title: Havana Black: A Lieutenant Mario Conde Mystery (Mario Conde Investigates)
author:  Leonardo Padura 
description: At the start of the well-plotted second volume of Padura's seething, steamy Havana Quartet (after 2005's <i>Havana Red</i>), Cuban detective Mario Conde (aka "the Count") is approaching the end of his police career and his 36th birthday with drunken abandon while also anticipating, almost welcoming, the arrival of a devastating hurricane. Fed up with the latest departmental purges, which have claimed his boss and mentor, Major Rangel, Conde resigns from the department only to be offered a challenge and a bargain by Rangel's newly appointed replacement. If he can solve the brutal murder of a highly placed Cuban defector within three days, Conde's resignation will be accepted without prejudice. Padura grounds his tale against a backdrop of governmental corruption, the broken promises of the Cuban revolution and the difficult relations between those Cubans who fled the Castro regime and those who stayed. This densely packed mystery's unusual locale should attract readers outside the genre. <i>(June)</i> <br />Copyright  Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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  **Leonardo Padura** was born in Havana in 1955 and lives there with his wife
  Lucía. A novelist, journalist, and critic, he is the author of several novels,
  one collection of essays and a volume of short stories. His _Havana_ series
  crime novels featuring the detective Mario Conde, published in English by
  Bitter Lemon Press, have been translated into many languages and have won
  literary prizes around the world. Padura’s recent novels, _The Man Who Loved
  Dogs_ and _Heretics_ , have cemented his position among the best authors in
  world literature. In _Grab a Snake by the Tail_ , Padura returns to his roots
  as a crime writer, taking his hero, Police Lieutenant Mario Conde, into the
  dark and dangerous streets of the Barrio Chino, Havana’s Chinatown.
  
  ALSO AVAILABLE  
  FROM BITTER LEMON PRESS  
  BY LEONARDO PADURA
  
   _The Man Who Loved Dogs_
  
   _Heretics_
  
   _Havana Red_
  
   _Havana Black_
  
   _Havana Blue_
  
   _Havana Gold_
  
   _Havana Fever_
  
   **GRAB A SNAKE BY THE TAIL**
  
  