Grab a Snake by the Tail

May 1, 2019
Padura has a global reputation as a serious writer and the author of literary detective fiction, but don't be put off. His series featuring Havana Police Inspector Mario Conde is so free of pretension, his characters so interesting, and his prose so bouncy one can even forget there's murder going on. This one begins when alluring fellow-officer Patricia Chion tempts Mario into taking on a death investigation. The corpse has a finger missing and a crossed circle on his chest?clues, of course, but more enticing is the woman who goes to bed early because television is awful and "she prefers to dream." Here's one of Mario's dreams: a bar where they would serve him his favorite tipple automatically. The other involves Patricia, and it comes true in a seduction scene that manages to be at once hilarious and wonderfully steamy. How nice it is to watch a high-powered talent at work on a form that too often relies on flat-footed prose.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)