Max Pauling, of Murder in Foggy Bottom, is coaxed out of a restless retirement by another "ex-" CIA colleague. The case that tempts him is one involving a large American pharmaceutical firm that may be using a German company as a front to get around the U.S. scientific and technical embargo of Cuba. What's at stake? An ex-senator, who heads up a drug company, is after big game: the surprising and stunning medical research being conducted by the Cubans to develop a more effective anticancer drug. Max, who is among other things a pilot, is assured that this will be a purely private assignment—no assassinations, no government to subvert, no informers to turnjust a few easy flights and a little time in the sun. Once in Havana, he makes contact with a ravishing Cuban-American woman who is to be his "translator." Soon, he finds himself hunted as an assassin in a place where murder is sanctioned for a greater good, or greater greed, and those caught in the crossfire are as quickly consumed as a frozen daiquiri.

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

“[A] superb collection . . . The 18 stories by current and former residents of Havana are gritty, heartbreaking and capture the city.” —Orlando Sentinel To most outsiders, Havana is a tropical sin city. Habaneros know that this is neither new nor particularly true. In the real Havana—the lawless Havana that never appears in the postcards or tourist guides—the concept of sin has been banished by the urgency of need. And need—aching and hungry—inevitably turns the human heart darker, feral, and criminal. In this Havana, crime, though officially vanquished by revolutionary decree, is both wistfully quotidian and personally vicious. In the stories of Havana Noir, current and former residents of the city—some international sensations such as Leonardo Padura, others exciting new voices like Yohamna Depestre—uncover crimes of violence and loveless sex, of mental cruelty and greed, of self-preservation and collective hysteria. Other authors include: Pablo Medina, Alex Abella, Arturo Arango, Lea Aschkenas, Moisés Asís, Arnaldo Correa, Mabel Cuesta, Michel Encinosa Fú, Mylene Fernández Pintado, Carolina García-Aguilera, Miguel Mejides, Achy Obejas, Oscar F. Ortíz, Ena Lucía Portela, Mariela Varona Roque, and Yoss. “[A] remarkable collection . . . gritty tales of deprivation, depravity, heroic perseverance, revolution and longing in a city mythical and widely misunderstood.” —The Miami Herald

A young transvestite found strangled in a Havana park. The stifling death of a beloved Cuba.

This is the first comprehensive history of the culturally diverse city, and the first to be co-authored by a Cuban and an American. Beginning with the founding of Havana in 1519, Cluster and Hernández explore the making of the city and its people through revolutions, art, economic development and the interplay of diverse societies. The authors bring together conflicting images of a city that melds cultures and influences to create an identity that is distinctly Cuban.

Scorching novel from a star of Cuban fiction. The fourth of the Havana Quartet series.

"A look at the U.S.-Cuban relationship seen through the story of a spy ring sent by Cuba in the early 1990s to infiltrate anti-Communist extremists in Miami."--