A Visit from R.V. Reyes

Hola, I’m R.V. Reyes and I am so happy to be visiting, if only virtually, the Southwest again. I spent five years in Albuquerque. The high desert holds a special place in my heart. New Mexico was my abode (in a 100 year old adobe) during my college years and I devoured Tony Hillerman novels while I lived there. Florida is my residence now and to get my SW fix I love to read a good regional mystery since fresh roasted Hatch green chilies don’t cross the Mississippi. Some of my go-to SW mystery writers are Shannon Baker, Aimee Thurlo, Mardi Oakley Medawar and Kirk Mitchell. I am adding Paty Jager to my list as I can’t wait for the Shandra Higheagle series. Hurry up and get here 2015 so I can get the downloads.

Gracias, Paty, for inviting me to guest blog. Your readers can have a virtual visit to Florida via my blog Cozy in Miami - Adventures with a Mystery Writer. As the name implies, I write cozy mysteries. My novel-length manuscript about a Cuban-American diamond appraiser is making the agent rounds. Not to worry though, I have a duet of Ossie Piñero PI short stories available on Kindle, Nook and Itunes. Ossie is a private investigator in training. She comes from a large Puerto Rican family that sucks her into their dramas. The mysteries and crimes usually take place at family celebrations as the short story titles, The Vegetarian Wedding and The Baby Shower, imply.  My Ossie character is fun to write because she is unabashedly sexy and sassy. Yes, there are other Ossie Piñero stories in the pipeline.

Paty asked me to talk a bit about why I write and what I am passionate about. Well, you might have guessed by my nombre and the clues I have sprinkled through this guest blog post that I am Latina. Writing Latina characters is my passion. As a young person, I rarely found a protagonist that shared my background or hue. As an adult, I see the need for diversity in books. It is in our human nature to seek the familiar and be wary of the unknown other. My job as a writer is to bridge that dichotomy. I want to show the non-Latino reader the common ground we all share as humans. My stories revel in the American melting pot. They are purposefully light-hearted and humorous. I, also, want to highlight the Latino-Caribbean culture so that those readers find themselves in the pages of books.  After you’ve read my Ossie Piñero stories let me know how my bridge building is going. You can tweet me @writerRVR, contact me via my blog Cozy in Miami, and find Cozy in Miami on Facebook.