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Published Feb 2024
352 pages
Genre: Mysteries
Publication Information
A Cuban American woman searches for her long-lost mother and fights to restore a beautiful but crumbling Art Deco home in the heart of Havana in this moving, immersive new mystery, perfect for fans of Of Women and Salt.
Newly widowed baker Mercedes Spivey flies from Miami to her native Cuba in 2019 to care for her ailing paternal grandmother. Mercedes's life has been shaped by loss, beginning with the mysterious unsolved disappearance of her mother when Mercedes was a little girl. Returning to Cuba revives Mercedes's hopes of finding her mother as she attempts to piece together the few scraps of information she has. Could her mother still be alive?
Thirty-three years earlier, in 1986, an American college student with endless political optimism falls deliriously in love with a handsome Cuban soldier while on a spontaneous visit to the island. She decides to stay permanently, but soon discovers that nothing is as it seems in Havana.
The two women's stories proceed in parallel as Mercedes gets closer to the truth about her mother, uncovering shocking family secrets in the process...
"[B]ighearted...Armchair travelers will savor Dovalpage's detailed depiction of Cuba, and the heartbreaking ending will stay with readers long after they turn the last page. Dovalpage delivers the goods." —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"All can enjoy the fine writing, along with finally learning what happened to Mercedes' parents." —Booklist
"Interest in the past supersedes interest in the present until the ending inevitably wraps things up the only way possible." —Kirkus Reviews
"A page-turning, character-driven mystery that weaves back and forth between time and space, mother and daughter, truths and lies. Dovalpage grounds you in Cuba, both past and present, immersing readers in a heart-wrenching family drama that will keep you riveted until the end. I couldn't put it down!" —Mia P. Manansala, author of the Agatha, Anthony, and Macavity Award–winning Arsenic and Adobo
"With this powerful, heart-wrenching mystery that is steeped in the emotional and literal space between Miami and Cuba, Dovalpage crafts a generational story that will engage mystery lovers but also builds a character-driven family drama that explores the spaces between our living family and those we thought lost. An unforgettable ride." —Alex Segura, bestselling author of Secret Identity
"Dovalpage expertly weaves a tale of family secrets, idealism, motherhood, and patria. Last Seen in Havana was captivating to the very end—tropical gothic with the perfect blend of sun, secrets, and supernatural." —Raquel V. Reyes, author of the Caribbean Kitchen Mystery series
This information about Last Seen in Havana was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Writer, translator and college professor, Teresa Dovalpage is a Cuban transplant firmly rooted in New Mexico. She is the author of three short story collections, four plays, and twelve novels—including the Havana Mystery series. She lives with her husband, one dog and too many barn cats.
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