Twenty-four year old Lissette Delgado was beaten, raped, and then strangled with a towel. Marijuana is found in her apartment and her wardrobe is suspiciously beyond the means of a high school teacher. Lieutenant Conde is pressured by “the highest authority” to conclude this investigation quickly when chance leads him into the arms of a beautiful redhead, a saxophone player who shares his love for jazz and Japanese fighting fish.
This is a Havana of crumbling, grand buildings, secrets hidden behind faded doors and corruption. For an author living in Cuba, Padura is remarkably outspoken about the failings of Castro’s regime. Yet this is a eulogy of Cuba, its life of music, sex and the great friendships of those who elected to stay and fight for survival.
Author Information
Leonardo Padura was born in 1955 in Havana and lives in Cuba. He is a novelist, essayist, journalist and scriptwriter. Havana Black has been published in Cuba, Mexico, Spain, Portugal, Germany and France.
The Translator
Peter Bush is a critically acclaimed translator from Spanish, well known for his extensive work on Juan Goytisolo. He has recently completed translations of Daniel Chavarria, Nuria Amat and Pedro de Alarcón and of the Havana Quartet by Padura.
Other books in the series
Havana Black by Leonardo Padura
ISBN: 9781904738-187
Price: £9.99 and $14.95
Havana Red by Leonardo Padura
ISBN: 978-1904738-09-1
Price: £8.99 and $13.95
Havana Blue by Leonardo Padura
ISBN: PB 9781904738220
Price: £8.99 and $14.95
Havana Fever by Leonardo Padura
ISBN: 978-1904738-367
Price: £8.99 and $14.95
Praise for Havana Gold
'Conde is a fully realized character; it is away from the crime scene—in his post-coital loquaciousness, his shambolic quarrelling with lesser men and his drunken nights out with Skinny Carlos—that we best observe him, an inchoate, impassioned every man.' Times Literary Supplement
'A textured treat for those who like their detective fiction served long and lazy with a double shot of rum...' Financial Times
