Synopsis
She's back: 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.
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About the Author
Lucha Corpi teaches adult education for the Oakland City Schools.
Reviews
This second mystery from Corpi features Chicana detective Gloria Damasco, introduced in Eulogy for a Brown Angel, in a mildly suspenseful plot. Upon learning that Sonny Mares, an old friend and fellow activist in the United Farmworkers Strike and grape boycott of 1973, has committed suicide, Damasco is immediately suspicious-especially when she and a fellow investigator (also a former activist) go to Sonny's apartment and discover a videotape of a pesticide tank being blown up-and a bunch of grapes. Gloria, who struggles with the mixed blessing of being able to foresee the future, is also plagued by dreams of a young woman in trouble. As two other friends from the grape-boycott days disappear and a young woman who was raped and suffered pesticide poisoning resurfaces after many years, it becomes clear that a time of reckoning with the past is at hand. Corpi writes convincingly about Gloria's attempts to interpret her visions and does a fine job depicting decent people handling dangerous situations. But many moments of harking-back and a rash of coincidences slow the narrative.
Copyright 1995 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
Apprentice private eye Gloria Damasco and her employer, ex-cop Justin Escobar, take a journey of sorts after a friend?active in the Chicago Civil Rights movement?supposedly commits suicide. Their circuitous search through the Oakland area for their former companions involves the years-ago rape and subsequent pesticide poisoning of a talented Mexican girl as well as recurrent images of snake skins and puncture marks and Gloria's disturbing clairvoyant powers. A competent if not compelling work from the award-winning author of Eulogy for a Brown Angel (Arte Publico Pr., 1992).
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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Cactus Blood
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Hardcover. Condition: Good. No Jacket. Pages can have notes/highlighting. Spine may show signs of wear. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less. Seller Inventory # G1558851348I3N00
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Cactus Blood : A Mystery Novel
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Condition: Very Good. Pages intact with possible writing/highlighting. Binding strong with minor wear. Dust jackets/supplements may not be included. Stock photo provided. Product includes identifying sticker. Better World Books: Buy Books. Do Good. Seller Inventory # 11726338-6
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Cactus Blood
Published by
Arte Publico Press, Houston, Texas, 1995
ISBN 10: 1558851348
ISBN 13: 9781558851344
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Seller: Bookmarc's, La Porte, TX, U.S.A.
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Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good. First Edition. AU6 - A first edition (same date) hardcover book SIGNED by author on the title page in very good condition in very good dust jacket that is mylar protected. Dust jacket and book have some bumped corners, light tanning and shelf wear. 8.75"x6", 249 pages. Satisfaction Guaranteed. She's back: 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? Back then, a young woman was raped and exposed to pesticide contamination. Are the bizarre murders somehow her vengeance? 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. Size: 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. Signed by Author. Seller Inventory # ec53892
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Cactus Blood
Published by
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ISBN 10: 1558851348
ISBN 13: 9781558851344
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Hardcover. Condition: Fine. Dust Jacket Condition: Fine. 1st Edition. First Edition. Fin black cloth boards in fine dust jacket. Detective mystery featuring Gloria Damasco set against the backdrop of the 1873 grape bpycott and the 1989 San Francisco earthquake. 8vo. 248 pp. Ships fast with tracking. Seller Inventory # F05-dlk4-004
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Cactus Blood
Published by
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ISBN 10: 1558851348
ISBN 13: 9781558851344
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Cactus Blood
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ISBN 10: 1558851348
ISBN 13: 9781558851344
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Cactus Blood : A Mystery Novel
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Cactus Blood
Published by
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ISBN 10: 1558851348
ISBN 13: 9781558851344
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Seller: The Book Collector, Inc. ABAA, ILAB, Fort Worth, TX, U.S.A.
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Hardcover. Condition: Fine. Dust Jacket Condition: Fine. 1st Edition. 249 pages. Octavo (8 3/4" x 6") bound in original publisher's black cloth with silver lettering to spine in original pictorial jacket. Signed by the author. First edition. Cactus Blood is Lucha Corpi's second mystery novel featuring Chicana detective Gloria Damasco. During the seventies, a young Mexican woman is raped, then exposed to pesticide contamination. Five men and two women save her and help her put her life back together. Sixteen years later, one of the men who helped her is dead, and two others have disappeared. The investigation of their disappearance leads from the 1973 United Farmworkers Strike and Grape Boycott in the San Joaquin Valley, to an old Native American ghost dancing site in the Valley of the Moon. Historic settings, California panoramas and Hispanic culture texture this suspenseful search for a ritualistic assassin. Cactus Blood is the second installment in this ongoing mystery series which highlights women's initiative, courage and intelligence. Condition: Signed on the title else fine in like jacket. Signed by Author(s). Seller Inventory # L1528
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CACTUS BLOOD
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Cactus Blood (Signed)
Published by
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ISBN 10: 1558851348
ISBN 13: 9781558851344
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Hardcover. Condition: Fine. Dust Jacket Condition: Fine. First Edition. Hardcover in dust jacket. First printing of first edition. SIGNED on front free endpage and warmly inscribed in Spanish by the author "Para Marie. " Book is As New and in gift-giving condition, crisp and clean, with tight binding and sharp corners. Unclipped dust jacket is fresh and bright. A mystery featuring psychic Chicano detective Gloria Damasco. 8vo. 249 pp. Including index. In protective Mylar. Seller Inventory # 83484