Havana red - Leonardo Padura

The first of the Havana quartet featuring Inspector Mario Conde, a tropical Marlowe. A young transvestite in a red evening dress is found strangled in Havana Park. Conde's investigation reveals the dark world of those born in the revolution who live without dreaming of exile and seek their identity in the midst of disaster. In a country plagued by corruption and economic breakdown everyone wears a mask to survive. A magnificent novel. An author haunted by the tragic story and the passion and emotion of his characters' - Magazine Litteraire'