Havana Blue

by Leonardo Padura
adapted by Jennifer Howarth

The first story in Padura's much-loved detective series set in Havana. It's New Year's Day 1989 and Lieutenant Mario Conde wakes up with another terrible hangover and a case which is close to home - his schoolboy rival, now a party grandee, is missing.

Cast:
Mario Conde ..... Zubin Varla
Rangel ..... David Westhead
Manolo ..... Lanre Malaolu
Josefina ..... Lorna Gayle
Skinny ..... Ben Crowe
Tamara ..... Adjoa Andoh
Rene Maciques ..... David Acton
Zaida ..... Hannah Genesius
Zoilita ..... Bettrys Jones
Miki ..... Jude Akuwudike
Maria Antonia ..... Elaine Claxton
China ..... Jane Slavin
Neighbour ..... Ian Conningham
Minister ..... Michael Bertenshaw
Garcia ..... Sam Dale

Directed by Mary Peate

Leonardo Padura's series, published in English as the Havana Quartet, is set over the course of 1989 - starting with Havana Blue which opens on New Year's Day.

Leonardo Padura is a novelist and journalist who was born in 1955 in Havana where he still lives. He has published a number of short-story collections and literary essays but he is best known internationally for the Havana Quartet series, all featuring Inspector Mario Conde.

In 1998, Padura won the Hammett Prize from the International Association of Crime Writers and in; 2012, he was awarded the National Prize for Literature, Cuba's national literary award.