Keep Her Contained: A Mystery About Immigrant Ambitions and Mummified Remains

by Oscar Corral

In 1999, the discovery of a young woman's mummified body beneath a mansion in Long Island, New York, captivated the nation's imagination. The ensuing police investigation and the unusual twists in the case caught the attention of television producers, who featured the true crime tale of Reyna Angelica Marroquin on CBS's 48 Hours, Forensic Files and an episode of Law and Order. Oscar Corral was the lead reporter on that story for Newsday, and tracked down the victim's family 30 years later in El Salvador to break the news to them about Reyna. This fiction novel is based on the true crime case of the Long Island Mummy. This is a novel loosely based on the true-crime case.

256 pages, Paperback

First published August 23, 2012

About the author

Oscar Corral, an award-winning journalist for some of the largest newspapers in the United States, has covered several presidential primaries around the country. His experience living in New Hampshire and traveling through other early primary states as a political correspondent for the second-largest newspaper chain in the United States is forever frozen into his memory. His other Michael Cervantes novel, Keep Her Contained, is about a modern day mummy discovered underneath a Long Island mansion and the police investigation that ensues. Corral has also directed and produced several documentaries, including Tom Wolfe Gets Back to Blood, Exotic Invaders: Pythons in the Everglades, and the Emmy-nominated The Crossfire Kids. He lives in Miami with his wife, Cecile, his two daughters and his pound mutt Cleo.

Reviews

[Tokesy2000 · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a brilliant story with a great storyline. I couldn't put it down. It's good how it bears a strain resemblance to the true case of Reyna Angelíca Marroquín, who the story is based off. Although it's a brilliant read, it's riddled with errors. Another review has pointed this out and I have to agree it seems very first-draftish. Sometimes the names of the characters are wrong and there are spelling mistakes. This lets it down a bit as the name changes can make it hard to follow.

[Joe · Rating 2 out of 5]

I would've given this five stars because it's one hell of a story, and paced quite well, but the book is presented in more or less rough draft form, with spelling errors and other typographical errors galore. It's a shame, because it was very enjoyable otherwise.

[Allison Delestowicz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just ok

Good storyline, but man are there a ton of misspellings in here and off tangents that have nothing to do with the book. Ending leaves you hanging a bit wondering how she actually died.

[Faith Muchai · Rating 4 out of 5]

Would give it 5 stars were it not for all the spelling mistakes. Not sure why the writer didn't use the real names of most of the players in this.