From Bitter Lemon Press comes another translated noir masterpiece: HAVANA GOLD, the fourth in Leonardo Padura’s HAVANA QUARTET series featuring Mario Conde, a policeman who is just doing a job. It becomes quite apparent that Conde is a policeman is name only. He understands it’s a job that puts food on his table, but he’d much rather be writing or just drinking himself into a stupor, and his new case just adds to his never-ending grief.
The setting is Cuba in 1989 — a time when the glory of the country really has become a faded memory for most of its people. Padura has crafted a view of Havana that most people don’t see, in that Conde reflects upon the past glory and now deals with a city that has definitely passed its prime.
Conde is told to investigate a murder of a young woman who had a double life as a high school teacher and a whore who had a steady stream of boyfriends paying for her expenses. Some clues that point this way are the marijuana cigarettes left about her home, and the proof of her having had sex right before she was killed, be it forced or consensual. Throw in the fact that it might have been someone high up in the school system and that just adds to the pressure of this case. As soon as Conde makes any progress in his investigation, bureaucracy rears its head, even though it was clearly expressed to him that this case was a top priority.
The HAVANA QUARTET has received nothing but praise and this review only adds to it. It’s truly an original author who can craft a story that does not rely on cheap gimmicks, but focuses more on the characters themselves and what drives them, especially when they understand they are just there to perform a service and not upset the larger picture. Bitter Lemon needs to be thanked for translating this for our shores. —Bruce Grossman
Related posts:
- The Vengeance Man / Park Avenue Tramp / The Prettiest Girl I Ever Killed: A Trio of Gold Medals
- Dark Gold
- Crusader Gold
- BULLETS, BROADS, BLACKMAIL & BOMBS >> Gold Eagle Grab Bag
- The Blue Hammer
