Havana Fever - (Mario Conde Investigates) by Leonardo Padura (Paperback)

About the Book

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

Book Synopsis

"The finest crime-fiction writer in the Spanish language..."--The London Times

"Full of atmosphere and descriptions to savour, this is as much a life-affirming tribute to Havana as a fine novel of death and detection."--The Independent

"Police work is not merely a vocation but a metaphor for a futile yearning to solve the island's deepest crimes and misdemeanours."--Times Literary Supplement

Mario Conde has retired from the police force and makes a living trading in antique books. Havana is now flooded with dollars, populated by pimps, prostitutes, drug dealers, and other hunters of the night. In the book collection of a rich Cuban who fled after the fall of Batista, Conde discovers an article about Violeta del Rio, a beautiful bolero singer of the 1950s who disappeared mysteriously. A murder soon follows. This is a crime story set in today's darker Cuba, but it is also an evocation of the Havana of Batista, the city of a hundred night clubs where the paths of Marlon Brando and Meyer Lansky crossed.

Probably Leonardo Padura's best book, Havana Fever is many things: a suspenseful crime novel, a cruel family saga, and an ode to literature and his beloved, ravaged island.

Review Quotes

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

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.

Leonardo Padura has just won the 2015 Princess of Asturias Literary prize for his life's work. This prize is said to be the Spanish Nobel Prize. Previous winners include Philip Roth, John Banville, Margaret Atwood, Amin Maalouf and Ismail Kadare. Padura is most famous for his Inspector Mario Conde novels, all published in English by Bitter Lemon Press.