Havana Twist

Thirty-something, Santa Cruz lawyer/sleuth Willa Jansson's lefty mother, June, who still lives in the radical '60s, went to Cuba with a group of senior peaceniks and failed to return with the rest of the group and nobody knows what happened to her Able to barely get by in Spanish, she goes to Cuba via Mexico, where she picks up Pesos to spend so she can get around the prohibition of spending U.S. Dollars, which the U.S. calls trading with the enemy. In Cuba she meets up with a couple Americans, who seem like spy types, but claim to be reporters, and then they disappear. She continues looking as discretely as possible, making friends with a local street urchin, enemies with a Chinese soldier and she finds herself at odds with different departments of the Cuban Police and she eventually gets tossed out of the country. Six months go by before some information finally comes to light about her mother, so she goes back with San Francisco Homicide Lieutenant Don Surgelato, an old flame she'd like to get together with again. Now Willa has to stay a jump ahead of both the Cuban and American governments and a ruthless killer as she desperately hunts for her mother in this high-stakes, nail-biting, heart-racing thriller. And what did happen to June? Ah, you'll have to read the book to find out.

Lia Matera's lawyer-sleuth, Willa Jansson, is one of my favorite characters in contemporary fiction because she's intelligent, has a unique moral center, and can be counted on to offer the clever aside that puts everything in perspective. And in HAVANA TWIST, she finds herself in a situation that shows off all her best qualities. I've read every one of Matera's books and love them all. An adventure with Willa Jansson always opens the world for me and introduces me to situations or places or ways of thinking that I hadn't known about before. Matera's a brilliant writer who can paint a culture like Castro's sad and much-diminished Cuba so vividly I can see the ruined houses, the streets and markets, the workers who toil there. When Willa's socialist-activist mother fails to return from a trip to that island, Willa follows every shred of a clue and finds herself confronted with increasingly hostile reactions from local officials. Brave but not foolish, she doesn't give up her search, even after she's expelled from the country. I was engrossed in this book I didn't notice that afternoon had turned to evening while I was following Willa down twisty streets, across dusty roads, and into the heart of a story that compelled me to keep reading. I highly recommend this entertaining and thoughtful book from an intelligent and clever writer.

Willa Jansson is back in a mystery that is Lia Matera's best since 'Prior Convictions'. Havana Twist had me on the edge of my seat. Willa's mother, the original bleeding heart for socialism, disappears while on a tour of Cuba. Willa tries to retrace her footsteps and turns up a few clues that seem promising, but seem to lead no where. Months go by, and nothing pans out, until a Willa's former (much former!) love interest, Don Surgelato, SFPD lieutenant of homicide (and once on the receiving end of one of Willa's mother's very vocal, very public diatribes) picks up a tiny clue. The case escalates, Willa and Don eventually travel back to Cuba, only to return empty-handed. Fans of Matera's Willa Jansson series will love this quick-paced, dramatic story set against the backdrop of socialist Cuba. Like all of Matera's books, the novel is rich with political and social flavors, but without the world-weary cynicism of Matera's yuppie lawyer Laura DiPalma. Willa Jansson manages to maintain an innocent idealism, a belief in happy endings, even when all the evidence would indicate the ending has already come. Highly recommended, and if you've never read any of Matera's books, this is a great one to start with.

Most daughters would be angry at their mothers for nagging them about getting married or finding a better job, but not Willa Jansson. She would welcome such demands instead of being accused of selling out to the establishment by becoming a lawyer. June Jansson is to the left of Karl Marx. She is an activist who has been arrested so many times her family has lost count. When June and thirteen other women, working for the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, protest overseas, a humdrum Willa acts nonchalant. However, Willa becomes very concerned when her mother fails to return to the states with her companions. Willa flies to Cuba (via Mexico City) to find her mother, but there is no trace of June anywhere. The two reporters who promised to help her have also disappeared. Willa continues to poke her nose into places where she is definitely persona non grata until she is escorted out of the country by the Castro government. Six months pass until information finally surfaces about June. Willa and a friend risk their lives by entering Cuba in an effort to rescue her mother. HAVANA TWIST truly lives up to its name. The novel has so many plot twists and countless misdirections, most readers will not figure out what is going on even though all the clues are out in the open for all to see. Lia Matera brilliantly makes the clues seem like trivial tidbits rather than vital information. The examination of the socio-political situation in Cuba and the American policy towards that island country makes for authenticity and great reading. Ms. Matera demonstrates that she is an ingenious storyteller who can combine a first rate mystery with a political thriller into an entertaining package. Harriet Klausner