A. Tony Mendoza

A. Tony Mendoza is the author of In Our Secret Life, a novel inspired by the 1985 theft of Willem de Kooning’s Woman-Ochre from the University of Arizona Museum of Art, and the painting’s discovery in 2017, hidden behind a bedroom door in a quiet New Mexico home. Tony studied the public record of the case: the theft, the decades of silence, the recovery. Then he did what the record never could. He imagined the marriage behind it, told in Rita’s voice.

For the past six years, Tony has been the primary caregiver for his father, Anastacio “Tacho” Mendoza Sr., the 1955 Texas State Golden Gloves champion, who lives with Alzheimer’s disease. That experience shaped Rita, whose memory is slipping away even as she fights to hold on to the story of her marriage. The novel is dedicated to his father.

Before turning to fiction, Tony built a multi-decade career as an entrepreneur, publisher and editor, beginning his business career at 19. As publisher and editor of the El Paso Business News, he focused on practical coverage for owners and startups: policy explained in plain terms, profiles that highlighted real operating lessons, and reporting that connected readers to resources. The U.S. Small Business Administration recognized him twice: as Young Entrepreneur of the Year in 1995, and as Small Business Media Advocate of the Year in 1996 for his work as the paper’s publisher and editor.

That background shapes how he writes: thorough research, verifiable detail, and a story that respects the history while exploring the questions it left unanswered.

When he isn’t writing, Tony plays poker, a game that, like his novel, turns on what people keep hidden.