A Murder, a Cover-Up, and the True Cost of Silencing the Press
Starred review from August 15, 2022
Corcoran, the former Associated Press bureau chief for Mexico and Central America, debuts with a searing look at the unsolved 2012 murder of Regina Martínez, an investigative reporter for the Mexican magazine Proceso. Martínez was discovered beaten to death in her bathroom in the capital city of the state of Veracruz. Martínez’s targets had included influential politicians, such as Fidel Herrera, the former Veracruz governor, whom she’d linked to the misuse of state funds and organized crime. She persisted in her digging, despite Veracruz’s history as an extremely dangerous place for journalists. The number of powerful enemies she made led her colleagues to suspect that one of them, possibly Herrera, was responsible for the killing. Corcoran’s own reporting discredits the official story that the murder was a crime of passion and that a petty criminal, El Silva, arrested a few months after the killing, was responsible; her analysis makes it clear that El Silva, who confessed under torture, was just a patsy. Corcoran’s vivid account is based on hundreds of interviews she conducted in Mexico over seven years. Despite the lack of a satisfying resolution, this succeeds both as an homage to the heroic Martínez and as a gripping real-life whodunit. Agent: Gail Ross, Ross Yoon Agency.
September 15, 2022
A disturbing look at violence against journalists in Mexico through the lens of the murder of a veteran crime reporter. Despite being a democracy with a constitution that protects free speech, Mexico is "one of the most dangerous countries on earth for journalists," writes Corcoran, former AP bureau chief for Mexico and Central America. Furthermore, "the situation has only grown worse over time, with Mexico more recently ranking number one--tied with Afghanistan--in murdered journalists." The author focuses on the still-unsolved murder of journalist Regina Mart�nez (1963-2012), who was beaten to death in her home in the state of Veracruz. Corcoran delves deeply into the criminal symbiosis that has plagued Mexico since the drug cartels insinuated themselves into Mexican government. Mart�nez was a hard-hitting political reporter who had cut her teeth at the daily newspaper Pol�tica before moving to Proceso, a center-left investigative news magazine acclaimed for its criminal reporting. Mart�nez had wisely steered clear of covering the cartels because of the increasing danger to journalists who did. Many journalists were either bribed into favorable reporting--or not reporting at all--on corruption schemes and campaigns, or they were simply murdered ("plata o plomo, take the money or take a bullet"). Based on years of dogged reporting, Corcoran dismisses the official line that Mart�nez was killed in a crime of passion, and she provides a wealth of testimony from Mart�nez's mentees, who admired her work and held her up as a moral standard. The author shows how Mart�nez seemed to be working on the financial misdeeds of the outgoing governor of Veracruz at the time, Javier Duarte, and she may have been on the verge of a significant revelation about the mass graves of those who were "disappeared" during his administration. Readers will be transfixed by this alarming narrative, all the more timely as free speech, even in the U.S., is under attack yet again. A tenaciously researched work of investigative journalism.
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Starred review from September 15, 2022
Corcoran, former Associated Press bureau chief for Mexico and Central America, debuts with this captivating story of the murder of a Mexican journalist and her own mission to contest the official version of events. In 2012, Mexico had become a dangerous place for journalists due to both cartel violence and the government's attempts to undermine journalists' work and reputations. Amidst these conditions, Regina Martinez, known for her impeccable investigative reporting that often cast aspersions on high-ranking officials, was found beaten to death in her home. A former lover was held responsible, but Martinez's friends, many of them journalists, did not believe his guilt, and the supposed perpetrator claimed he was tortured into signing a confession. As Corcoran begins her own investigation, she discovers myriad contradictions, including several stories that changed, likely out of fear and/or bribery. She becomes convinced that Martinez was working on a government expose, and was murdered for it. Corcoran's detailing of recent Mexican history provides crucial understanding of the environment she, her sources, and local journalists are operating under. She also injects a strong sense of place and fear into this copiously detailed, compelling true-crime tale.
COPYRIGHT(2022) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.