Reply #1: how about day of the dead?

[msedano]

Black Widow's Wardrobe by Lucha Corpi, 1999 Arte Publico Press revolves around an apparition in San Francisco's DDLM (dia de los muertos) parade, and La Llorona. Here's a bit of review written by author Manuel Ramos at La Bloga:

Black Widow's Wardrobe is nothing less than a re-telling of the legend and myth of La Malinche, Cortez's mistress branded forever as a traitor. The use of La Malinche signals a deepening of the trend of the past several years to rewrite Malinche's story in order to overcome the inherent sexism and racism of that history. In Corpi's book, Malinche is the target of betrayal, not its purveyor, and she definitely is not her husband's victim. Corpi also flips the myth of La Llorona on its head. The ancient tale of the woman who murdered her children and was thus forced to cry forever along riverbanks, which has been used for centuries by mothers and grandmothers to instill good behavior in unruly children, gets a complete overhaul in Corpi's mystery novel. Under Corpi's pen, the children are the possible murderers of their mother and it is they who must suffer the consequences. ... This is a Chicana tale of discovery and reaffirmation, and a cultural reclamation project that just happens to have a detective as a protagonist.


http://labloga.blogspot.com/2005/09/la-malinche-to-curbstone.html

I've temporized enough. I cannot remember a NO Mardi Gras-set murder mystery.