Havana Blue (Mario Conde Mystery 3) (Mario Conde Investigates)

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The round frames are sculpted from thick acetate and minimally detailed with the collection’s signature Talisman emblem – symbolising freedom and a sense of wanderlust. Police lieutenant Mario Conde, known as the Count, investigates the disappearance of an up-and-coming government trade official, who also happens to be an old classmate, married to Tamara, a girl Conde and his friends fantasized about back in high school. Rafael disappears and the questioning of those who knew him - which takes up the bulk of the narrative - tells his story, illustrating different facets of him and of Cuba's recent history. A reader has to have a lot of tolerance for Mario's ruminations, which don't leave a lot of room for development of other characters who on the basis of the scant evidence seem very interesting, such as "China," the half-Chinese investigator who helps ferret out the financial corruption in this case.

The Gran Teatro de la Habana, built in the early twentieth century, is now home to the Cuban National Ballet. It doesn't dwell on politics but focuses on Conde's friendships and the unfulfilled promise of the Cuban revolution. Free Bets are paid as Bet Credits and are available for use upon settlement of bets to value of qualifying deposit. But then he finds the man is someone he was at school with who has done not only much better than him work-wise, but married Conde's long-ago love Tamara. Crumbling pastel-colored facades line its streets, parked vintage cars evoke times past, live music permeates the air.

Larger than average (4-5cm diameter) flowers appear for many months from early summer above the clumps of yellow-green foliage. These novels are about the transcendental life of the imagination as well as death and detection; it is this that makes them such distinctive reading. Published a decade ago but only recently translated into English these award-winning detective novels broke new ground in Cuba with their gritty and very real depictions of Havana life and their flawed protagonist, Lieutenant Mario Conde, revitalising a genre characterised previously by party line-toeing plots and detectives. Lieutenant Mario Conde, the hero of Havana Blue, the third of Leonardo Padura's Havana Quartet to be translated (by Peter Bush) into English, is charming, intelligent, usually fed up, often drunk. Boasting a bold, clean-lined silhouette, these sunglasses are created for a perfect fit under motorbike helmets.

We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others.This series offers crime thrillers with the twist of the detective (the melancholic Inspector Conde) needing to deal with the political intrigues of Communist Cuba. I'm off to Scandinavia soon (in my literary travels--actually I'm off to Barcelona in a month in more literal travel terms), but taking a side trip to Cuba first, by means of Leonardo Padura's Havana Blue (that's the title in English of the third of his quartet-plus-one of novels featuring detective Mario Conde, the Count). As Conde and his cohorts emerged through high school into adult life, Rafael with the Colgate smile got the girl and climbed up the greasy pole of his career. Conde and the city of Havana share star status, both lovingly portrayed, both fraying at the edges, both prone to depression, yet full of joy.