By Ela Stapley,
Change is afoot in Latin America. Drug lords are replacing dictators in modern-day literature. But with social inequality so marked and corruption widespread working out who the new bad guy is proves tricky. ![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=3eff8d3c-4101-425b-ad3d-388ea0773d52)
"Is the modernity of a city measured by the thunder of guns in its streets?" ponders agent Edgar " el Zurdo" Mendieta in the opening paragraph of Balas de Plata (Silver Bullets), a fast-moving detective novel, by Mexican writer Élmer Mendoza. Latin America is no stranger to the sound of gunfire. And violence associated with drug trafficking has marked not only Latin American society but also its literature creating a new type of novel, narco-literature; a genre proving popular with readers.