Carmen Amato is the author of the Detective Emilia Cryz mystery series pitting the first female police detective in Acapulco against Mexico's cartels, corruption, and social inequality. Starting with Cliff Diver, the series is a 2-time winner of the Outstanding Series award from CrimeMasters of America and was hailed by National Public Radio as "A thrilling series."Inspired by the real-life exploits of her grandfather Joseph Sestito, who was a deputy sheriff in upstate New York during Prohibition, Carmen also created the award-winning Galliano Club historical fiction series. Her standalone thrillers include The Hidden Light of Mexico City, which was longlisted for the 2020 Millennium Book Award. A 30-year veteran of the CIA where she focused on technical collection and counterdrug efforts, Carmen is a recipient of both the National Intelligence Award and the Career Intelligence Medal. Carmen has been a judge for the BookLife Prize and Killer Nashville's Claymore Award. Her work has appeared in Huffpost, Criminal Element, Publishers Weekly, and other national publications. She writes the popular Mystery Ahead newsletter on Substack.