Havana Fever (Mario Conde Series #6)

by Leonardo Padura, Peter Bush (Translator)

Overview

Scorching novel from a star of Cuban fiction. The return of Mario Conde.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781904738893
Publisher:	Bitter Lemon Press, Ltd
Publication date:	05/01/2009
Series:	Mario Conde Series , #6
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	285
File size:	400 KB

About the Author

Leonardo Padura was born in 1955 in Havana and lives in Cuba. He has published a number of novels, short story collections and literary essays but international fame came with the Havana Quartet, all featuring Inspector Mario Conde, of which Havana Blue is the third to be available in English Critically acclaimed translator known for extensive work on Juan Goytisolo. Also translated Daniel Chavarria and Pedro de Alarcon from Cuba.

Editorial Reviews

Part biblio-mystery, part tragedy and all brilliant, Padura's follow-up to his Havana Quartet (Havana Gold, etc.) finds Mario Conde 14 years after retiring from the police force pursuing books instead of criminals, acting as a book scout to earn enough for food and drink. His famed intuition leads him to a decrepit mansion, its old and odd inhabitants, and to the most impressive private library ever assembled in Cuba, untouched for 43 years. Stuck in between a book's pages, he discovers a 1960 magazine photo of a sultry singer, Violeta del Río, who disappeared in the 1950s. Conde's curiosity turns to obsession as he tries to unravel Violeta's sad fate. The trail takes Conde into the past when Batista ruled, revolution was near and gangsters like Meyer Lansky oversaw casinos, clubs and brothels. It will also take him into the most dangerous and terrible of Havana's barrios. The glory of Cuba's biblio-history drives this exceptional novel. (May)

Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Publishers Weekly

Ex-cop Mario Condo supports himself as a bookseller in Havana. When he finds a treasure trove of old valuable volumes in the mansion of a wealthy Cuban who had fled after the fall of Batista, an old newspaper clipping about a missing singer captures his fancy. Things turn ugly when the books' owner is murdered. Padura portrays the dark underbelly of today's Havana with insight and a deep sadness.

—Jo Ann Vicarel

Library Journal

Examples of previous Padura reviews: "Havana Black is a revelation. A lush, frank, captivating murder mystery."—Atlantic Monthly "A whodunit syncopated with brilliant riffs on Cuban sex, society, religion, even food."—The Independent "Well-plotted second volume of the seething, steaming Havana Quartet. . . . A densely packed mystery."—Publishers Weekly "The subterfuges adopted by people in everyday life, particularly in a climate of repression, captured perfectly in Padura's steamy, heat-soaked pages."—The Guardian

From the Publisher