Havana's Golden Night

There's nothing like pre-pub publicity to recharge the calcified batteries of a semi-retired writer. Recently, my publisher, Arte Público Press, sent me the announcement for my latest crime fiction caper, The Golden Havana Night:  A Sherlock Homie Adventure. Nice to know that this book really is going to happen.  This announcement will appear in Arte Público's fall catalog, among other places.  Here it is (hope it creates a bit of interest in your reading heart.)

Ex-con Gus Corral is at peace with his new life as a private investigator.  He's good at his job, even if he's mostly a delivery man or a "go-for" guy trying to expose -- or protect -- someone else's secrets.

An unexpected visit by Joaquín "Kino" Machaco, the Colorado Rockies' all star center fielder who defected from Cuba as a teen, disrupts his routine.  The famous ballplayer needs help:  His brother has a gambling problem and owes a lot of money to a Cuban criminal who's threatening their family.  He needs Gus to travel to the island with his brother to hand over a half a million dollars in cash.  Not only will Gus need to keep the money safe from the inveterate gambler, he'll have to convince the "entrepreneur" to leave Machaco's family alone after the payoff.

Gus' visions of relaxing on warm, beautiful beaches accompanied by Latin jazz and rum concoctions are immediately dashed.  A hail of bullets -- violence virtually unheard of in the autocratic nation -- leaves one dead and several wounded and leads to unforeseen ramifications that will come to a shocking, bloody conclusion in Denver.  Narrated by Gus Corral in his sardonic voice, The Golden Havana Night reveals a complicated, secretive island where nothing is really secret.

ISBN:  978-1-55885-867-1
September 30, 2018 - 235 pages

We don't have a cover yet; in the meantime I'm using this photo I took in Havana  I think it conveys some of the mood I tried to write about, plus it has cops, a mysterious loner, and a dangerous-looking woman.  And the golden night.

Later.

Manuel Ramos has three noir short stories in the literary pipeline: Night in Tunisia (Blood Business, Mario Acevedo and Joshua Viola, eds., Hex Publishing, 2017), Snake Farm (Culprits: The Heist Was Only the Beginning, Richard Brewer and Gary Phillips, eds., Polis Books, 2018), and Sitting Ducks (Blood and Gasoline, Mario Acevedo, ed., Hex Publishing, 2018). His next novel is scheduled for publication in September, 2018