Imagine the dilemma. You're a best selling author who has had most success with a maverick Russian investigator who bucks the Soviet System. Suddenly, the whole Soviet empire falls and your most popular character is stranded without a purpose. What do you do? Well, if you're Martin Cruz Smith, the solution is simple: invent a pre-text to take your character (Arkady Renko) off to Communist Havana and have him investigate the murder of a Russian there. Problem solved! It's a move which works surprisingly well. Taking a character out of their normal environment is always a risky business. It can alienate established readers by undermining their ...  Read the complete review

Arkady Renko is definitely my favourite detective. It’s not because he’s unbelievably handsome or inhumanly clever, but mainly because he’s so painfully real. Unlike most fictional detectives, he is still working for the police (and a Russian one at that!), doesn’t stand out in a crowd (although by no means ugly) and most importantly doesn’t have gorgeous girls hoping in and out of his bed. He has a vague air of tragedy mixed with weary irony about him and apart from his shabby clothing and a somewhat different attitude to women, reminds mostly of Marlowe. Havana Bay, the fourth installation in the Renko saga (although you ...  Read the complete review