Leonardo Padura Books

RUSSIA UNDER STALIN, THE MEXICO OF FRIDA KAHLO, TROTSKY'S ASSASSINATION, AND CONTEMPORARY CUBA, ALL IN A PRIZE WINNING HISTORICAL NOVEL.

Cuban investigator Mario Conde pursues a mystery spanning centuries of occult history. He is asked to track down a stolen statue of the Virgen de Regla-a black Madonna. A quest that spans twenty-first century Havana as well as the distant past, as he delves as far back as the Crusades in an attempt to uncover the true provenance of the statue.

Havana, 2003, 14 since Mario Conde retired from the police force and much has changed in Cuba. He makes a living trading in antique books bought from families selling off their libraries in order to survive. In the house of Alcides de Montes de Oca, a rich Cuban who fled after the fall of Batista, Conde discovers an extraordinary book collection.

A brutally mutilated body is discovered washed up in the bay of Havana. The body of Miguel Forcade Mier, head smashed in by a baseball bat, genitals cut off by a dull knife. Forcade, once an official in the Cuban government responsible for the confiscation of the belongings of the bourgeoisie fleeing the revolution, was an exile in Miami.

"In 1939, the Saint Louis sails from Hamburg into Havana's port with hundreds of Jewish refugees seeking asylum from the Nazi regime. From the docks, nine-year-old Daniel Kaminsky watches as the passengers, including his mother, father, and sister, become embroiled in a fiasco of Cuban corruption. But the Kaminskys have a treasure that they hope will save them: a small Rembrandt portrait of Christ. Yet six days later the vessel is forced to leave the harbor with the family, bound for the horrors of Europe. The Kaminskys, along with their priceless heirloom, disappear. Nearly seven decades later, the Rembrandt reappears in an auction house in London, prompting Daniel's son to travel to Cuba to track down the story of his family's lost masterpiece"-- Provided by publisher

A classic detective story that explores the last years of Hemingway's life, evoking both Cuba and this giant of American letters with enormous skill and wit.

A young transvestite is found strangled in a Havana park. Mario Conde's first investigation into a young man's violent murder exposes the equally disturbing death of his beloved Cuba.

Lieutenant Mario Conde is asked to investigate the disappearance of Rafael Morin, a high-level business manager in the Cuban nomenklatura. He remembers Morin from their student days that Morin always got what he wanted, including Tamara the girl he was after. While pursuing the case, Conde confronts his lost love for Tamara and his dreams.

In this new crime title from Padura, Cuba's most celebrated living author, Police InspectorMario Conde investigates a murder in the Barrio Chino, the rundown Chinatown of Havana.

Raúl Caníbano is a Cuban photographer who captures the essence of his environment without claiming to represent "Cuban-ness." Born in 1961, he developed his unique aesthetic during Cuba's most challenging times. His work reflects deep human emotions and identities, showcasing authentic moments of life through his lens. Caníbano's photography reveals the complexity of human existence with simplicity and sensitivity.