About the Author

Élmer Mendoza is a literature professor and crime novelist, a formative figure in the genre known as "narco-literature," or narco-lit. Also a dramatist and short story writer, he is best known for his series of detective novels starring detective Edgar "Lefty" Mendieta. The first Lefty Mendieta novel was A Lone Murderer, which immediately garnered praise for its realistic portrayal of Mexico's flourishing narco culture and the ways in which it has shaped Mexican law enforcement and politics. Mendoza has won several literature awards, including the José Fuentes Mares National Literary Prize, for Janis Joplin's Lover, and the prestigious Tusquets Prize, for Silver Bullets. Mendoza lives and writes in Culiacán, Mexico.

Reviews

"If you are fed up with formulaic noir novels and looking for something fresher, Élmer Mendoza's dazzling Silver Bullets could be the answer."-- John Dugdale, Sunday Times, on Silver Bullets

"One of the biggest names in Mexican literature . . . A true novelist."--Arturo Pérez-Reverte


"A logical recommendation for admirers of the similarly themed novels of Don Winslow"--Library Journal

"A skillfully written novel."--The Crime Scene, on Silver Bullets

"Casts a wide net over modern Mexican life and an array of well-drawn characters, some powerful, some weak, some depraved . . . Mendoza's creation is nothing like standard pulp fiction."--Justin Warshaw, Times Literary Supplement, on Silver Bullets

"Mendoza is a master of narco-literature, a subgenre of crime fiction set in Mexico that puts perspective on how narcotics trafficking has affected the culture and politics of that country."--The Sacramento Bee

"Mendoza is an important Mexican writer."--The Washington Post

"Presents Mexico in a darkly surrealist light: corrupt politicos, a plague of narco-crime and only battered detective Edgar "Lefty" Mendieta on the side of the angels."--Barry Forshaw, Independent, on Silver Bullets

"The literary representative of modern-day Mexico in its narco-incarnation . . . The most important thing that's happened in Mexican literature in the last thirty years."-- Gaby Wood, Sunday Telegraph, on Silver Bullets