Havana Blue (Mario Conde Investigates)

Anti-hero, Lieutenant Mario Conde of the Havana Police Department, known as "the Count," is suffering from a terrible New Year's Eve hangover. It is now New Year’s Day, 1989, and the Lieutenant thought he would have a long weekend free from work to recover. Wrong! Conde is sleeping it off when the phone rings loudly in his ear making the sound of a jackhammer sound like a lullaby. He is ordered, with urgency, to investigate the mysterious disappearance of Rafael Morin, chief of the Import and Export Company in the Ministry of Industry.The detective is given three days, max, to solve the case. Conde remembers Morin from their student days: "good-looking, brilliant, a reliable comrade who always got what he wanted," including Tamara, Morin's widow, and a girl Conde and his friends fantasized about back in high school. During the course of the investigation, the Lieut. discovers that Rafael Morin's rapid rise from a barrio kid to a wealthy businessman, (communist version - not that different from the capitalist version), holds at least one secret worthy of investigation. While pursuing the mystery in the decaying city of Havana, Conde confronts Tamara Morin. While working hard on this case, (3 days is not a long time), Conde has to deal with the girl of his dreams along with the dreams and the illusions of his youth.Rafael Morín considered “an immaculate trustworthy comrade” had been reported missing by his wife the day before. It is inconceivable that Morin would defect, after all, a man in his position, has the opportunity to travel outside of Cuba frequently and thus, no reason to try to sail to the US in a rickety boat. The Count and his assistant Sergeant Manuel Palacios set out to interview the likely people who had last seen Rafael. Set in Havana, the story deals, cynically, with the corruption, control and massive disparities in wealth that make up the country. Conde works to find the truth about his comrade of old, (now a hero), who may not be all he appeared to be. The books cuts back and forth between Conde’s memories of high school and the present as he tries to figure out if the too-good-to-be-true Rafael Morin is really the upright comrade everyone says he is.The rich characterizations and bittersweet remembrances of the good old days, 20 years before, play as great a role in the book as the investigation of a missing man...a very important missing man. Havana and Cuban politics are effectively woven into the story, as part of the atmosphere. Our protagonist is a bit of a loner who has a pet fish. The fish is probably all he can handle relationship-wise.Padura uses the elements of a police procedural to criticize the political and social structures of the society in which the action takes place. "Havana Blue," is the first of the Cuban author's "Four Seasons Quartet" set in Havana in 1989. ( the title is from the English edition). The 3 other books in the series are: "Havana Gold," "Havana Red," and "Havana Black." The translator, Peter Bush, does a remarkable job of bringing the flavors, sounds and people of Havana to life. In Padura’s quartet, the plot is of relatively minor importance, although it certainly kept my attention. The author uses the narrative to provide a portrait of Havana and its people under a totalitarian regime that only allows the most basic forms of freedom. The rich characterizations and bittersweet remembrances of old times, 20 years ago, play as great a role in the book as the investigation. Havana and Cuban politics are effectively woven into the story, as part of the atmosphere.I found "Havana Blue" hard to put down. It would make a terrific beach read.JANA

The narrative has a choppy quality that threw me at first. But then I decided the staccato rhythm of the story might be symbolic - of the disconnect between youthful dreams and reality, between public image and private truth...Lieutenant Mario Conde admires Hemingway (as does Padura). And like his idol, Mario is not living a healthy lifestyle. At age thirty-four, with two divorces behind him, he drinks too much rum and smokes two packs a day. He doesn't shave properly and dresses sloppily.He's a very good detective. But he's just been handed a case he hates. A brilliantly successful party cadre has disappeared - and it's a man Mario knows and despises. Rafael Morin Rodriguez sprung from Mario's barrio to become a leader of Cuban industry. Rafael married Tamara, the girl Mario loved in high school and could never have. Maybe Mario is just envious. Certainly he's sick of hearing everyone sing Rafael's praises, as he goes on interviews seeking a clue to the disappearance.I liked the Cuban ambience in this book. People call each other "comrade." Mario's boss has a romantic attachment to Havana cigars, which he smokes slowly and with orgasmic pleasure. And there's lots of male camaraderie and macho fascination with baseball. The male characters are obsessed with women, but it doesn't go much deeper than the appreciation of anatomy. This is not to say Mario has no heart. His heart is very evident in his relationships with old school friends.Mario's repartee with his boss, subordinates and pals is lots of fun. And the investigation is engaging. Padura has a wry sense of humor that alleviates the gritty quality of the narrative.Havana Blue appeared in 1991, first book in the Havana Quartet. I enjoyed all these novels, and recommend the whole series.

I appreciate the author has certain special strictures in writing a detective story set in the country where he lives. At the time these were written, the 1990s. things were especially tough in Cuba during the collapse of the subsidies from the Soviet Union so no doubt the author had to be circumspect. The fact that this novel, the first of three, was written by a Cuban resident and not a Cuban exile gives it a certain sterility and dry quality one can imagine. It seems quite true to life for all I know about Cuba but the protagonists are cops so they enjoy a special place in the world across the water.Lots of talk and not much action disappoints this seeker after geographical description and knowledge of life in Cuba, the mysterious isle. I am not inclined to finish the trilogy.

Great world weary protagonist solving crimes in the complex city that is Havana. An exhausted Cuba is ever presentVery good read

I read Havana Fever this summer and was dazzled by it. As a reviewer noted, this is the first book in the series. I will read all of them but wonder if I would if I'd read this first - it lacks the vivid descriptions and suspense of Fever. But the Count is the Count and he is irrestible..it's hard not to love a book that has a character named Juan Wong in it...

I watched the series (Four Seasons in Havana) on Netflix, which were terrific and true to the books. I just read Havana Blue, which I enjoyed, but was a bit disappointed with the translation from Spanish to English.

This was an enjoyable story with interesting descriptions of life in Cuba during the 90s and flashbacks to earlier times. Some of the dialogue is a bit awkward in translation to English, but that doesn't affect the flow of the story.

This is great writing, but not quite the intriguing story that Havana Red offered. Still, I am going to read all of the Havana series because Padura is such a marvelous writer and his main character, Conde, is so heroic in his search for truth.

Detective novels set in exotic places are best if written by a native of the place, like the inspector Chen series by Xiaolong. And like that series, the first of them, this one, is one of the best. Don't be confused by Amazon calling it "Mario Conde Mystery 3". It is quite important to read them in the right order. For the curious, and as the publishing dates given are often wrong, it is as follows: (1) Pasado Perfecto (Havana Blue) (1991); (2) Vientos de Cuaresma (Havana Gold) (1994); (3) Mascaras (Havana Red) (1997); (4) Paisaje de otono (Havana Black) (1998); (5) Adios Hemingway (same) (2001); (6) La neblina de ayer (Havana Fever) (2005); (7) La Cola de la serpiente (2011). One of the attractions of this novel is that the investigation forces detective Mario Conde into remembering a long period of his life in high school when he fell in love for the first time. The re-encounter with his object of desire in this novel is moving and unsentimental. The second novel of the series is in many ways a continuation of this one, he has another try at love, but, like all good Marlowe type detectives, will remain essentially a melancholy loner. There are some excellent descriptive passages in this book, and colourful characters, often unrelated to the plot, that lift it above the average detective genre. In any case, it is best to read them in the correct order.

This is a novel about Cuba. Indeed, Cuba might be said to be the main character. Padura's characters are the same age as him, approaching 40 in the 1990s, "a faceless, aimless, gutless generation."It is a detective novel of the hard-boiled school, and reviewers have compared the style to Raymond Chandler's; but Chandler was never so crude. In Carofiglio's The Past is a Foreign Country (which I read shortly before this) there was a character who "liked to swear. He probably thought it made him sound virile ... The effect was quite the opposite, but he would never know." I'm afraid the central character's language reminded me of this comment. This may have been at least partly because of the translation, which was stilted in parts and contained some strange figures of speech.Since the book is about Cuba, we have cigars, food, some music, rum and cheap wine, drinking and hangovers. The story concerns the disappearance of a businessman (actually, someone in a Government ministry, since this is Cuba). The disappeared man (Rafael), his wife, and Conde the detective all grew up together. 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.Interesting on Cuba, but not a great crime novel.

Very slow, no real trail of clues, disappointing. Good description of places and characters.

Nice storyline

A bit slow at the start, but picks up as it' goes along.This of course has a lot do with that " Havana Blue" is the first in the series,so it takes a little while before the players fall into characterBut never the less a good read.