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Jim Ciullo

Jim Ciullo is a member of Mystery Writers of America (MWA)—including its New England Chapter, International Thriller Writers (ITW), and Sisters in Crime (SINC)—including its New England Chapter (SINCNE). He lives in the Berkshires of Western Massachusetts, where in his previous career, he helped to develop a system of community services for persons with developmental disabilities. When not writing, he works as a consultant and as a volunteer in various community projects. His previous novels include A Tango in Tuscany (2002) and Orinoco (2007), a prequel to Maracaibo. Jim served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Venezuela, an experience that inspired both Orinoco and Maracaibo. An alumnus of Boston College and UMASS Amherst (M.Ed), he has traveled extensively. Sports, politics, and travel are his main interests. www.JimCiullo.com

His novels include:

Maracaibo—Mainly Murder Press (www.MainlyMurderPress.com) (2009), 304 pages

CIA operative Marialena Morales happens upon the ambush of two US Senators in Venezuela. One is killed. The other, Senator Joe LaCarta, disappears. Everyone blames Venezuela’s anti-American President. As Marialena probes, she bonds with Sergio, an undercover Venezuelan national police agent.
Meanwhile, Vice President Brock Randle mobilizes plans for an invasion. Running for president, he is showcasing his leadership. Only his co-conspirators, a corporate CEO and two CIA rogues, know that the ambush is to frame oil-rich Venezuela and create the rationale for takeover.
Invasion frenzy builds in the US. The investigation takes Marialena and Sergio into Colombia on the Guajira Peninsula, a haven for smugglers, home to a growing Muslim population, and hiding place for the right-wing paramilitary unit really responsible for the Senators’ ambush.
Marialena becomes a threat. As she unravels the deception and searches for LaCarta, she must stay one step ahead or will be made to disappear forever.
In Washington, LaCarta’s wife Vicki grows increasingly suspicious. A parallel investigation takes hold. Can those in harm’s way in South America and the forces of reason in Washington combine to hold off an international tragedy designed to put a criminal in the White House?

Orinoco—Five Star Mystery (Cengage), (2007), 374 pages; Audio with Books In Motion (2008)

ORINOCO is a mystery/suspense novel. Conspirators are attempting to terrorize Joe LaCarta and force him to abandon his US Senate race in Vermont. They resurrect an event long since laid to rest. As a Peace Corps volunteer in Venezuela in the 1970’s, LaCarta and his cohorts pulled off a heist of art looted by the Nazis in WWII, liquidating the proceeds to fund their programs into perpetuity. Now, twenty-five years later, they discover that the heist was not the win-win proposition they had thought. There were sinister actors on that same stage, hovering along Venezuela’s mysterious Orinoco River.
This novel should appeal to mystery and suspense aficionados who enjoy a fast read with unexpected twists, and especially to those interested in politics, world affairs, exotic international settings, deniable espionage, and undercurrents of Nazi nefariousness. It is particularly timely in that the lead character is an Independent consensus builder who is a threat to the hard-line partisan hacks. There are several interesting female characters, including an investigative reporter who becomes Joe’s lover, and young Marialena Morales, the principal character in MARACAIBO, the sequel that is in the works.

A Tango in Tuscany—PublishAmerica, (2002), 217 pages

An idyllic vacation villa is ruffled by elements from a more ruthless world. Claudio, an Argentine physician, is the life of the group, even offering to give tango lessons. Silvia, an American almost old enough to be his mother, develops a fast rapport with the charismatic Claudio, so much so that her husband Tony, the proprietor, suspects that an unlikely attraction is in the making.
But Claudio is on a mission. He has tracked the retired army officer responsible for the disappearance of his mother during Argentina’s “dirty war” twenty years before. Colonel Leone is surrounded by bodyguards in a remote Tuscan town. Claudio must get to him and make him confront his past.
But nothing is as clear-cut as it seems. Is Leone really the monster from Claudio’s nightmares? Also, those who had orchestrated the disappearances do not want Leone to reveal what he knows. They send agents to hunt the hunter, Claudio. Silvia and Tony are drawn into the cauldron. Revenge and redemption spin through a final tango as the showdown unfolds.
This novel will appeal to suspense readers who have a taste for international flavors. The drama has aspects of a morality play. Silvia is a strong female character who ponders the meaningfulness of her life. Readers interested in Italy (Tuscany in particular), Argentina (its politics in particular, not to mention the tango), and human rights issues should enjoy this novel.

More information on these novels may be found at www.JimCiullo.com.