Cuba Straits

May 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.

January 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.

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