The Vagabond Virgins: a Hickey Family crime novel

The novel is set during 1979, shortly before elections in Mexico. Appearances by the Holy Virgin have taken place in various parts of Baja California, urging defeat of the dominant PRI party. A few days before the Sunday voting, a beautiful lady--Lourdes Shuler-- appears in Alvaro Hickey's office, asking him to help find her sister. Their adventures are endless in trailing what turns out to be the various appearances of the Virgin, in reality the apparition of Lourdes' sister Lupe. As they progress, he is torn with doubts--is Lourdes the Virgin? What is the true story behind her efforts? Who killed their father? What is the source of eight gold bars Lourdes was carrying when they met? In the end, the entire Hickey family is involved in this, the firth in the series chronicling the history of Southern California in the form of private eye stories about the family. It is an exciting tale, full of danger and disappointments. Of course, defeat of the PRI will have to wait for a future volume, since it did not take place in 1979, but later on. Meanwhile, the violence and corruption in the Mexican border area is depicted with graphic detail. It is well written, and recommended.

Reviewed by Tara Hammack (age 16) for Reader Views (10/07) "The Vagabond Virgins" is about two women--Lourdes Garcia trying to find her sister Lupe Garcia. The Garcia sisters live in Mexico. Well, Lourdes need to find Lupe because she is going around pretending to be a virgin angel and telling children to tell people to vote against the political party that is currently in control of the Mexican government. "She had counseled the children to warn the campesinos that all who voted for the PRI risked linking their eternal destinies to the fate of their wicked governors. Then she recited Psalm 52." Lourdes was afraid her sister would be killed by the Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI). She needs a detective or a private investigator to help her. She was told about this one guy, Alvaro Hickey, a law student working with his father as a private investigator until he becomes a lawyer. He wouldn't be scared to bend the rules. Alvaro lives in southern California. Lupe was driven away from the family by her father at age eighteen because she was dating a guy her father disapproved of; at the time Lourdes was several years younger. So now Alvaro and Lourdes are trying to find Lupe and save her. The book is just one long hunt. They have to run from the PRI because Lourdes was one of the people the PRI suspected for killing her father. When her father was killed, Lourdes took bricks of gold that was worth around one million dollars. Well, on the journey Alvaro thought Lourdes was crazy and she was the one going around pretending to be a virgin angel, until they heard that the PRI had Lupe, which brings me to my favorite part--when Lourdes dresses up as her sister pretending to be a virgin angel so that the PRI would let Lupe go thinking they had the wrong women. This is a well-written story that overcomes conflict as well as brutality and corruption of border areas in Mexico. "The Vagabond Virgins" is insightful and sensitive and will keep you turning the pages.

Lupe Garcia travels to rural areas claiming to be a virgin angel in 1979 Baja Mexico. She quotes scripture and pleads with children to tell their parents to vote against the corrupt tyrannical Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI) in the upcoming election. Lupe's younger sister Lourdes fears that the PCI will kill her sibling, whom she has not seen since their father threw Lupe out of their home years ago. She needs to warn Lupe that the PRI is seeking Lupe to prevent her from causing them problems. To find her sister she hires law student and private investigator Alvaro Hickey because she heard he is not afraid to break the rules. He thinks his client is the VAGABOND VIRGIN angel and she has no sibling; he also wonders if she killed her father as the PRI suspect as she took gold bricks worth a fortune. Now the PRI, her brother and much of Mexico search for the sleuth and the younger sister while the duo searches for the older female sibling, who has been captured by the PRI. The latest Hickey Family thriller (see The Angel Gang for one of dad's tales and The Do-Re-Mi for the son's first solo) is a superb look at the immigration issue circa 1979 (pre Reagan "amnesty" and no nebulous link to 9/11 to obfuscate the issue). Violence and corruption at the California-Mexico border makes for a dangerous MZ yet that stays in the background as the fast-paced story line contains deep characterizations, a trademark of Ken Kuhlken's Hickey historicals. This powerful exciting drama will leave the audience thinking beyond the inane sound bite solutions of politicians and extremists to ponder how to realistically deal with a complex issue with ramifications hitting all aspects of society. Harriet Klausner