To meet Ernest Hemingway in the pre-Castro Cuba of the fifties was my favorite part of Helms' private eye novel. The classic author is cleverly worked into the noir style mystery which is full of historical detail. Humor (beginning with the title on the cover!), shady characters, dangerous streets, beautiful women and a forbidden love entertain as you follow Miami PI Cormac Loame's adventure. A friend loaned me this book to introduce me to the author, and I'm glad she did. ( )

Miami private investigator Cormac Loame isn't at all thrilled with the idea of going to Cuba on a case. He has been there before, done that, and was rather lucky to get back home to Miami alive and in one piece. But, when Cecil “Madman” Hacker walked into his office just before the Christmas holidays while Cormac pushed paperwork and fantasized about buying a brand new 1958 Buick Roadmaster, he didn't have any really good way out. Hacker's fourteen year old daughter Lila has been taken by Danny McCarl. Danny was an employee of Madman and served as a sort of bodyguard. Hacker, who is a retired boxer with mounting troubles of his own, can’t very well go to Cuba right now and bring his daughter home. He wants Cormac to do it and does not care if McCarl does not make it back stateside alive. Cormac isn’t going to kill McCarl unless he absolutely has to and makes that clear before he takes the job and the money. After all, with Madman’s connections, he gets what he wants and you don’t tell the man no.

The last time Cormac was in Cuba it was in 1952 and he was lucky to do his business and get out of the country. Back then Batista was firmly in control and thanking his buddies in organized crime for their help by opening the island to anything they wanted to do. Now in late 57 the crime syndicate connected hotels have been built, organized crime is getting their share across all aspects of entertainment and vice, but Castro and the rebels are coming with a vengeance. State controlled radio says the government is winning the battle, but everyone knows reality is that now it is matter of time, maybe just a few days, before the rebels capture the capital city and the corrupt Batista government collapses. Against that backdrop, Cormac has to find the girl in a land that has never been that friendly to him where old alliances are dead or crumbled and powerful enemies are facing desperate times. The clock is ticking on the Batista government as well as on the case itself and survival goes to the luckiest.

Scheduled to be released next month The Mojito Coast quickly pulls the reader deep into the heavily conflicted world of Cormac Loame. A world where he can safely trust no one and where the past five years that he has been gone has changed many and hardened others. A world when he wants to get the girl and get out and is constantly dealing with new obstacles in his quest. A world where the fires of revolution fill the reader's senses while Cormac struggles to stay alive in this excellent thriller that blends together a special mix of mystery and adventure. Award winning author Richard Helms has crafted quite the book with The Mojito Coast and it is very much worth your time.

The Mojito Coast
Richard Helms
http://www.richardhelms.net/
Five Star Publishing (Gale, Cengage Learning)
http://www.gale.cengage.com/fivestar/
August 2013 (SCHEDULED RELEASE)
ISBN# 978-1-4328-2715-1
Hardback
236 Pages
$25.95

An ARC of this title was provided by the author in exchange for my objective review.

Kevin R. Tipple ©2013
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