<DIV><p>Praise for <i>Havana Red</i>, the first of the Lt. Conde series:</p> <p>&ldquo;Another winner from Bitter Lemon&hellip;an innovative take on the traditional detective story. A macho cop whose investigation into the murder of a transvestite leads him to ruminate on his own attraction to this &lsquo;philosophy of mimetics and erasure.&rsquo;"&mdash;<i>The New York Times</i></p> <p>&ldquo;A scorching novel from a star of Cuban fiction. Conde&rsquo;s quest follows the basic rhythm of the whodunit, but Padura syncopates it with brilliant literary riffs on Cuban sex, society, religion, even food.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Independent</i></p> <p>The brutally mutilated body of Miguel Forcade is discovered washed up on a Havana beach. Head smashed in by a baseball bat, genitals cut off by a dull knife. Forcade was once responsible for the confiscation of art works from the bourgeoisie fleeing the revolution. Had he really returned from exile just to visit his ailing father?</p> <p>The novel evokes the disillusion of a generation, many of them veterans of the war in Angola, discovering the corruption of those who preceded them. Yet it is a eulogy of Cuba, its life of music, sex and the great friendships of the people who elected to stay and fight for survival.</p> <p><b>Leonardo Padura</b> was born in 1955 in Havana and lives in Cuba. He is a prize-winning novelist, essayist, journalist, and scriptwriter.</p></DIV>