Crimes and Impunity in New Orleans by Sherrie Miranda
“Crimes and Impunity in New Orleans”” is author Sherrie Miranda’s prequel to her page-turner, debut thriller, “”Secrets and Lies in El Salvador””. Shelly Dalton Smith is a naïve, twenty-three-year-old from Upstate New York who moves to New Orleans to prepare for a photo project in war-torn El Salvador. Shelly arrives in New Orleans, broken and traumatized and therefore unable to trust her own instincts. New Orleans represents the fresh start Shelly needs, but she soon finds that almost everyone in New Orleans harbors a secret. She’s unprepared for life in “The Big Easy,” and her world is turned upside down as she navigates “the city that care forgot.” With fast-paced chapters and beautifully detailed conversations and descriptions, we see New Orleans through Shelly’s innocent eyes as she realizes the sheltered life she had lived was a lie. She experiences sexism and witnesses racism, police brutality, FBI visits, death threats, and two people’s captivity by her former boss. Through her misadventures and exciting plot twists, Shelly focuses on fighting injustice, ultimately finding her authentic voice as an empowered adult. When she finally leaves New Orleans, she is forever changed. The novel is a wild ride through the underbelly of 1980s New Orleans and is filled with quirky characters, sinister abusers, and thrilling secrets and revelations.”
Sherrie Miranda’s “Crimes & Impunity in New Orleans” follows the dramatic story of naive, sheltered Shelly going to “The Big Easy” to prepare for El Salvador, but has no idea she will encounter sexism and witness racism as well as illegal activities by government agents. https://www.amzn.com/dp/B08KMHNNDK Author, Sherrie Miranda’s husband made the trailer for “Crimes & Impunity in New Orleans.” He wrote the music too. https://youtu.be/7_NL-V9KEi4 Review: Shelly’s journey in “the city that care forgot.” Sherrie Miranda’s new novel “Crimes and Impunity in New Orleans” puts the reader into a whirlwind of political protests, abusive police, sexist attitudes towards women, and “good old boys” racism in 1980’s New Orleans. Miranda’s second novel follows Shelly, the young northerner, as she quickly finds out that she “isn’t in Kansas anymore” while encountering a slew of picturesque, colorful characters. Reading her book makes you wonder if justice and respect for blacks, immigrants, and women can be reality in America.
Having grown-up in a working class background, Sherrie Miranda critically understands that experience, thus making it the background from which emerges Shelly. She is the main character of Miranda’s last novel, Crimes and Impunity in New Orleans. There, we follow Shelly – freshly arrived in New Orleans from Rochester. She has come with the prospect of being awarded a photographer’s post in civil war torn El Salvador. Another reason for the move is Shelley’s desire to distance herself from family and home. This new found freedom allows Shelly to discover new inner voices as her life unfolds on many fronts. This process will be present throughout the novel. We find coherence to these multiple selves as we further our reading.
The coveted award is not certain, our main character will be competing with other photographers – if successful, Shelly will direct her camera lens to witness the life of the people in the midst of El Salvador’s civil war. At some point in the story we are made aware that in her study of photography, she learned how to achieve balance in a picture with positive and negative space. A definition of the latter concept helped this writer appreciate how its application educates the reading of the novel:
Space, both positive and negative, ties your design together. The intelligent usage of space draws the eye away from focus on negative or positive, and instead uses both to tell a harmonious, coherent, complete — seamless — story.
Transposed to the novel, this insight applies to the characters as well as events – the negative space, together with the narrative – the positive space, produce a coherent story. Miranda, herself a photographer, rendered inherent all these elements in her novel.
The story would not be as enticing if the author’s expert knowledge of the circumstances she brings forth in the novel would not inform the reader with historical elements – the FBI and other secret services’ undermining of the revolutionary movements in Central America. During the 1980’s, the time during which these wars were fought, the US was training paramilitary groups in support of campaigns of terror exacted on the civilian population. These facts brought to the page as textbook lessons might have been tedious. However, Miranda weaves the necessary background details in and out of the dialogue and stirs the latter with such virtuosity, that it lends to the issues an immediate relevance and urgency. Not only does it add a formidable dynamic to the novel, it also keeps the reader on their toes.
The story engages the reader in a deconstruction of the events and their impact on her main character. Based on historical events, the novel’s narrative weaves in its fabric, documentary facts which impart the story with veracity and a legitimate socio/political reality. Historical facts invite the reader’s imagination to an analytical inquiry, which is not defused by the fantasy of fiction.
Sherrie Miranda’s talent is best illustrated with her mastery of the dialogue. Throughout the novel many voices converse, and sometimes confront each other, or themselves. The reader is allowed to enter Shelly’s mind, revealing her most intimate thoughts. Shelly never leaves us; she stays faithful to her readers as she never speaks to others without letting us know what she thinks. We grow intimate with her; becoming her confident. As we pursue our reading we are made to listen to the subscript – her inner thoughts.
It is important to remark that Shelly does not address the reader as if making a confession. In keeping us so close, we become witnesses in her life. Early in the novel we learn of Shelly’s rape. The event as recalled by the protagonist is brought about devoid of gravity. The details coming through later on, reveal the violence of the assault; we are left to infer its consequential traumas. And if we do not, further scenes in the novel reveal the rage it has caused Shelly. A rage which fuels her uncompromising resistance to oppression.
The rape happened, and nothing since then has been the same. A baggage, which together with many other unresolved issues, weighs since then more heavily, on the already anxious life prodding the character of Shelly. Its reference throughout the novel reveals the guilt, the shame, and the self-accusatory statements; none of those are an expression of Shelly’s inability to process “the rape,” her voice only amplifies that of a whole society in denial of its own responsibility. For Shelly this social mass includes her family. She remains the only one – in not abandoning herself, she keeps vigil over her own body. Thus awakened nights – unable to sleep. We come to be educated little at a time about the indelible marks it leaves on the victim. It’s a garment on Shelly’s skin – the one she should have worn or should not have worn; “I should have worn pants.” I didn’t wear a slip.
We, the readers, are at Shelly’s sides when she refuses to wear a skirt to better fit the image of a waitress – the men wear the pants.And we know; she was wearing a dress when she got raped. Though she blames herself for it, I shouldn’t have worn a dress, her consciousness has grown in knowing what the skirt portrays in the stereotype apparel making of a “girl.” Shelly’s reflections, those she addresses to the reader, buttress her self-awareness, and ours.
However earlier in the novel, the reader is faced with a moral conundrum, Shelly doubles down in accusing herself. “I blame myself. But maybe it’s what I needed…. to get me to move my lazy ass out of this place.” Because we want to read the contrary, and the contrary might be what the author wanted us to read on our parkour through her novel. The agency Shelly has mustered to start this journey was a motivator to a new way of acting. The sequence is reversed. As in a literal revolution. Dreaming a path to a new life is what motivates Shelly to rebel and subvert authority. She will not give her authorization to the wearing of a skirt. Not a victim of forces beyond her control. Now bringing the force under her control. Miranda however is a writer – her pen is not didactic. No explanation is needed. The reader is given a free rein to draw their own perspective.
Miranda brings to bear her experience in growing up, and the working class values she was bound to honor. Those are put to the test as Shelly affronts the hardship of looking for a job with resilience, and wisdom. She will not compromise her dignity, as she will mount a tremendous amount of resistance at the threat to the latter. She loses her job, ready to sacrifice her means of subsistence to save her pride. Her life so far has been tough, she might not have as yet worn their badge, but she is no debutante on that new stage as a revolutionary actor. Yet at times her working class background reveals a rigidity which righteousness puts her at odds with what she is made to hear. Victor with whom Shelly develops an ambiguous relationship at some point exclaims, “We, Central Americans are all liars, I am a liar” “the war, the poverty, and the repression, we have to lie. All the time.” Paradoxically, later on that evening she will find solace in the same roots, those attachments between labor and land – her family history. She turns to what she learned at home remembering stories she heard from her dad, “…how his mom would tell “stories” to the bill collector” so they would not lose their farm.
What makes the novel stand apart from vulgar fiction is not only that the author’s experience which serves the rendering of a context with authenticity. But more profoundly, Shelly’s experiences feed a passion that the writer skillfully brings to the page.
Shelly, the photographer, comments on events with the clarity of the camera. The narrative takes us at some point in the dark sordid waterholes of New Orleans where the villains are, this time, the long time settled in the US, immigrants victims of another period of colonialist rule on another continent. The bitterness of their struggle against the English in India, feeds their anger, which they only know how to deflect by exacting revenge. Thus enslaving the progeny of those who enslaved them. With those chapters, the novel takes a fantastic turn. A dystopian adventure which derails the balance of the novel up till then faithful to an immediately graspable realism.
Those chapters deliver a redemption of the main character who because she benefits from the privileges accorded to her white status, must “naturally” also pay for those with an act of glory. It’s a setback in the novel. Shelly is now cloaked in the myth of the White as a liberator of the enslaved. Was that necessary, we wonder. It relegates Shelly to another time, today a distant past; a period hero. She regresses in the role of the Good White who allied with the good police saves the White child from the claws of the evil black man.
Apart from the parenthesis created around that romantic hero, Shelly has been fierce in the use of her privilege as a shield — she is white and young. Her resistance to her boss insisted on her wearing a skirt. She will find another job. Her right out alliance with her neighbours; she hardly can afford the clothes she buys them, but she has more resources. At some point, Shelly uses her foreigner status as a camouflage. Thus pretending not to understand the soldiers’ harassing questions as she steps on the Salvadorian country soil. She uses her privilege as an English speaker to subvert an illegitimate authority. She chooses not to understand their questions. They let her go.
A strong point of Miranda’s writing is her acute focus on the language in translation. She leads interesting inquiries in the centrality of context in giving meaning to language. We are reminded of Paolo Freire who made the context the meaningful center of his theory of critical pedagogy, later on put to practice as the structure of literacy campaigns in Brazil, Nicaragua, etc. Miranda helps us in seeing that language is not neutral, but more so carries the meaning of a contextual reality. Language is not bound to a dictionary edited by the White Academy. In a conversation with Victor, she first uses the word “disappear” in the conventional dictionary definition, however she is quick to remind herself that the conflict of war has shaped the meaning of the word disappear, “I forgot that in Latin America, that word means people who the military pick up, and you never see them again.”Toward the end of the novel Shelley asks Keisha, her ex-student now a friend, “What is the worst to bear: Racism, Sexism or Poverty?” And for Keisha to answer, “I don’t know, because I am all three.” Keisha, does not hide but identifies those 3 spears in her identity, as black, a woman, and poor. In her novel, Miranda tackles the intersectionality of those social markers, focusing the lens of her camera on Shelly’s personal history which in no moments is let to die in oblivion. That history serves as the testimony of what has propelled Shelly to dream and shape her dedication to the revolution. Finding in herself a voice of resistance, and the power to subvert authority – thus discovering her own.
“Crimes & Impunity in New Orleans” follows the dramatic story of naive, sheltered Shelly going to “The Big Easy” to prepare for El Salvador, but has no idea she will encounter sexism and witness racism as well as illegal activities by government agents. https://www.amzn.com/dp/B08KMHNNDK
Author, Sherrie Miranda’s husband made the trailer for “Crimes & Impunity in New Orleans.” He wrote the music too. https://youtu.be/7_NL-V9KEi4
Review: Shelly’s journey in “the city that care forgot.”Sherrie Miranda’s new novel “Crimes and Impunity in New Orleans” puts the reader into a whirlwind of political protests, abusive police, sexist attitudes towards women, and “good old boys” racism in 1980’s New Orleans. Miranda’s second novel follows Shelly, the young northerner, as she quickly finds out that she “isn’t in Kansas anymore” while encountering a slew of picturesque, colorful characters. Reading her book makes you wonder if justice and respect for blacks, immigrants, and women can be reality in America.
When you finish reading CIINO, check out SLIES:
Sherrie Miranda’s historically based, coming of age, Adventure novel “Secrets & Lies in El Salvador” is about an American girl in war-torn El Salvador: http://tinyurl.com/klxbt4y
I obviously haven’t read these, but as an author, I like to share books.
And while we’re on that subject, what do you think about me posting short reviews of recent books I’ve read? I can easily find them on Amazon and/or Goodreads.
Let me know!
And keep your eyes open for the prequel to SLIES (see below for more info). It’s titled “Crimes & Impunity in New Orleans: Shelly’s Journey Begins.” It will be out in April.
Books Coming Soon in 2020
In whis ultimate preview guide, discover the biggest new releases coming out in the next few months! From edge-of-your-seat thrillers to swoon-worthy love stories, you’ll be the first to know when your next favorite book is hitting the bookshelves.
Written with Josie Silver’s trademark warmth and wit, The Two Lives of Lydia Bird is a powerful and thrilling love story about the what-ifs that arise at life’s crossroads, and what happens when one woman is given a miraculous chance to answer them.
From the award-winning author of Station Eleven (“Ingenious.” – The New York Times), an exhilarating novel set at the glittering intersection of two seemingly disparate events-a massive Ponzi scheme collapse and the mysterious disappearance of a woman from a ship at sea.
The chef behind Momofuku and star of Netflix’s Ugly Delicious gets uncomfortably real in his debut memoir. David Chang lays bare his self-doubt and ruminates on mental health. He explains the ideas that guide him and demonstrates how cuisine is a weapon against complacency and racism. Exhibiting the vulnerability of Andre Agassi’s Open and the vivid storytelling of Patti Smith’s Just Kids, this is a portrait of a modern America in which tenacity can overcome anything.
“With the fate of the free world hanging in the balance, women pilots went aloft to serve their nation. . . . A soaring tale in which, at long last, these daring World War II pilots gain the credit they deserve.”—Liza Mundy, New York Times bestselling author of Code Girls
A twisting story of love and deceit: an American man vanishes on a rural road in Vietnam, and his girlfriend, an emergency room doctor trained to ask questions, follows a path that leads her home to the very hospital where they met.
In a captivating memoir, an Egyptian American visionary and scientist provides an intimate view of her personal transformation as she follows her calling—to humanize our technology and how we connect with one another.
From the beloved and best-selling Anne Tyler, a sparkling new novel about misperception, second chances, and the sometimes elusive power of human connection.
SEE MORE
Buy now from your favorite retailer:
Sherrie Miranda’s historically based, coming of age, Adventure novel “Secrets & Lies in El Salvador” is about an American girl in war-torn El Salvador:
Cyana,
I have now encountered four books that I promised reviews on. But I don’t believe in posting bad reviews so I never posted a review.
The last one I promised was so bad that my husband read the beginning and was laughing like a hyena. Sadly, as a fellow author I don’t find it funny. It is tragic that we put so much of ourselves out there, but don’t bother to make sure that our “baby” is ready.
But I also just read a book with a publisher and an editor and was surprised with all the issues in it. You can look for my most recent review here to see it.
Hiring a professional editor is the ONE thing you should spend your money on. I also know a woman who has six books out there. She spent money on a photographer and graphic designer, but her sister-in-law edited the book for free. She said that she’s a teacher so … I guess in her opinion that qualified her. I am a teacher. And I would never edit anyone’s book.
Editors are very special people with an eye for minutia. They have to read the book without sentimentality. Definitely not me. And not my friend’s sister-in-law either.
Also, like it or not, only with years of critiques of our work from professionals can we see all our silly mistakes. We can’t help but be sentimental about our own work.
May you have all that you want and more.
Sherrie
Sherrie Miranda’s historically based, coming of age, Adventure novel “Secrets & Lies in El Salvador” is about an American girl in war-torn El Salvador: http://tinyurl.com/klxbt4y
Her husband made a video for her novel. He wrote the song too:
The review only needs to be 2-3 sentences. If you are interested, email me at sherriemiranda1@aol.com. Let me know if you prefer a Mobi or a PDF.
It’s been a bit frustrating as I had three reviews recently that were NOT put on Amazon which is where many look for reviews even if they don’t buy from them. The reviews ended up in obscure places where they’ll never be seen.
The prequel to this novel “Crimes & Impunity in New Orleans” will be out in December.
Peace & justice for all,
Sherrie
Sherrie Miranda’s historically based, coming of age, Adventure novel “Secrets & Lies in El Salvador” is about an American girl in war-torn El Salvador:
I can only hope he will post this on Amazon, as well as other places! Sherrie
Dear Sherrie,
I just finished reading your novel. I really enjoyed it. What a page-turner. I completed it in only 4–really 3+1/2 days. I continually had to discover what happened to the characters next.
Far from being mere mouthpieces, they were each real human beings with all a real human being’s combination of gifts and flaws. These, possessed more gifts, of course!
Rather than the two dimensional story we all too often learn of on TV or in the newspapers, you made the struggle in El Salvador truly come alive–both the land herself and the people living there.
You wrote a very lovely, poignant and memorable tale. Through seeing my gushy, purple words, you can tell I am absolutely sincere in my words of congratulations.
Warmest regards, Michael
Sherrie Miranda’s historically based, coming of age, Adventure novel “Secrets & Lies in El Salvador” is about an American girl in war-torn El Salvador:
It’s taken a long time, but I finally got around to ordering your book from Amazon. Last night I read it in one sitting and I want to comment on it before my thoughts fade away–or disappear altogether.
First of all, it is compelling reading. The secrets and lies of the title are very well integrated into the general background of the story which presents a dismaying picture of want and occasional prosperity, normal life and life carried on in the midst of terror. Except for the protagonist the other characters, to my mind, are sketched rather than filled in. Shelly is a believable woman, but I thought that her attachment to José was presented too suddenly. In general, I think that what I would have considered the most telling scene in the story–Romero’s assassination– was given short shrift. Were you present in New Orleans when there was a huge turnout at the Canal Place Theatre in commemoration of his life and works?
I liked the emphasis on food as a metaphor for the love and nurture offered by Abuela, in particular. I also liked Shelly’s care for the plants at the Refugee Center.
Finally, I think that Shelly’s actions speak loudly enough for the political message you wanted to convey so that there is less need to explicate it, as you do at the end of the novel. The “social ” message, as I see it: newfound recognition of the bonds of family, I consider apt for Shelly. Not for me. I prefer ties that connect people outside the family circle. I know that you believe in a wider solidarity, but Shelly’s change of ideas and sentiments regarding family and religion bothered me.This reaction shows my strong bias as an unbeliever. I can’t deny that when family ties begin to look like tribalism, I am disturbed. And as for religion, Marx’s stand (Religion is the opium of the people) is a view I share.Objectivity in reading and trying to understand a work of fiction is not really possible. I guess you may know me well enough to recognize that I don’t value objectivity overmuch or consider it attainable unless it is a question of an historical account, Even then, it is very hard to achieve on the part of the author and readers reacting to the account.
Congratulations! You have certainly produced a gripping account of Shelly’s sojourn in El Salvador. I hope the the book on New Orleans will come out soon.
I hope that you and your family are well. I look forward to hearing from you again.
Abrazos,
WIN
Hello Win,
Thank you for ordering & reading the book. And thank you for your candor. I have a couple friends that normally speak candidly to me, but they have never discussed the book with me this way.
I was in Rochester when Romero was killed, at the beginning of my road toward activism. CISPES had put together a slide show about Romero’s assassination & the ensuing repression. Since my protagonist’s stay in ES was only about a year, the characters had to be sketchy (I think). My initial ideas for this novel started in NOLA. J’s sister, G, told me about her friend who’s father was a union leader & how hard it will be for her to become a doctor. (She is a doctor today!) G is also a dr. but she came to New Orleans after the earthquake in El Salvador & lived with us. She actually told me she couldn’t write a review because the novel is about her family! I don’t think it is, but there are hybrids of real people in the novel.
Right now, G is fixing the terrible translation done by a young Salvadoran who never lived in an English speaking country! I hired a company to do the translation. G says my mistake was saying I wanted it translated by a Salvadoran. She’s probably right because initially K hired an Argentinian to do the translation with help from a friend who is Salvadoran.
I had the formatting done already when I was looking through it for minor mistakes. That’s when I started freaking out as there are mistakes even in the title.
Since G is a doctor, it is taking her a while to get through it all, but she has promised me that it flows much better. I am grateful for that.
I believe I had some sense of your atheism (if that’s what you call it). And certainly Catholicism enters into your issues and concerns with the Spanish conquest.
I was an agnostic most of my life. After 9/11, I found a place called Agape International House of Worship. At that time, Rev. Michael followed Science of Mind. It is a fascinating belief system! No hell or devil & they combine the beliefs of the 7 major religions of the world. Many there are practitioners or studying to be practitioners so Rev. Michael does not consider himself the be-all, end-all of his church; in fact, he once told the audience (~1-2,000 twice every Sunday) that he hoped they would take the ideas back to their home church. Many of the practitioners were past & present activists.
SOM1 was a course I took after the Newcomer course. It was very healing. Most of my past has been healed so I was able to be kind & loving to my parents, as well as accept their deaths which was something I had always believed was going to tear me apart. I hardly cried when my dad died. I guess because we had plenty of time to talk after my mom died. Because of my mom’s & my difficult relationship, that was harder to come to terms with, but I now see that I am a peace activist because of her influence.
As a teen, I went with a friend to a Catholic mass. At the time, I wished I had been able to confess my “sins.” I had done some dumb stuff as a child and in my mind, it made me a bad person. If I had been forgiven, I wouldn’t have carried around that guilt most of my life. I met several priests & nuns in New Orleans, including Father Roy Bourgeois & Sister Helen Prejean. They have continued to do great work: Father Roy, organizing against the School of the Americas; Sister Helen, ministering to those on death row & actively working to have the death penalty outlawed in this country. Being aware of the work Catholics priests & nuns were doing in El Salvador & going to funeral masses for the many priests that were killed in El Salvador helped me to see that there were many in the Catholic Church (albeit the lower echelons) who were very good & loving people, people who gave their lives for the poor they tried to help.
In the end, I consider myself spiritual, but definitely not religious. I have gotten a couple messages from my mom after her death when I felt I couldn’t go on.
Also, I don’t know if you knew that I was a teacher, full-time, for about 13 years, plus subbing when I moved back to San Diego from LA where I taught kids from many countries. At Venice High School, there were a lot of Oaxacans. We had a few teachers from Spain. Those kids, whose 1st language was an Indigenous one, were angry at the Spanish, not the Americans, as groups like MEChA are.
There have been many difficulties I have put myself through and finding that I had a belief system that fit with Spiritual Thought helped me get out of my funk of finding people to save and allowed me to save myself and finally be ready to spend the rest of my life with a kind, loving man like Angelo.
Not sure if you wanted to know all this, but there it is anyway!
P.S. Because of all the mess with translation, my New Orleans book is on hold, but I will try to attach the cover so you can see it.
Learn the story behind: Publish “Crimes and Impunity in New Orleans.” and help us meet our goal. @indiegogo https://igg.me/at/CrimesImpunityNOLAn…
Sherrie Miranda’s historically based, coming of age, Adventure novel “Secrets & Lies in El Salvador” will be out en Español very soon! It is about an American girl in war-torn El Salvador: http://tinyurl.com/klxbt4y
Her husband made a video for her novel. He wrote the song too: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P11Ch… 😉