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"Kaminsky gets Russia right, and Cuba right, but best of all he gets his superb cop Rostnikov altogether right yet another time. Bravo!" —Ed McBainThe Soviet Union is dead, and Russian society has been fractured into a thousand pieces. Through those cracks seeps the first serial killer in the country's history, whose exploits send Moscow into a frenzy. As his colleagues hunt for the pipe-wielding maniac who's killed forty women so far, police inspector Porfiry Rostnikov must depart for show more Havana to avoid an international incident.
First, Rostnikov must confront his fear of flying—or more specifically, flying on Russian airplanes. Assuming he lands safely in Havana, this case will require the utmost diplomacy. A Russian politician is accused of murdering a young Cuban woman. Rostnikov's superiors want things wrapped up cleanly and quickly. Unfortunately, their man in Havana is about to discover there is nothing simple about this murder.
"In a style reminiscent of Martin Cruz Smith in Gorky Park, Kaminsky effectively transplants the police procedural to the fertile ground of 'democratic' Russia, where it blossoms anew . . . An excellent novel." —Booklist
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While some readers dislike that the two plots never intersected in Hard Currency, I didn't mind that. Both were excellent, suspenseful crime stories.
What did bother me was the minor errors in the Havana portion. The practitioners of the religion brought to Cuba by Yorubas are called "santeros," not "santerias." "Santeria" is the name of the religion. I was in La Floridita, a favorite watering hole of Hemingway's, in November 2000, and it didn't resemble the description in the book. It is my understanding that the bar -- basically, a shrine to Ernest Hemingway -- is unchanged from the 1940s. There were some other faulty descriptions of Havana, as well. It's as if Stuart M. Kaminsky's never been to Cuba but got muddled descriptions show more second-hand. It makes me wonder how true to life his Russia is. show less
What did bother me was the minor errors in the Havana portion. The practitioners of the religion brought to Cuba by Yorubas are called "santeros," not "santerias." "Santeria" is the name of the religion. I was in La Floridita, a favorite watering hole of Hemingway's, in November 2000, and it didn't resemble the description in the book. It is my understanding that the bar -- basically, a shrine to Ernest Hemingway -- is unchanged from the 1940s. There were some other faulty descriptions of Havana, as well. It's as if Stuart M. Kaminsky's never been to Cuba but got muddled descriptions show more second-hand. It makes me wonder how true to life his Russia is. show less
In this ninth book of the Rostnikov detective series we find The Washtub enroute to Cuba with Elena Timofeyeva, a new addition to the team. Their assignment is to confirm the guilt of a Russian citizen who has been accused of murder. Meanwhile, Karpo and Tkach are investigating what appears to be another installment in a series of grisly killings.
The settings in both Cuba and Russia feel authentic, and I like how the author does not adhere to two-dimensional characters, but has them grow, adapt, and change. I enjoyed this installment and look forward to reading the next book.
The settings in both Cuba and Russia feel authentic, and I like how the author does not adhere to two-dimensional characters, but has them grow, adapt, and change. I enjoyed this installment and look forward to reading the next book.
Apart from the infallible appeal of Inspector Rostnikov series, this book reveals unsettling truth of Cuba coming to terms with the emerging democratic Russia (as Rostnikov goes on assignment to Cuba).
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Author Information
128+ Works 7,348 Members
Stuart M. Kaminsky is head of the radio/television/film department at Northwestern University in Illinois. He is also a writer of textbooks, screenplays, and mystery novels. The more popular of his two series of detective novels features Toby Peters. Set in the 1930s and 1940s, the Peters books draw on Kaminsky's knowledge of history and love of show more film by incorporating characters from the film industry's past in nostalgic mysteries. Murder on the Yellow Brick Road (1978), for example, features Judy Garland while Catch a Falling Clown (1982) stars Emmett Kelley as Peters's client and Alfred Hitchcock as a murder suspect. His other critically acclaimed series chronicles the cases of Inspector Porfiry Rostnikov. Kaminsky's detailed studies of Russian police procedure combined with aspects of life in Russia have earned the Series an Edgar nomination for Black Knight in Red Square (1984) and the 1989 Edgar Award for A Cold Red Sunrise (1988). Stuart Kaminsky was born in Chicago in 1934 and died in 2009. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Series
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- Hard Currency
- Original title
- Hard Currency
- Original publication date
- 1995-02
- People/Characters
- Porfiry Petrovich Rostnikov (Inspector); Iliana Ivanova; Yevgeny Odom; Snitkonoy "Gray Wolfhound" (Colonel); Elena Timofeyeva; Sasha Tkach (show all 37); Emil Karpo; Fernando Sanchez; Fidel Castro; Igor Shemenkov; Maria Fernandez; Carlos Carerra; Angelica Carerra; Victoria Oliveras; Anatoli Xeromen; Lev Zelinsky; Lydia Tkach; Maya Tkach; Pulcharia Tkach; Ilya Tkach; Pankov; Grigorovich (Major); Antonio Rodriguez; Javier Fuentes; Miguel Fuentes; Mathilde Verson; Gleb Tarasov; Katrina Vross; Karsnikov (General); Olga Dimitkova; Maxim Popolov; Kumad Kustan; Lugharev (General); Igor Polynetsin; Hector Consequo; José Consequo; Anya Profft
- Important places
- Moscow, Russia; Cuba; Russia; Tbilisi, Georgia; Georgia; Grozny, Chechnya (show all 10); Petrov, Russia; Mtskheta, Georgia; Havana, Cuba; Cherboltnik, Russia
- Epigraph
- Two Cubans lost in the jungle were kidnapped and tied to stakes while their native captors circled them ashouting, "Ocha, Una, Ocha, Una."
Suddenly the native leader approached the first Cuban and shouted, "Ocha, Una?"
... (show all)"Ocha," the Cuban guessed, and the entire tribe raped him.
Then the native leader turned to the second Cuban and shouted, "Ocha, Una?"
"Una," said the second Cuban.
"Good," said one of the natives. "First Ocha, Then, Una."
--- A joke currently popular in Havana - Dedication
- To Jeff Rice
with thanks for
his friendship and advice - First words
- Iliana Ivanova adjusted her backpack, looked down Rusakovskaya Street, and went over her plan for robbing the bald-headed businessman who waited next to her for the bus.
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)"I'm home," he said, and took her in his arms, determined not to weep.
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- Members
- 104
- Popularity
- 311,893
- Reviews
- 3
- Rating
- (4.00)
- Languages
- English, German
- Media
- Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 12
- ASINs
- 3
