Havana Heat: A Lupe Solano Mystery [Hardcover]

Carolina Garcia-aguilera (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 19, 2000

Feisty, fiery Cuban-American p.i. Lupe Solano knows her way in and out of every tight corner of her tropical Miami home -- from the opulent watering holes of Miami Beach to the colorful back streets of Little Havana to seedy, dangerous dives no self-respecting individual would be caught dead in. But now things are about to get hotter for Lupe than they have ever gotten before.

Havana Heat

Poured into her tightest dress, and balancing on her highest heels, Lupe merely wants to make the best impression possible at the wedding of her niece to a scion of the ultra-wealthy Miranda family. But she finds it impossible to leave her business back in the office when she is accosted by the groom's overbearing Aunt Lucia, and tantalized by an incredible tale of a lost, five centuries-old masterpiece -- the legendary Eighth Unicorn Tapestry -- that the rich tia claims is locked away in a secret underground vault beneath the family home. The only trouble is, the mansion in question is back in Havana. And Aunt Lucia has decided that Lupe should be the one to finally return the tapestry to its rightful owners.

Besides the large potential payday, Lupe Solano has her own personal reasons -- not necessarily good ones -- for agreeing to transform herself from a less-than-typical Florida investigator into a brazen art smuggler. But before she sets off on a trail that will lead Lupe across the treacherous Florida straits into the heart of Havana, a rather shady business contact turns up dead in his bed, strangled with a pair of pantyhose. After a second murder occurs, Lupe's ready to start looking for connections between the two local homicides and her covert art-rescue mission. Because it's beginning to look as if her life depends upon her making them.

Once again, acclaimed author Carolina Garcia-Aguilera has captured the heart and soul of Miami's Cuban-American community in her fiction. Readers who have already enjoyed her previous novels will cheer the return of Lupe Solano, investigator without peer, in her most exciting, surprising, and colorful adventure to date. For those new to the series, Havana Heat is the ideal place to discover the intrepid investigator whom critics across the nation have placed among mystery's "freshest," "most interesting," "most formidable protagonists."

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Lupe Solano is a sexy, scrappy Miami PI whose social status as a daughter of the Cuban-exile aristocracy opens a lot of doors in South Florida. What's behind those doors in Havana Heat include family secrets, tangled political alliances, and the rumored (but undiscovered) final tapestry in the Unicorn series, the Flemish masterpieces bought from a French aristocrat by John D. Rockefeller and given by him to New York's Cloisters Museum, where they draw thousands of admirers annually.

A lavish wedding uniting two members of Cuban-American royalty sets the scene for the secret assignment pressed on Lupe by Lucia Miranda, whose ancestor sailed with Christopher Columbus, got off the boat in Cuba after the last voyage, and supposedly kept his captain's gift from Queen Isabella--the eighth Unicorn tapestry. Lucia wants Lupe to retrieve the tapestry from its hiding place in Havana and smuggle it back to Miami. Since Lupe's already made a specialty of reuniting the stolen or confiscated work of Cuban artists with the rightful owners, and the Unicorn tapestries have a special place in her heart, she agrees to the proposition--much to the dismay of her boyfriend, a sexy Cuban activist lawyer. But there's a backup boy toy waiting in the wings who offers Lupe another job that dovetails neatly with the Unicorn hunt and points her to Havana in her father's luxurious Hatteras yacht.

There's enough suspense here to fuel an interesting plot, along with the allure of a closed society whose rituals and mores are exotic and largely unknown to many readers, and a heroine whose combination of sass, smarts and style make her consistently fun to hang out with. You could do a lot worse than curl up with Lupe until Sue Grafton pens another in her alphabet series. --Jane Adams

From Publishers Weekly

Stylish Cuban-American private eye Lupe Solano returns for her fifth exotic and suspenseful outing, after last year's A Miracle in Paradise. Attending a niece's wedding along with her current flame, attorney Alvaro Mendoza, Lupe is approached by Lucia Miranda, a member of the groom's high-powered and socially prominent family. Lucia has a dangerous task she hopes Lupe will undertake. Centuries ago, Christopher Columbus entrusted a medieval tapestry, a gift from Spain's Queen Isabella, into the safekeeping of his friend and shipmate, Rogelio Miranda, Lucia's ancestor. This prize is none other than the missing eighth tapestry of the famous Hunt of the Unicorn series hanging in the Cloisters in New York City. Lucia wants Lupe to retrieve the tapestry from its hiding place, deep beneath the Miranda family home in Havana, and bring it to Miami so that the dying clan matriarch can view it one last time. Intersecting this case is that of Angel Estrada, an art dealer with questionable ethics, who wants Lupe's help in smuggling art out of Cuba. Estrada's murder puts Lupe on the trail of a dangerous killer. Her quest for the tapestry takes her to Cuba, but not until she returns to Miami does she uncover the complete truth of both cases. Lupe Solano is an enjoyably hedonistic sleuth, and Garc!a-Agu!lera's chatty, congenial style will beguile readers for several pleasing hours and leave them looking forward to Lupe's next foray into Miami vice.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 368 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow; 1st edition (September 19, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 038097780X
• ISBN-13: 978-0380977802
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.9 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,451,603 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This ethnic mystery series just keeps getting better, September 24, 2000

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Havana Heat: A Lupe Solano Mystery (Hardcover)

Cuban-American private investigator Lupe Solano cannot stand attending the society wedding even if her cousin is the bride. However, the boring reception picks up when the groom,'s Aunt Lucia declares that an eighth Unicorn Tapestry exists in Havana. Lupe knows that the Upper Manhattan Cloisters Museum houses the seven known tapestries, but the possibility of another one is intriguing except for a trip back to Cuba to obtain the priceless item.

As Lupe mulls over the wisdom of a clandestine visit to Havana, sleazy art dealer Angel Estrada tries to hire Lupe to also go to Cuba to smuggle out paintings by his sister. Finally, her former lover attorney Tommy McDonald wants Lupe to look into the ownership of an apparently stolen painting. When murder enters the fray, Lupe realizes Havana may be her only chance of not becoming the next victim.

HAVANA HEAT, the fifth Lupe Solano mystery, is an exciting tale that provides focus on the Cuban-American population. The story line includes three cases that keep Lupe hopping non-stop. Lupe retains her freshness and the support cast propels the tale forward, provides humor to the plot and adds insight into the lead character. Carolina Garcia-Aguilera has written another strong ethnic mystery that showcases her ability to provide the audience with an engaging novel.

Harriet Klausner

13 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Enough Already, October 19, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Havana Heat: A Lupe Solano Mystery (Lupe Solano Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)

I continue to read this series since I live in Miami and love reading novels that take place here. However, each time I read one of this author's Lupe Solano books, I find myself asking why.

OK, we get that Lupe is Cuban. But why does every book have to revolve so totally around this fact? I don't recall any other mystery series where the main character's background or heritage is so prominently featured in every single story. There are plenty of other aspects to Miami which could be incorporated into these books...every breath Lupe draws, every step she takes, every time she goes to the bathroom, does *not* have to revolve around Cuba, or the history of Cuba, or thoughts of Cuba, for the book to be worth reading. Maybe the author should take a few hints from Edna Buchanan or Barbara Parker, who manage to instill a Cuban flavor in their Miami novels while not making you feel you're having it shoved down your throat with every page you turn.

I've been around Cuban "society" for many years, and the author goes overboard with it, making her characters come across as snooty, stuffy and unbearable...and not at all real. The Mercedes, the Hattaras, the Armani suits, the ostentatious house...enough already. Lupe is well-off, we get that. We don't need to be hit over the head with it in every paragraph.

I feel that Ms. Aguilera-Garcia uses these books as a springboard for her own political agendas and personal feelings on Cuba and being Cuban. If that's what she wishes to do, that's fine. But these books should be promoted that way, rather than as mysteries. Because in reality, that's all they really are -- a chance for the author to hop up on her Cuban bandwagon and sing a very repetitious tune.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A detective thriller with Cuban-American spice, July 30, 2003

By 

Michael J. Mazza - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Havana Heat: A Lupe Solano Mystery (Lupe Solano Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)

"Havana Heat," by Carolina Garcia-Aguilera, is a detective thriller featuring Miami-based private investigator Lupe Solano. She is a Cuban-American woman in her 30s. She's tough, resourceful, daring, and sometimes a little lusty. The author bio inside the back cover notes that Garcia-Aguilera was born in Cuba, and like her heroine worked as a licensed private detective in Miami.

In this story Lupe becomes involved in two cases involving valuable works of art. Along the way she faces personal danger, deceit and murder. This is a fast-moving, colorful, and sometimes funny tale. The international intrigue and adventure often give the book a sort of James Bond feel--in fact, I could imagine agent 007 finding a worthy partner in Lupe if one of his assignments ever brought him to Miami.

The author does a particularly effective job in illuminating the practical, nuts-and-bolts aspects of Lupe's detective technique. The book is not only an exciting detective thriller--it also is very much about Cuban-American history, politics, and identity. As an "ethnic" American detective, Lupe could be seen as sort of a soul sister to Harry Kemelman's Rabbi Small. But whether you look at this book as a straightforward mystery or as part of the tradition of ethnic American literature, I think that "Havana Heat" is a winner.