Customer Reviews

Murder in Havana (Capital Crimes)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

The main problem with this book is its lack of "Cubanosity" in the way that the Cuban characters act and talk and behave - they are depicted as the way Truman imagines Cubans would act, and as a result, while the book delivers an adequate thriller plot, her placement of the action in Cuba, without much knowledge of Cuban culture and mannerisms, and social issues (such as racism) gives this book some pretty big holes. For example - Cubans refer to themselves as white or black or mulatto, etc. not as "Hispanics" and Truman consistently misuses this term as a racial delimiter (a very common American mistake) rather than a cultural amplifier. The book failed to make me believe that the story was actually set in Havana.

Here's a beach book that'll have you turning pages so fast you'll relish the light breeze. In the 18th installment of her Capital Crimes series, Truman brings Max Pauling back from a restless retirement. The fast-paced chase around Castro's island centers on a U.S. pharmaceutical company that might be using a German firm to get around the U.S. embargo. Pauling, an ex-CIA and ex-State Department hand, is almost "ex-ed out" as clues lead to a surprising Cuban drug research project.

This is her best book yet. A great read. first rate.

I guess I'm the only one who thought this was the worst in her Capitol crime series. Perhaps it was the subject matter, but the entire plot seemed contrived to me. I finished it, but I had trouble. I wish it had been a page burner for me, because I have loved and always look forward to each new book in this series.

I mistakenly thought that it was her writing that pundits panned, but upon more investigation, discovered it was her singing. Oh, well. I bought this book, ignorant of her Capital Crimes series. I began reading both for the story and for her style of writing. As is my wont, I wrote in the margins, for I frequently pass the books on to others who say they enjoy my notes as much as the text.

In my milieu, we notice, for one thing, any inordinately long sentences in each other's writing. Folks, on page 6, this lady gave us a 92-word sentence with twelve verbs: did, climbed, strapped, started, checked, ran, taxied, pushed, advanced, waited, released, bounced, and then changed the next two verbs to gerunds. After two shorter sentences, we read another 57 words before getting a breathing space.

But by page 8, she has thrown in a nice simile, "...generators hummed like large insects." And--redemption ahead?--a great alliterative passage with "stressing... stretching... smirking."

I realize writing "rules" can be variable, but why use a paragraph of inner thoughts in italics, and then insert, "he thought"?

I was keeping all the characters and places straight, and then she threw in Germany. I decided I'd had enough. There were too many other books I wanted to read to keep working on this one. I may be sorry.

My taste in mysteries is less intricate than Truman's world-wide intrigues. I'll stick with Harry Kemelman's Rabbi series and Joan Hess's Arly Hanks and Claire Malloy mysteries.

Margaret Truman's Capital Crime mysteries are a joy to read. She is a very entertaining writer. Having had a President of the United States as her father, her books are also very insightful---one wonders what things are true in her books and what is made up. This series takes place in Washington DC, a place she knows intimately. A fun read.

Truman knows how to surprise me with her books. I have read most of her work. This was another winner.