Lawyer/sleuth Henry Rios risks his life to defend an unsavory client against a murder charge in a sensational case that has many hidden--and deadly--undercurrents.

How Town (Harper Novel of Suspense)

Literature & Fiction

Nava, Michael

United States

Harpercollins

Henry Rios, a gay Chicano lawyer, investigates the death of a powerful Los Angeles politician while struggling against a young man falsely accused of the crime. By the author of How Town. National ad/promo.

The Hidden Law

In the years before the Mexican Revolution, Mexico is ruled by a tiny elite that apes European culture, grows rich from foreign investment, and prizes racial purity. The vast majority of Mexicans, who are native or of mixed native and Spanish blood, are politically powerless and slowly starving to death. Presiding over this corrupt system is Don Porfirio Díaz, the ruthless and inscrutable president of the Republic. Against this backdrop, The City of Palaces opens in a Mexico City jail with the meeting of Miguel Sarmiento and Alicia Gavilán. Miguel is a principled young doctor, only recently returned from Europe but wracked by guilt for a crime he committed as a medical student ten years earlier. Alicia is the spinster daughter of an aristocratic family. Disfigured by smallpox, she has devoted herself to working with the city’s destitute. This unlikely pair—he a scientist and atheist and she a committed Christian—will marry. Through their eyes and the eyes of their young son, José, readers follow the collapse of the old order and its bloody aftermath. The City of Palaces is a sweeping novel of interwoven lives: Miguel and Alicia; José, a boy as beautiful and lonely as a child in a fairy tale; the idealistic Francisco Madero, who overthrows Díaz but is nevertheless destroyed by the tyrant’s political system; and Miguel’s cousin Luis, shunned as a “sodomite.” A glittering mosaic of the colonial past and the wealth of the modern age, The City of Palaces is a story of faith and reason, cathedrals and hovels, barefoot street vendors and frock-coated businessmen, grand opera and silent film, presidents and peasants, the living and the dead. Winner, International Latino Book Award for Latino Fiction, Latino Literacy Now Second place, International Latino Book Award for Historical Fiction, Latino Literacy Now Finalist, Gay Fiction, Lambda Literary Awards Honorable Mention in Drama, Latino Books into Movies Award, International Latino Book Awards Best Books for General Audiences, selected by the American Association of School Librarians Outstanding Book, selected by the Public Library Reviewers

The City of Palaces: A Novel

Genre Fiction

University of Wisconsin Press

Why should Americans who are not gay care about gay rights? In Created Equal, Michael Nava and Robert Dawidoff argue that the movement for gay equality is central to the continuing defense of individual liberty in America. Beginning with an examination of the determined assault on gay issues by the religious right, the authors show how this sectarian movement to legislate private religious morality into law undermines the purpose of American constitutional government: the protection of the individual's right to determine how best to live his or her life. The book starts from the premise that gay and lesbians are, first and foremost, American citizens, and then looks to what rights belong to every individual American citizen, arguing from the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Addressing their argument to the great majority of their fellow Americans, Dawidoff and Nava emphasize that what is at stake is not the fate of the gay community, but the future of constitutional principle and the rights of free individuals in American society.

Created Equal: Why Gay Rights Matter to America

Politics & Social Sciences

Dawidoff, Robert

Social Sciences

St Martins Pr

Why should Americans who are not gay care about gay rights? In Created Equal, Michael Nava and Robert Dawidoff argue that the movement for gay equality is central to the continuing defense of individual liberty in America. Beginning with an examination of the determined assault on gay issues by the religious right, the authors show how this sectarian movement to legislate private religious morality into law undermines the purpose of American constitutional government: the protection of the individual's right to determine how best to live his or her life. The book starts from the premise that gay and lesbians are, first and foremost, American citizens, and then looks to what rights belong to every individual American citizen, arguing from the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Addressing their argument to the great majority of their fellow Americans, Dawidoff and Nava emphasize that what is at stake is not the fate of the gay community, but the future of constitutional principle and the rights of free individuals in American society.

St. Martin's: Griffin

Gay Los Angeles lawyer Henry Rios has misgivings about defending a known child molester accused of killing a porn peddler, even though the case against him is circumstantial at best. But research into the dead man's past sheds a frightening light on the murky circumstances of the murder -- bringing Rios face-to-face with a cold-blooded killer . . .

How Town

Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

Mystery

Fawcett

"Intriguing, fast-paced....Henry Rios, the gay lawyer Michael Nava has created, is sensitive and appealing."SANDRA SCOPPETTONEAuthor of I'LL BE LEAVING YOU ALWAYSMichael Nava's sequel to HOW TOWN.When State Senator Gus Pena, a politician with a spotty past and an ambition to become mayor, is gunned down, the LAPD arrests Michael Ruiz, a hot-tempered teen who had spat violent words about Pena while they both attended a drug rehab center. Believing in the troubled youth's innocence, lawyer Henry Rios takes the case, despite the fact that he's in the middle of a wrenching breakup with his HIV-positive lover, Josh.As his personal life unravels, and the cops and press rush to judgment on Ruiz, Rios penetrates the highly protected world of L.A. politics to ferret out a most unlikely killer...

Ballantine

As protagonist Henry Rios investigates his friend Chris Chandler's murder, he begins to discover that the State Supreme Court judge's life had not been at all what it appeared to be, as Chandler's young gay lover begs for protection and other secrets begin to come to light.

The Death of Friends

G.P.Putnam's Sons

Gay Mexican-American lawyer Henry Rios returns in this haunting novel, defending a young man accused of burglary who suddenly turns up murdered, which leaves Rios embroiled in a much darker case of blackmail and corruption. 15,000 first printing.

The Burning Plain

Putnam Adult

While recovering from a heart attack, gay Mexican-American attorney Henry Rios comes to the aid of his long-lost niece, the illegitimate daughter of his estranged sister, who has confessed to the murder of her abusive husband, but during his investigation, Rios discovers that things are more complicated than he had thought. 12,500 first printing.

Rag and Bone

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Nava, Michael. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Nava, Michael

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Nava, Michael. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

How Town (Harper Novel of Suspense)

The Hidden Law

The City of Palaces: A Novel

Created Equal: Why Gay Rights Matter to America

Created Equal: Why Gay Rights Matter to America

How Town

The Hidden Law

The Death of Friends

The Burning Plain

Rag and Bone