Velvet Was The Night cover art

Velvet Was The Night

a delicious, twisted noir from the New York Times bestselling author of MEXICAN GOTHIC

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Velvet Was The Night

By: Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Narrated by: Gisela Chípe
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About this listen

'This book is so spectacularly good' Goodreads review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Mexico in the 1970s is a dangerous country, even for Maite, a secretary who spends her life seeking the romance found in cheap comic books and ignoring the activists protesting around the city. When her next-door neighbor, the beautiful art student Leonora, disappears under suspicious circumstances, Maite finds herself searching for the missing woman-and journeying deeper into Leonora's secret life of student radicals and dissidents.

'Such a captivating read' Goodreads review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Mexico in the 1970s is a politically fraught land, even for Elvis, a goon with a passion for rock 'n' roll who knows more about kidney-smashing than intrigue. When Elvis is assigned to find Leonora, he begins a blood-soaked search for the woman-and his soul.

'I couldn't put it down' Goodreads review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Swirling in parallel trajectories, Maite and Elvis attempt to discover the truth behind Leonora's disappearance, encountering hitmen, government agents, and Russian spies. Because Mexico in the 1970s is a noir, where life is cheap and the price of truth is high.

Velvet Was the Night: an edgy, simmering historical novel for lovers of smoky noirs and anti-heroes.©2021 Silvia Moreno-Garcia
20th Century Crime Fiction Historical Romantic Suspense Thriller & Suspense Fiction Latin American Exciting Crime Mexico Espionage Student Suspense Mystery

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Critic reviews

Velvet Was the Night cements Silvia Moreno-Garcia's incredible versatility as an amazing writer who moves between genres effortlessly. A lush, magnificent trip into a world of danger and discovery. Not to be missed!
Silvia Moreno-Garcia's Velvet Was The Night is a treat to be savoured, a dizzying combination of American and Mexican Noir written in the most individual of voices.
Velvet Was the Night is a rollicking work of historical noir with a vivid sense of time and place and an unforgettable cast. Moreno-Garcia made me care deeply about her characters and their dangerous, riveting misadventures. This is a stylish, hard-boiled novel painted in shades of grey with a whole lot of heart.
Silvia Moreno-Garcia takes you into the gritty underworld noir of 1970s Mexico City with a propulsive read where no one and nothing is as it seems.
Velvet Was the Night is a delicious, twisted treat for lovers of noir. Silvia Moreno-Garcia is a who pulls you into her dark world and never lets you go. From the suspenseful, slow-burn plot to the crisp, desperate characters, you will be obsessed.
Moreno-Garcia keeps the suspense high and the action intense, all while sharing a bit of 1970s Mexican history in this perfectly pitched novel. Fans of Moreno-Garcia's other novels will relish this title, as will noir aficionados and readers who like stories about everymen - and women - rising to the occasion
Moreno-Garcia, the author of acclaimed and bestselling speculative novels, including Mexican Gothic (2020), returns to noir crime fiction with a winner that brings together a romance-fiction obsessed secretary and a lovelorn enforcer during the brutally suppressed student riots in 1970s Mexico City. Their stories of danger and passion run side by side in an enveloping narrative that is at once dark and bright. Despite their failings, readers will be rooting for them and hoping they find some happiness, and, maybe, even, each other.
It's hard to describe how much fun this novel is - Moreno-Garcia, whose Mexican Gothic (2020) gripped readers last year, proves to be just as good at noir as she is at horror. The novel features memorable characters, taut pacing, an intricate plot, and antiheroes you can't help but root for. A noir masterpiece.
A rich novel with an engrossing plot, distinctive characters, and a pleasing touch of romance. Readers won't be able to put it down.
A chameleon writer with incredible writing skills
A genre-jumping wizard, one of the most exciting and necessary authors writing today
You'll be pulled into the tale with spies, romance, danger and rock 'n' roll
Sexy and simmering
Pacy enough to keep you hooked - as it reaches its climax, so will your heart rate
All stars
Most relevant
Interesting novel based around real events with well drawn characters which bring the issues to life

A great read

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