^aThe University of Kansas, KS

Abstract

Working within the parameters of the detective genre, Marcos McPeek Villatoro's Home Killlings provides a unique portrait of Latino immigration and integration in the US South. The representation of lead detective Romilia Chacón as a Latina southerner with Salvadoran roots coupled with the incorporation of Central American history calls attention to Central American immigration and identity construction in a "peripheral" region of the United States. Moreover, by engaging with the Central American experience, McPeek Villatoro's novel makes "visible" this segment of the population that has been marginalized within the broader US Latino imaginary.