LOS ANGELES (AP) — Diego Boneta had grown tired of Hollywood’s obsession with narco storylines for Latinos. The actor decided he would provide some new source material with his debut novel, out Thursday, a self-described “murder mystery, sexual thriller” set around a fictional business dynasty.

“As someone who’s from Mexico City, seeing all these stories that are Mexican stories, most of them have been about narcos or border crossing. And that is part of our culture. But that’s only this,” the actor said, gesturing to indicate it only makes up a small portion of Mexico. “So why don’t we show the other stuff?”

Boneta, best known for portraying Latin pop icon Luis Miguel in Netflix’s 2018 biopic series and co-starring in “Rock of Ages,” is now fighting against these stereotypical portrayals by unveiling his debut novel, “The Undoing of Alejandro Velasco.” The Amazon Crossing book is publishing in English and available in Spanish on digital and audio formats. It is also slated for a television adaptation.

“I feel weird calling myself an author. I feel like I’m a storyteller,” said Boneta, 34, who is also a producer and a musician. “It’s the most personal thing I’ve ever done, so it’s really close to my heart.”

The novel centers on a mysterious man named Julian Villareal, who sets out to solve the mystery behind his friend and tennis rival Alejandro’s sudden death but finds himself in a series of twists and turns thanks to the Velasco family’s wealth and business ties.

“It’s in the vein of ‘The Talented Mr. Ripley’ meets ‘Match Point,’ set in San Miguel de Allende, full of plot twists,” Boneta said.

Boneta says he wanted to set the novel in San Miguel de Allende to showcase a different side of Mexico to mainstream audiences. He grew up visiting family in the historic city and calls it the “Florence of Mexico.”

“I really wanted it to feel like it was coming from my heart. So, I had to write about things that I was really passionate about, and San Miguel is one of them,” he said. “It’s truly a magical town.”

Boneta did not plan on adding author to his list of attributes, until his sister and producing partner, Natalia González-Boneta, suggested that they create their own intellectual property. Boneta will star as Julian in the Amazon Studios MGM series adaptation, which is currently in development. The actor and his team developed the novel and the series in tandem, though they put a pause on the series during the 2023 Hollywood strikes. Boneta says that he crafted the character to challenge himself when bringing the story to the screen.

“I love transformative roles. I love the chameleon aspect of acting,” he said. “That’s what we tried to do with Julian and having the con man not be the introvert, but be like this like bon vivant guy. He’s so worldly and says he has so much money, but is he really who he says he is?”

Julian is a role Boneta dreamed about as a kid when he failed to see himself represented on screen. He still remembers growing up and wondering why Batman wasn’t someone who looked like his family members.

“To me, that’s the most powerful way of creating an exclusive environment,” he said. “If you’re like, ‘Oh, we’re doing the Latin Batman, and he’s gonna have a mariachi, sombrero and a lucha libre mask and maracas.’ I’m like, ‘Dude, I don’t wanna see that.’ I want the real Batman to happen to be a Latin guy. You don’t even have to make a thing out of it.”

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Throngs of dachshunds strut their stubby stuff in Hungary on Thursday as they tried to fetch a record for the country’s biggest ever single-breed dog walk.

Hundreds of dogs and their owners gathered at the Budapest City Park and walked in a long, noisy loop in the spring sun. The parade of pups was under the observation of the Hungarian Records Association, which was tasked with determining whether the canine cavalcade could be officially entered into the record books.

István Sebestyén, registrar and president of the association, said his organization would carefully tally the number of participating dogs — a challenge, he said, when so many hounds and humans were gathered in one place.

“We don’t usually take dachshunds on walks in droves, so this experiment has to correspond to our system of rules,” he said.

Dachshunds, a short, muscular breed with stubby legs, were first bred in Germany, and remain one of Hungary’s most popular dog breeds.

Also known as “wiener dogs” or “sausage dogs” for their long, low-slung bodies, they were initially bred for hunting badgers and other burrowing creatures. But their loyal, curious and playful nature has also made them popular as family pets.

In Munich, Germany in 1972, a rainbow-colored dachshund named Waldi became the first official mascot in the history of the Olympic Summer Games.

Last September, the German city of Regensburg set the current world record for the largest dachshund dog walk as hundreds of the breed paraded through the medieval town center.

While some counts from Regensburg put the number of dogs at 1,175, Guinness World Records could only confirm 897.

On Thursday, Lili Horváth and her 1-year-old dachshund Zabos participated in the walk in Budapest. She said her furry friend “has very deeply human qualities and is very loyal, he’s really a love bomb.”

Valeria Fábián, who was walking her dachshund Zsebi, saw it differently.

“Few people are capable of giving this kind of selflessness, because people don’t have as much love and self-sacrifice as a dog can give a human,” she said.

By the end of the record-seeking walk, the Hungarian Records Association determined that 500 dachshunds had been present — enough to set a Hungarian record, but still short of the Guinness mark set in Regensburg.

Organizers, undeterred, vowed to try again next year — giving them plenty of time to muster more mutts for another shot at the title.

TOKYO (AP) — Japan ‘s Imperial palace said Thursday that it has fired an employee for stealing cash totaling 3.6 million yen ($24,900) from Emperor Naruhito and his family over more than a year.

The Imperial Household Agency identified the suspect as an employee in their 20s who was one of about 80 attendants assigned to the palace or the agency building to serve daily needs of Naruhito and his family. The theft is an embarrassment for the royal household and its officials said it’s been unheard of in modern history.

The case surfaced in March during an internal investigation by the IHA that started in January when an assistant manager of the department noticed a discrepancy between the cash in the safe and the accounting book.

When an agency official detected the loss of 30,000 yen ($207) in late March, the suspect who just ended an overnight duty was asked about it and admitted stealing cash, citing financial difficulty, the agency said.

In all, the suspect admitted to stealing a total of 3.6 million yen in a number of occasions from November 2023 to late March this year, and later returned the money by mid-April, it said.

The money was part of 324 million yen ($2.24 million) annual budget allocated as living expenses for the emperor, his wife Masako, their daughter Princess Aiko and Naruhito’s parents — former Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko.

The IHA said it had filed a criminal complaint to the palace police and formally dismissed the employee. The assistant manager in his 40s, who initially noticed the cash irregularity in January, was given a one-month salary cut over his lax accounting management, the IHA said.

IHA chief Yasuhiko Nishimura said the theft by the employee as a public servant and a staff serving the Imperial family was “unthinkable” and “extremely regrettable,” and apologized to the emperor and his family, NHK public television reported.

He pledged to tighten discipline among the palace staff, according to media reports.