Carolina Garcia-Aguilera is a Cuban-born American crime writer. She is best known for the Lupe Solano mystery series. She won the Shamus Award for Havana Heat (2000).
Carolina Garcia-Aguilera was born in Havana, Cuba, in 1949. During the Cuban revolution, she lived amid frequent violence. She later recalled, “There were gunshots outside my house all the time.” At the age of ten, her family fled Cuba with few possessions.
Her family first lived in Palm Beach, Florida, and later moved to New York. Carolina attended Miss Porter’s School in Connecticut for secondary education. She later returned to Florida to study at Rollins College in Winter Park. She graduated with a degree in history and political science.
After college, she studied languages at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. Her husband’s work then took the family to Hong Kong, Tokyo, and Beijing. After returning to Florida, she earned an MBA at the University of South Florida. She also undertook further doctoral study in international studies.
She worked as a social worker at a public hospital and later served as a guardian ad litem. These roles brought her into regular contact with courts and legal staff. She later said this work helped shape her understanding of crime and justice.
In 1986, she applied for work at a Miami detective agency. When asked why, she gave a false answer. “I told them my husband had left me and I had to pay the bills,” the author said. The real reason was research. “I became a PI so I could write the books.”
Garcia-Aguilera worked as a private investigator for over twenty-five years. She later founded her own agency with a former federal agent. Her cases ranged from fraud to violent crime, and informed her fiction.
Her first novel, Bloody Waters (1996), introduced private detective Guadalupe “Lupe” Solano. Lupe is a Cuban-American investigator based in Miami. The series combines crime plots with Cuban-American family life and Miami settings.
Six further Lupe Solano novels followed. Havana Heat (2000), the fifth book, won the Shamus Award for Best Private Eye Novel in hardcover. Garcia-Aguilera was the first Latina writer to receive this prize. She later said of the news, “I got a fax. It wasn’t very dramatic.”
The Lupe Solano mysteries were translated into twelve languages.
She also wrote stand-alone novels, including One Hot Summer (2002), which was adapted for Lifetime Television. Her work has appeared in several crime anthologies.
Carolina Garcia-Aguilera lives in Miami Beach. She has described herself as “bubbly” rather than hard-edged.
Photo credit: www.carolinagarciaaguilera.com
Carolina Garcia-Aguilera was born in Havana, Cuba, in 1949. During the Cuban revolution, she lived amid frequent violence. She later recalled, “There were gunshots outside my house all the time.” At the age of ten, her family fled Cuba with few possessions.
Her family first lived in Palm Beach, Florida, and later moved to New York. Carolina attended Miss Porter’s School in Connecticut for secondary education. She later returned to Florida to study at Rollins College in Winter Park. She graduated with a degree in history and political science.
After college, she studied languages at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. Her husband’s work then took the family to Hong Kong, Tokyo, and Beijing. After returning to Florida, she earned an MBA at the University of South Florida. She also undertook further doctoral study in international studies.
She worked as a social worker at a public hospital and later served as a guardian ad litem. These roles brought her into regular contact with courts and legal staff. She later said this work helped shape her understanding of crime and justice.
In 1986, she applied for work at a Miami detective agency. When asked why, she gave a false answer. “I told them my husband had left me and I had to pay the bills,” the author said. The real reason was research. “I became a PI so I could write the books.”
Garcia-Aguilera worked as a private investigator for over twenty-five years. She later founded her own agency with a former federal agent. Her cases ranged from fraud to violent crime, and informed her fiction.
Her first novel, Bloody Waters (1996), introduced private detective Guadalupe “Lupe” Solano. Lupe is a Cuban-American investigator based in Miami. The series combines crime plots with Cuban-American family life and Miami settings.
Six further Lupe Solano novels followed. Havana Heat (2000), the fifth book, won the Shamus Award for Best Private Eye Novel in hardcover. Garcia-Aguilera was the first Latina writer to receive this prize. She later said of the news, “I got a fax. It wasn’t very dramatic.”
The Lupe Solano mysteries were translated into twelve languages.
She also wrote stand-alone novels, including One Hot Summer (2002), which was adapted for Lifetime Television. Her work has appeared in several crime anthologies.
Carolina Garcia-Aguilera lives in Miami Beach. She has described herself as “bubbly” rather than hard-edged.
Photo credit: www.carolinagarciaaguilera.com
years of life: 13 July 1949 – present
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