Join us for This Tour: September 20 to October 8
Book Title: Lost and Found by Ronald L. Ruiz
Category: Adult Fiction (18+), 292 pages
Genre: Literary
Publisher: Embajadoras Press
Release date: June 2021
Content Rating: R - Includes f-words and profanities throughout, one sex scene
When community leaders began to doubt Abel Mendoza, the law practice he had
spent years building began to crumble. It was the 1960s and there was but a
handful of Mexican lawyers in California. Abel had worked tirelessly to earn
respect in the courts, avoiding any semblance of a personal life to achieve
his goals. Now, his personal and professional lives had collided and he
found himself being rejected by the community that had previously supported
and admired him. His fears of inadequacy kindled, Abel began to question who
he really was, what he did, and where he belonged. A desire to avoid these
questions and the people who had provoked them sent this small-town lawyer
on a trip to escape not only his community but his own self-doubts, and into
a relationship that changed his life completely.
Guest Post
I was an attorney in California for 36 years. For 31
years, I worked in the criminal courts as both a defense attorney and a
prosecutor. I was involved in several homicide cases. One case
which I will never forget and which I have written about in my memoir was the
People versus Rachel Salinas. For me now, one aspect of the case stands out the
most.
Rachel and her husband were a young married couple who had
good jobs and had never been involved in crime. One evening after work,
Rachel shot and killed her husband in their home from a distance of six to ten
feet. She said she thought he was going to beat her again. That was
the only reason Rachel had for killing him. She cried every time I
interviewed her in the women's jail. She cried during the trial. She cried
when she testified. There was never any other reason she gave for killing
him.
If the jury convicted her of second degree murder, she would
go to prison for 15 years to life. If they convicted her of
involuntary manslaughter, the sentence would be a year in the county
jail. The jury chose involuntary manslaughter, and because she had been in
custody since the day of the shooting, at the end of the trial she had only 30
more days to serve in the county jail.
The day she was to be released, I received a call from a
sheriff deputy at the women's jail asking me to go there because Rachel was
refusing to leave. Her family had driven to the jail to pick her up, but she
wasn't going. I talked to her for about 30 minutes but she wasn't going.
Finally, I had a meeting with her family and the jail deputies and it was
decided that three of us, her uncle, a deputy and myself would carry her out
of her cell, through the jail, to the backseat of the family car, where she
would be seated between two husky male family members. There she would be
restrained as the car with locked doors drove off. She writhed and cried and
struggled and screamed as we carried her out of the jail to the waiting car. I
have never forgotten and will never forget my last contact with Rachel Salinas.
Meet the Author:
Ronald L. Ruiz is the author of a memoir and six previous novels. His
novel Giuseppe Rocco (1998) received the national literary prize, 1998
Premio Aztlán Award, and his novel Life Long (2017) was named to Kirkus
Reviews’ Best Books of 2017. His work has been compared to Richard
Wright’s Native Son (Publisher’s Weekly, featured review) and his
writing described as “frighteningly real” (New York Newsday). Ron was
born and raised in Fresno, California, and educated at St. Mary’s
College, University of California, Berkeley Law, and University of San
Francisco School of Law. Ron practiced law for over 30 years in
California, as a Deputy District Attorney, criminal defense attorney,
and Deputy Public Defender. He was appointed to the California
Agriculture Labor Relations Board by Governor Jerry Brown in 1974, and
later served as the District Attorney of Santa Cruz County, California.
Ron retired from criminal law and continues to write every day.
Tour Schedule:
Sep 29 –
Kam's Place –
book spotlight / author interview
Oct 5 –
wottaread –
book spotlight / author interview
Enter the Giveaway:
LOST AND FOUND Book Tour Giveaway
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