“The Boomtown, the Gringo, the Girl, and Her Murder,” by Tony D’Souza, is the main story in the current issue of Outside (June 2007): “When a local beauty turned up dead in Nicaragua’s San Juan del Sur, the dream of paradise became a nightmare for one expat American surfer. He got 30 years and, predictably, a media melee ensued. But TONY D’SOUZA was on the scene from day one. This is the story you haven’t heard.”
If you haven’t bought the magazine yet, check out this teaser of the article, this beautiful gallery of Nica images (by photographer Jason Florio), and this podcast interview with the author.
Last fall, I got in touch with Tony after reading his first novel (Whiteman, written after his war-torn Peace Corps tour in Cote D’Ivoire). He was looking for somewhere to work on his second novel, and after we spoke (and I’d sent him a copy of Moon Living Abroad in Nicaragua), he decided to go to Nicaragua—overland, in his truck, from Sarasota, Florida.
The article does an excellent job portraying the peculiarities of the expat scene in San Juan del Sur, while never forgetting the most important victim in this case: Doris, and her horrible murder. Still, was an innocent man sent to jail because of tension between locals and gringos? Is this modern wave of real estate mayhem the New Colonialism? Read the article to find out more.
If you are reading this in Nicaragua, the Gato Negro book shop in San Juan del Sur should be stocking the magazine soon.- For more about Tony, visit his site.
- Here’s a recent interview on travel writing he did with Rolf Potts.
- More on the Eric Volz case
D’Souza was last scene on his way to a writing fellowship in Japan, which he hopes will be a lot more tranquilo than the last few months.
