Havana Highwire

by John Keyse-Walker

Overview

Introducing hardboiled PI Henry Gore, in this pitch-black noir novel set in 1950s revolutionary Cuba.

"Darkly atmospheric writing, an action-packed plot, plenty of suspense, and a sometimes-hapless hero caught between saving his own life and doing the right thing drive this outstanding, packs-a-punch thriller"- Booklist Starred Review

World-weary American Henry Gore was born in the cold Midwest. But a lucky connection - and a hundred peso bribe - scores him a license to operate as a private investigator in Havana, a place where he can finally get warm. Soon, he's trailing after cheating husbands to finance his permanent vacation in the land of sun, cigars and compliant se oritas.

But when he snaps the wrong man's photo at a fancy casino, he receives a fist in the face for his troubles - and a dark warning from the Mob. Private dicks are bad for business. If he carries on working, his license will be permanently revoked. Capisci?

No work means no money. No way to eat. No way to pay the rent. Desperate to make ends meet, Henry grabs an offer of work from Fulgencio Batista's military regime with both hands - setting in motion a chain of events with dark and deadly consequences.

With its rum-soaked, revolutionary Caribbean setting, dark humour, glamorous femme fatales and chilling twists, Havana Highwire is crime noir at its finest.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781448306909
Publisher:	Severn House
Publication date:	07/05/2022
Series:	A Cuban Noir Novel , #1
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	256
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

John Keyse-Walker practiced law for 30 years, representing business and individual clients, educational institutions and government entities. He is an avid salt- and freshwater angler, a tennis player, kayaker and an accomplished cook. He lives in Florida with his wife.

As well as Havana Highwire, John is the author of the award-winning Teddy Creque mystery series.

John Keyse-Walker practiced law for 30 years, representing business and individual clients, educational institutions and government entities. He is an avid salt- and freshwater angler, a tennis player, kayaker and an accomplished cook. He lives in Ohio with his wife.

Sun, Sand, Murder, the first book in the Teddy Creque mystery series, won the Minotaur Books/Mystery Writers of America First Crime Novel Award.

Editorial Reviews

05/16/2022

Set in 1957, this winning series launch from Keyse-Walker (the Teddy Creque mysteries) introduces Henry Gore, an unlikely sleuth, whose college degree in English history landed him in “a kind of Air Force version of the FBI,” rather than on the battlefield during the Korean War. His training in counterespionage proves invaluable when he moves to Havana, Cuba, after his military discharge. Gore partners with local Ramón Mercado to launch a PI business, but clients are hard to come by. He runs afoul of a powerful Mafioso connected to the regime of Fulgencio Batista, who intervenes when Gore tries to get a compromising photo of a cheating husband for a suspicious wife. But Gore’s prospects rebound when he gets an offer too good to refuse from Senator Guillermo Bauza, the “Cuban government’s liaison to the Syndicate.” Bauza hires Gore to help thwart rebels seeking to topple Batista’s regime by posing as a gunrunner, concerned that official law-enforcement is too corrupt to be trusted. The assignment proves even more hazardous and complicated than Gore expected. Keyse-Walker captures the feel and power dynamics of pre-Castro Cuba. Readers will eagerly await the sequel. (July)

Publishers Weekly

A strong debut that vividly evokes its Caribbean locale

Booklist on Sun

Darkly atmospheric writing, an action-packed plot, plenty of suspense, and a sometimes-hapless hero caught between saving his own life and doing the right thing drive this outstanding, packs-a-punch thriller

Booklist Starred Review of Havana Highwire

A principled hero, solid details of police work and the practices of Palo Mayombe and Sateria, and lushly described settings permeated by unease and possible supernatural phenomena combine to distinguish this ambiguous, unusual mystery

Booklist on Palms

An intriguing look at island life with a likable hero whom readers will want to get to know better

Booklist on Beach

'Darkly atmospheric writing, an action-packed plot, plenty of suspense, and a sometimes-hapless hero caught between saving his own life and doing the right thing drive this outstanding, packs-a-punch thriller’  – Booklist Starred Review

‘A tropical treat like no other'  – Kirkus Reviews Starred Review

From the Publisher

2022-04-27
An American private investigator gets into plenty of trouble in 1950s Cuba.

After sending his Anegadan detective, Teddy Creque, back to the peaceful Virgin Islands, Keyse-Walker decides to hang around Havana awhile. But this time, the mission is more dangerous than retrieving Nanny Giles’ beloved boat, blown off course in a hurricane in Palms, Paradise, Poison (2022). His new series is set in brutal, corrupt Batista-era Cuba. His new detective is Henry Gore, born in Warsaw, Indiana, and fresh from a stint as the sole U.S. Army Office of Special Investigations investigator in Aroostook County, Maine. Henry wants nothing more than to live someplace warm where he can keep body and soul together by snapping photos of errant husbands cavorting with mistresses for wives back in the Midwest to use in securing fat divorce settlements. Unfortunately, the bouncer at the Capri teaches Henry that American husbands do not want their photos taken with their mistresses and that Cuban nightclub owners are willing to enforce those preferences with their fists when necessary. So he lets his local partner, Moncho Mercado, talk him into something even riskier: helping Col. Ernesto Blanco Rico of the Servicio de Inteligencia Militar infiltrate the Directorio Revolucionario, which is bent on bringing down the Batista regime. Twists follow double-crosses as Henry and his street-urchin sidekick, Benny, negotiate the nightmare that is midcentury Cuba. Teddy Creque fans be warned: This rough-and-tumble new series includes torture scenes that would be strictly off-limits in gentle Anegada.

Guess we aren’t in Indiana anymore.

Kirkus Reviews