Searching Espada's office at the tobacco company where he is a salesman, Willie finds it has been trashed, and finds Ambassador cigars, one of Cuba's most expensive cigars, among Espada's things. Willie brings these cigars to Mendoza, whose keen sense of smell confirms what Willie suspected: the cigars are phony and Espada may be in something much deeper and more dangerous than a weekend away with his lady.

As Willie begins his investigation, he is drawn deeper and deeper into the world of counterfeit and smuggled cigars. He soon learns of a vicious rivalry between two American tobacco companies, one of which took over Espada's tobacco business when the elder Espada killed himself when Carlos was a child.

One by one, tobacco executives and those connected to Espada turn up dead and each one is found with counterfeit cigars. Espada is still on the lam and Willie must put all the pieces together and figure out if Espada is running from the present and whatever involvement he may have with the cigar smuggling and counterfeiting or from his past and a secret that has finally caught up with him.

The Ultimate Havana is written in the style of the classic, gritty P.I. novels, taking full advantage of the steamy Miami setting and the surrounding Caribbean. Miami is the perfect backdrop for the high-stakes cigar business in the shadow of the ultimate, but illegal cigars produced in Cuba.

Willie is an intriguing character, although his motives are not always clear. There are only occasional glimpses into his personal life, giving the reader the impression that there is a very complex person under the tough exterior, but that it will take a long time to get close. The other characters in the book, while they add color and interest, are just that, background figures, part of the whole atmosphere.

The mystery is very fast-paced and engrossing until the very end when the tensions of the present and the fear and shadow of the past come together in a rather disappointing, uneventful climax.

--Jennifer Monahan Winberry