Velvet Was the Night

Velvet Was the Night is a 2021 historical noir novel by Silvia Moreno-Garcia. Set in Mexico City in 1971, the novel oscillates between the perspectives of two characters: Maite Jaramillo, an introverted secretary who is drawn into a web of political espionage and revolutionary activity after her neighbor disappears while Maite is looking after her cat, and Elvis, a member of a paramilitary group called the Hawks who is tasked with finding a young woman who’s gone missing—a woman who has film with images that might greatly impact the ongoing conflict between the Mexican government and guerrilla activists. Velvet Was the Night employs a complicated, fast-paced plot to explore questions of class, gender, and the mechanics of political power in 1970s Mexico, at the height of the Dirty War. Velvet Was the Night is the seventh novel by genre-jumping and World Fantasy Award-winning writer and editor Silvia Moreno-Garcia.

This guide is based on the 2021 hardcover edition of Velvet Was the Night published by Del Rey.

Content Warning: The source text and this guide discuss murder and misogynistic language.

Plot Summary

Set in Mexico City in 1971, Velvet Was the Night begins on the eve of the Corpus Christi Massacre. The narrative follows the interlocking stories of Maite Jaramillo, a disaffected secretary who longs for romance, and a hired gun named Elvis, who works for a paramilitary organization called the Hawks. Maite’s life is forever changed when her flighty, beautiful neighbor, Leonora, asks her to watch her cat for a weekend. Leonora doesn’t return when she said she would, but she calls Maite asking her to meet her with the cat at a particular address. When Maite arrives there, she meets Rubén Morales, an acquaintance of Leonora’s who knows nothing of her departure or plans to meet Maite. Maite returns to Leonora’s apartment and steals a small, broken statue before encountering a beautiful man named Emilio, who has come to Leonora’s apartment in search of a camera.

Meanwhile, Elvis and the other men in his unit—El Güero, the Antelope, and El Gazpacho—are sent by their secretive boss, El Mago, to infiltrate a student protest. Violence breaks out, during which El Gazpacho is injured, and Elvis, contrary to El Mago’s orders, drives him to the hospital. El Mago, who is impressed by Elvis’s loyalty, makes Elvis the head of his own unit and sends him on a mission—to find a woman named Leonora Trejo.

As Leonora’s absence lengthens, Maite gets back in touch with Rubén, who tells her that he and Leonora were part of the same left-wing art organization, Asterisk. Rubén contacted the leader of Asterisk, Jackie, who told him that Leonora had taken potentially incriminating photos of the Hawks. Maite learns that Emilio is part of the same organization and is in a relationship with Leonora. She tries to get in contact with Emilio via phone at her office the next day, but she is interrupted by a man named Mateo Anaya, a member of an intelligence agency, who questions her about her connections with radicals like Rubén and Leonora.

After being told by El Mago that El Gazpacho is no longer part of the Hawks, Elvis heads up a team consisting of El Güero and the Antelope to interrogate one of El Mago’s leads—a priest named Villareal. After being tortured, Villareal directs them to Asterisk and Jackie. El Mago tells Elvis to investigate Asterisk: He has a contact, a man named Justo, who can get him into the group. He also tells Elvis to look into Maite Jaramillo because of her connections to people around Leonora.

Maite eventually gets in contact with Emilio, who tells her that Leonora likely left Mexico City to meet up with a journalist named Lara, potentially because of the photos she’d taken. Maite leaves Emilio’s and meets up with Rubén. Not realizing that they are being tailed by Elvis, Maite and Rubén go to Asterisk’s headquarters, where they head to a private office and meet with Jackie. Rubén borrows Jackie’s gun and tells her that he and Maite are going to find Lara.

Following Justo’s guidance, Elvis follows Maite into the headquarters and goes to their primary meeting space. He’s joined by a few others—including Villareal, who immediately identifies him. Elvis tries to escape but is taken hostage by some people who burst out of a nearby office. One of these men, a Russian agent named Arkady, gets Elvis to reveal that he’s searching for Leonora. Elvis manages to escape, and he tells El Mago what happened. El Mago reveals that he knows the Hawks are being targeted by Anaya, a government intelligence agent. He gives Elvis information on another member of Asterisk, Sócrates, with instructions to interrogate him. During the interrogation, Elvis learns that Sócrates actually works for Anaya and is the mole in Asterisk. Because Sócrates cared for Leonora and knew she was in danger due to her photos, he created a code to be published in a newspaper to signal when it would be safe for her to come out of hiding. Elvis immediately publishes this code in order to draw her out.

Maite and Rubén meet up with Lara, who reveals that she did meet with Leonora; Leonora told Lara about her photos but ultimately didn’t trust Lara enough to share them. Lara also tells them that Leonora was driven by a man whom Rubén recognizes as Sócrates—which is odd because Sócrates never told Asterisk about this. Rubén and Maite go to see Sócrates but find that he’s been murdered. They rush back to Rubén’s place, and he receives a phone call from Leonora, contacting him because she received the code. A confused Rubén insists that she return to hiding. Maite, unhinged by all she’s seen, initiates sex with Rubén.

Elvis meets up with Justo again, who tells him that El Gazpacho has been found dead and he thinks El Mago is behind it. Elvis doesn’t believe this. Shortly thereafter, he’s attacked by Anaya and his men, who accuse him of having killed Sócrates, which Elvis vehemently denies. Elvis escapes and meets with El Mago, who tells him that Anaya is trying to destroy the Hawks for political gain; the conversation leaves Elvis wondering about his boss’s motives.

While having sex with Rubén, Maite knocks over the statue she stole from Leonora and discovers the film inside. They call Jackie to let her know they’re bringing it but don’t realize that their phones have been bugged by Anaya and that Elvis is following them. All of the groups converge on Asterisk, and a gunfight ensues. Elvis manages to hamper Anaya, giving Arkady just enough time to kill him. Arkady and Elvis see Maite being whisked away by Emilio; they follow him.

Emilio takes Maite to his house, promising they’ll be met by a journalist interested in publishing the photos. The journalist isn’t a journalist at all, but Leonora’s uncle, a former military operative. Emilio has been a traitor all along. Leonora’s uncle attacks Maite, and the film falls to the ground, opened, exposed, and ruined. Just as he’s about to kill Maite, two men burst into the room—Elvis and Anaya. Elvis recognizes the man about to murder Maite: It’s El Mago. Elvis now understands that El Mago never cared about the men under him and must have been behind the murders of El Gazpacho and Sócrates. He proceeds to kill his boss.

Maite visits Rubén, who is hospitalized for injuries sustained during the gunfight. Maite comes with flowers, hoping to begin a relationship after their sexual encounters, but Leonora comes in at the same time, and Rubén tells her that he’s resuming his relationship with Leonora. A disillusioned Maite leaves.

Later, Elvis, who is interested in Maite after weeks of stalking her, approaches her on a bus. He asks her out to coffee, and Maite hesitates. She gets off the bus before her stop and looks at the café where Elvis is waiting for her.