This book argues that the transnationalism that is central to Chicano identity originated in the global, postcolonial moment at the turn of the nineteenth century rather than as an effect of contemporary economic conditions, which began in the mid nineteenth century and primarily affected the laboring classes. The Spanish empire then began to implode, and colonists in the ?new world? debated the national contours of the viceroyalties. This is where the author locates the origins of Chicano literature, which is now and always has been ?postnational,? encompassing the wealthy, the poor, the white, and the mestizo.

A beautiful girl is found dead with her face slashed and an old man suffers a similar fate. These similar crimes bring together Roger West, Scotland Yard’s finest detective, and Lieutenant Goodison of New York's Homicide Branch, in a race to find the killer and deal with the twists and turns along the way.