Oakland, CA -- (ReleaseWire) -- 07/10/2018 --LAGO DE SANGRE (BLOOD LAKE) marks the first novel in this crime fiction series by mystery writer, Kenneth Wishnia to be translated into Spanish. The newly released Spanish language title also marks the first foray for PM Press into fiction in Spanish translation. The book is the 5th installment of Wishnia's crime series featuring his female heroine, NYPD-cop-turned private detective Filomena Buscarsela. LAGO DE SANGRE (PM Press; August 2018; Trade PB: $17.95; E-book $8.95) is a thriller that introduces Filomena's colorful extended family, and forces this single mother to confront her turbulent past, and some of the most bizarre characters in Third World politics.

"We've always published titles on Latin America, including bilingual titles and Teaching Rebellion in Spanish, and this is our first foray into a Spanish Fiction title. We did it because we believe in Ken and his work, and we believe it deserves to be available to as many people as possible to inspire and excite," says Stephanie Pasvankias from PM PRESS.

In LAGO DE SANGRE, Filomena takes her teenage daughter Antonia on vacation to her native Ecuador only to discover that she cannot escape trouble, especially when her past is a big part of it. Filomena hasn't been back in years, and the trip brings back memories of her previous life as a revolutionary.

"One of my goals with the publication of the Spanish translation of LAGO DE SANGRE is to help increase the visibility and empowerment of this much maligned group, and to be a part of the struggle to move Latinos from the margins to the center of American social, political and cultural life," says Wishnia.

Unlike Wishnia's other 4 installments of the Filomena Buscarsela series, which usually depict the New York metropolitan area in all its gritty detail, the narrative of LAGO DE SANGRE is unique: the latest novel conflates events that unfolded in different regions over the course of many years, and compresses them into a single insanity-filled period of about three weeks. Even before Filomena even has time to adjust to her new surroundings, a priest is murdered, a man who, years ago, saved her life and helped her escape to the United States. She owes him her life; now it's time for the debt to be repaid, and she vows to find his killer. It's an election year, and the dirty hands of politics seem to be everywhere, perhaps even in this senseless death. Filomena's investigation promises to lead her back to the very people she escaped all those years ago. Filomena is up against the mighty "North Guayas Militia," a fictional right-wing paramilitary group, controlling the northern section of the coastal province of Guayas.

As the country is wracked by natural and man-made disasters—landslides, floods, food shortages, protests, crackdowns—Filomena becomes a fugitive from the law, racing across the country toward a climactic confrontation in the Amazon jungle. Wishnia provides a novel rich with the sights, sounds—and dangers—of Ecuador, and a compelling look at the provenance of one of mystery fiction's most dynamic heroines.

LAGO DE SANGRE is also written on a broader canvas than the previous novels in the series. The introduction by noir crime writer, Liz Martinez, states that LAGO DE SANGRE is not a Fodor's guide to Ecuador. Wishnia wants the reader to feel a bit disoriented and unsure of her footing, since Filomena is going through that as well. In this manner, LAGO DE SANGRE describes some of the dangerous and destabilizing conditions that have led to so much migration by Latin American refugees to the United States.

"I'm excited about this novel coming out in Spanish because this series relates to what's happening today in our society. I married into Latino culture more than 30 years ago when US Latinos were still something of an invisible 'minority,' and I wrote the first novel in this series as a way to help introduce that culture to a wider US audience. Nowadays, Latinos are the largest 'minority' in the US, but they are still viciously attacked by racists and white supremacists in the media and at the highest levels of government, and they still lack proportional representation in US media: Sure, we've had WONDER WOMAN and BLACK PANTHER. But where's the Latina superhero? Look no further! You'll find her in Filomena Buscarsela," adds Wishnia.

About Kenneth Wishnia
Kenneth Wishnia's novels include 23 Shades of Black, an Edgar Allan Poe Award and Anthony Award finalist; Soft Money, a Library Journal Best Mystery of the Year; Red House, a Washington Post "Rave" Book of the Year; and The Fifth Servant, an Indie Notable selection, a Jewish Press Best Mystery of the Year, winner of a Premio Letterario ADEI-WIZO, and a finalist for the Sue Feder Memorial Historical Mystery Award. His short stories have appeared in Ellery Queen, Alfred Hitchcock, Queens Noir, Long Island Noir, Send My Love and a Molotov Cocktail! and elsewhere. Most recently, he edited the Anthony Award-nominated anthology Jewish Noir for PM Press.

He was born in Hanover, NH, to a roving band of traveling academics. He has lived and worked (and been chased by riot police) on three continents, including several years in Scotland, France, and Ecuador. The urgent need for a day job forced him to earn a BA from Brown University (1982) and a PhD in comparative literature from SUNY Stony Brook (1996). He teaches writing, literature and other deviant forms of thought at Suffolk Community College in Brentwood, Long Island, where he is a professor of English. His official site: http://www.kennethwishnia.com

Links for Kenneth Wishnia:
Web: http://www.kennethwishnia.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/AuthorKennethWishnia
Publisher: http://www.pmpress.org

LAGO DE SANGRE
By Kenneth Wishnia
with Introduction by Liz Martinez
PM Press; August 1, 2018 (available for pre-order)
Trade Paperback: $17.95; e-book: $8.95)
Page Count: 376
Size: 8X 5
ISBN: 978-1-62963-443-2
Subjects: Fiction/Mystery