to the mystery. This is the past which haunts the present, in part through the main character’s visions (she’s a little bit psychic or something). The book is set during the “battle of the bay” right before the 1989 earthquake in the SF area. The main character is a widowed Chicana apprenticing with private eye Justin (the love interest). She wonders if she’s lost her political commitments over the years, a reoccurring theme the characters grapple with.
I want to read the other two books in the trilogy next (this is number 2).
I want to read the other two books in the trilogy next (this is number 2).
February 2, 2017
this is the second book i read by the associate press (houston tx) and it was a very pleasant read written by a woc, with a woman lead character (widow mom) some of the "vision" elements of the main character didnt fully capture my attention but overall cool detective story, and it engages agricultural/immigration/and social justice community and social issues.
[trigger alert: rape]
"cactus blood" is also the second book i read in recent weeks written by a woman, mostly based in the east bay, dropping timeline mentions on the oakland a's, my fave baseball team. this novel is based in the battle of the bay ws time, so it ends w that.
[trigger alert: rape]
"cactus blood" is also the second book i read in recent weeks written by a woman, mostly based in the east bay, dropping timeline mentions on the oakland a's, my fave baseball team. this novel is based in the battle of the bay ws time, so it ends w that.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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December 6, 2016There were some things, stylistically, I did not enjoy about this book. The dialogue tags drew a lot of attention to themselves, for instance. And, like most mystery novels, there were a lot of characters and names to keep track of - I'm not very good at that. I did enjoy reading and learning about the grape boycott, which reminds us that worker's rights and environmental justice are deeply entwined. And the ending of this novel? Good gracious. It shakes up the genre. I've encountered few endings as good as this one. On the whole, probably a worthwhile read.
January 6, 2016
I'm on the fence about this one. The author can write and she has some valid points about Chicano s in the United States at least at the time period when this was written. However the plot got more than a little confusing at times which required more explanation than would have been necessary with a bit more editing.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews