Murder in Havana (Capital Crimes) [Mass Market Paperback]

Margaret Truman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 2002 | Series: Capital Crimes

Havana may be far from Washington, but DC power brokers are never far from Havana. Neither are danger, deception, and sudden death. That’s what draws Max Pauling there. As an ex-CIA, ex-State Department employee, he faces an uneventful early retirement–until he is asked to secretly fly some medical supplies into the mysterious Cuban city.

If Max is looking for excitement, he finds it. First there’s his contact, a breathtaking beauty with private plans of her own. Then there’s a former senator, in Havana to ease the U.S. embargo, but who may have another, more malevolent, mission. Throw in endless supplies of under-the-table money– not to mention a murder–and Max has landed in a place even more corrupt . . . and more compelling . . . than the U.S. capital itself.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In her 18th Capital Crimes mystery, Truman relegates frequent star Mackensie to a supporting role as ex-CIA agent Max Pauling (featured in Murder in Foggy Bottom) takes center stage. Washington, D.C., also plays a supporting role, as Havana, Cuba, becomes the focus and capital crime site of this pedestrian spy-story-cum-political diatribe. The status of Cuban-American relations, the rule of Castro and living conditions in Cuba replace the usual D.C. intrigues. The author indulges in a lot of Castro-bashing, reserving her praise only for the Cuban government's medical care and research that also is at the heart of Pauling's errand. Pauling, a maverick who has found profitable work as a freelance pilot, gets talked into a supposedly quick and easy job in Cuba. A German pharmaceutical company is trying to buy into Cuba's remarkably advanced cancer research. Pauling's job is to find proof that the German firm is acting as a front for an American company. In traditional spy novel fashion, just about everything that could go wrong does, and Pauling must use his wits, skills and luck to avoid the pitfalls caused by the dealings and double-dealings of various factions. Truman paints a bizarre picture of a Cuba where the people are poor, happy and healthy, and spy on one another with gusto while living in constant fear of Castro and his minions. The author's core fans will welcome this new outing, but she won't win new converts with this effort. Agent, Ted Chichak.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review

“[MARGARET TRUMAN IS] A FIRST-RATE MYSTERY WRITER.”
–Los Angeles Times Book Review

“Truman can write suspense with the best of them.”
–LARRY KING

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Fawcett (October 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0449006689
• ISBN-13: 978-0449006689
• Product Dimensions: 4.2 x 1 x 6.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #184,018 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Margaret Truman's Latest Connects Havana to the Beltway, October 3, 2001

By 

James E. Carroll (Cape Cod, Massachusetts, United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Murder in Havana (Capital Crimes) (Hardcover)

Having read every one of Margaret Truman's Capital Crimes Series, I was surprised with the title of her latest novel. But while the story focuses mostly on Castro's Cuba, there is plenty of inside the Beltway intrigue to satisfy her loyal readers. In typical Truman fashion, she weaves a tale of murder, espionage, diplomacy, politics and suspense that forces the reader to turn the pages in rapid succession. Ex-CIA agent Max Pauling finds himself embroiled in a plot in today's Cuba involving anticancer research, pharmaceutical giants, the USA embargo, the White House and anti-Castro supporters. Truman manages to introduce once more her favorite husband and wife team, Georgetown art gallery owner Annabelle Smith and George Washington University law professor MacKensie Smith, to move the story along. This latest Truman novel has plenty of action and suspense. It features locations in Cuba, DC, London and Germany. It does not disappoint. You won't put it down until you're finished.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Loyalty, March 10, 2007

By 

Mary E. Sibley (Carneys Point, NJ USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Murder in Havana (A Capital Crimes Novel, Large Print) (Hardcover)

Max Pauling, formerly of the CIA, has moved from Washington to New Mexico, but he is still a pilot of small planes. It seems that Cuba has first-rate medical research facilities. Max is hired to investigate, on behalf of Signal Labs, a probable situation of a German and American company combining to buy out the Cuban research on cancer drugs. The name of the other company is BTK Industries.

In Cuba Max has the realization he is being followed. The operative he contacts in Cuba may have her own agenda, or may be in the pay of someone else. It is 1995 and life in Cuba is difficult for reason of the imposition of trade sanctions by the United States.

Max Pauling is loyal to fault. In the past he was cited by the agency for remaining too long at a scene and perhaps jeopardizing the mission. In this instance he feels that the death of a German working for the other pharmaceutical company should be examined. Through a translation of a memo Pauling learns that the dead German suffered from the same vice of loyalty, really a sort of idealism.

Cuban doctors, loyal to Cuba and their research projects, do not want their research to be sold to the American company BFK and the German middlemen. More death and scapegoating of Max Pauling are part of the intricate plot. The return to New Mexico of the hero raises the point that he may be ready to leave the insanity of secrecy behind him to achieve a more orderly existence.

The theme of loyalty, misplaced and otherwise, sounds strongly throughout this book. Margaret Truman's rendering of the Washington scene makes everything seem believable.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Intrigue in Havana, April 5, 2002

By 

George Webster, Ph.D., (Orlando, FL USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

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This review is from: Murder in Havana (Capital Crimes) (Hardcover)

I like Margaret Truman's mysteries. They're a relief from serial killers, blood and gore, and spooky things. In Murder in Havana, we are quite a distance into the story before we have a murder, and you will quickly put your finger on the likely murderer, but that's fine. The fun of this book is in the hazardous trip that ex-CIA agent Max Pauling takes to Havana. His assignment is to find whether an American pharmaceutical company is secretly trying to circumvent American law to make a deal with Fidel Castro for a cancer treatment. Max knows that you can't trust anyone, and he certainly can't in this story. He is soon in great peril and has to run for his life. The tale is more of an adventure than a mystery, but it has a nice feel of life in Castro's Cuba, and it will keep you turning the pages.