Cuba Straits (Doc Ford Series #22)

by Randy Wayne White Narrated by George Guidall

Overview

The remarkable new novel in the Doc Ford series by New York Times-bestselling author Randy Wayne White.
*
Doc Ford's old friend, General Juan Garcia, has gone into the lucrative business of smuggling Cuban baseball players into the U.S. He is also feasting on profits made by buying historical treasures for pennies on the dollar. He prefers what dealers call HPC items-high-profile collectibles-but when he manages to obtain a collection of letters written by Fidel Castro between 1960-62 to a secret girlfriend, it's not a matter of money anymore. Garcia has stumbled way out of his depth.

First Garcia disappears, and then the man to whom he sold the letters. When Doc Ford begins to investigate, he soon becomes convinced that those letters contain a secret that someone, or some powerful agency, cannot allow to be made public.

A lot happened between Cuba and the United States from 1960-62. Many men died. A few more will hardly be noticed.

Editorial Reviews

JUNE 2015 - AudioFile

Veteran narrator George Guidall is at the top of his game in this slickly written, slightly kooky crime story, the 22nd in the Doc Ford crime series. Guidall, who has narrated previous Doc Ford thrillers, is an ideal fit, partially because of his dry tone and excellent timing and partially due to his mastery of Spanish inflections. There's a lot going on here as Ford and his simpatico sidekick, Tomlinson, travel from the Gulf Coast to Cuba to fight off ex-KGB agents and Santeria priests. At the same time, they must unravel some historical riddles: Did the Russians know about Lee Harvey Oswald? Where did Hemingway do his fishing? Was Fidel Castro really a crummy ball player? Like the other works in this series, the audiobook is rewarding as much for its plot and pacing as for its Gulf Coast and marine details. R.W.S. © AudioFile 2015, Portland, Maine

Publishers Weekly - Audio

05/25/2015
White’s popular series hero, Florida-based marine biologist Marion “Doc” Ford, is drawn into his 22nd adventure by General Juan Rivera, a larcenous “frenemy” who smuggles Cuban baseball players into the U.S. when he isn’t wheeling and dealing in valuable artifacts. His latest human import, a dim-witted shortstop named Figueroa Casanova, has gone astray with a briefcase full of love letters penned by Fidel Castro in the 1950s and early ’60s. When Doc learns that the briefcase contains not only a young rebel’s billet-doux but something more significant, which homicidal Russian KGB agents desperately covet, he’s compelled to head to Cuba to find Tomlinson and warn him. Serious danger and slapstick humor await. Reader Guidall’s avuncular growl is a perfect fit for Doc, who’s beginning to express middle-age musings of self-doubt. The Cubans, notably the general and Figueroa, as well as the Russians, natter in acceptably accented English. And as an added plus, Guidall expresses convincing enthusiasm while delivering White’s loving descriptions of Florida’s flora and sea fauna, as well as the fascinating bits of local history that give this series its gravitas. A Putnam hardcover. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly

01/19/2015
Present-day Cuba is the setting of bestseller White’s timely 22nd Doc Ford thriller (after 2014’s Bone Deep). The former dictator of Masagua, “a tiny country that exported bananas and revolution,” turns to Ford for help after he temporarily “loses” Figueroa Casanova, a Cuban baseball player he smuggled into the U.S. Casanova wandered off from his St. Petersburg, Fla., motel, carrying a briefcase full of letters written by Fidel Castro to the dictator’s mistress from 1953 to 1963. Ford’s unpredictable sidekick, Tomlinson, manages to locate Casanova and decides to return him and the Castro letters to Cuba. When Ford learns that a Russian spy, among others, is after the letters, he heads to Cuba to find Tomlinson. More than one distraction diverts Ford from his mission, including investigating the legend that three American ballplayers buried their new motorcycles in Cuba the day Castro took power. White smoothly combines history, action, and colorful characters into a savory concoction easily devoured in a single sitting. Agent: Esther Newberg, ICM. (Mar.)

From the Publisher

Praise for Randy Wayne White’s Cuba Straits

“White shows a new side to his talent [in Cuba Straits], combining familiar themes and much-loved characters with a real flair for madcap adventure.” —Booklist (starred review)
 
“White smoothly combines history, action, and colorful characters into a savory concoction easily devoured in a single sitting.” —Publishers Weekly
 
“A trove of revealing private documents, rumors concerning a political assassination, a trip to Cuba—it’s either today’s newspaper or Dr. Marion Ford’s 22nd adventure. . . . Cuba provides the perfect setting. . . . The next few months’ headlines will determine whether his view of contemporary Cuba is remarkably prophetic.” —Kirkus Reviews
 
“Baseball, fishing, sharp dialogue, and an action-packed story. Pour a mojito, think of a place where people clap ‘just because the sun goes down,’ and read this.” —Cleveland Plain Dealer
 
“Intriguing settings, colorful characters, and eye-opening geopolitical dramas. When you mix everything together, you have a ready-to-serve and highly recommended first-class adventure.” —Mystery Scene
 
“White’s storytelling at its best…a rip-roaring plot filled with baseball, history, lost treasure, and, just for good measure, a love triangle—all wrapped in politics.” —South Florida Sun-Sentinel
 
“The master has knocked one out of the park.” —The Florida Times-Union

Library Journal

10/15/2014
Bad news for Doc Ford. His old friend Gen. Juan Garcia, who now specializes in selling high-profile collectibles, has vanished after selling a cache of letters Fidel Castro wrote to a secret girlfriend in the early Sixties. And the buyer can't be found, either. What was in those letters?

JUNE 2015 - AudioFile

Veteran narrator George Guidall is at the top of his game in this slickly written, slightly kooky crime story, the 22nd in the Doc Ford crime series. Guidall, who has narrated previous Doc Ford thrillers, is an ideal fit, partially because of his dry tone and excellent timing and partially due to his mastery of Spanish inflections. There's a lot going on here as Ford and his simpatico sidekick, Tomlinson, travel from the Gulf Coast to Cuba to fight off ex-KGB agents and Santeria priests. At the same time, they must unravel some historical riddles: Did the Russians know about Lee Harvey Oswald? Where did Hemingway do his fishing? Was Fidel Castro really a crummy ball player? Like the other works in this series, the audiobook is rewarding as much for its plot and pacing as for its Gulf Coast and marine details. R.W.S. © AudioFile 2015, Portland, Maine

Kirkus Reviews

2015-01-07
A trove of revealing private documents, rumors concerning a political assassination, a trip to Cuba—it's either today's newspaper or Dr. Marion Ford's 22nd adventure.Even before the embargo is lifted, it's not all that hard to get Americans to travel to Cuba. Just ask Doc Ford, who agrees to go there to hunt for a missing shortstop and the briefcase he took from Ford's old frenemy Gen. Juan Simón Rivera. Doc's willing to chase after Figueroa Casanova even though he knows he's involved in something illegal—Rivera's long-running business smuggling Cuban ballplayers into the U.S.—partly because the trip offers the possibility of spotting one of the Pacific Ridley turtles native to the island. And the search is quickly successful, more or less. Ford and Sighurdhr Tomlinson find Casanova early on, but the two old friends get separated shortly thereafter, Tomlinson ending up with Figgy, Ford with the briefcase, which turns out to contain hundreds of personal letters Fidel and Raul Castro wrote to the same woman over a pivotal period in Cuba's turbulent history. Will the truth about the 1959 revolution, the Bay of Pigs invasion and the killing of JFK come to light? Not if sadistic Santeria priest Vernum Quick and his Russian handler, Anatol Kostikov, have anything to say about it. Luckily, Ford finds an unexpected ally in Sabina Estéban, whose mother sent her and her sister, Maribel, on a boat to Florida after Maribel, 13, witnessed a murder and worse. Sabina may be only 10, but she's the most resourceful little spitfire you can imagine. Cuba provides the perfect setting for White's recent fondness for episodic, hallucinatory quests (Bone Deep, 2014). The next few months' headlines will determine whether his view of contemporary Cuba is remarkably prophetic or yesterday's news.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940169437355
Publisher:	Penguin Random House
Publication date:	03/24/2015
Series:	Doc Ford Series , #22
Edition description:	Unabridged

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Excerpted from "Cuba Straits"
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Copyright © 2016 Randy Wayne White.
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