"A magnificent novel. Haunted by the tragic story and passion of its
characters."--Magazine Littéraire
The first of the Havana quartet featuring Inspector Mario Conde, a
tropical Marlowe. A young transvestite in a beautiful red dress is found
strangled in a Havana park. Conde's investigation into a violent murder
exposes a stifling, corrupt society, a Cuban reality where nothing is
what it seems. A dark and fascinating world of men and women born in the
revolution who live without dreaming of exile and seek their identity in
the midst of disaster.
Leonardo Padura lives in Cuba. He is a novelist, essayist,
journalist and scriptwriter. Havana Red has won numerous literary
prizes, including the Hammett prize in Spain.