Armando's Havana Loves

He's a capitalist. She's a communist. Their romance is a risky one at a time and place where Marxists are tortured and killed. Havana, Cuba - Fulgencio Batista has overthrown the government. It's March 10, 1952 and Batista's business partner, the American Mafia, is happy he seized power. Armando "Army" Lobo is pleased, too. The dictator has appointed the Cuban-American sugar baron to his cabinet, figuring he'll be one of the boys. They're in for a surprise. Army finds roadblocks in business and in love. The Mafia holds a gambling note on his plantations and prevents him from implementing his master plan; the Chief of the Anti-Communist Squad threatens him; his girlfriend, Fay, betrays him. Nefertiti "Titi" Randal, queen of the Tropicana cabaret, fills a painful void in his life. They become an item on Havana's social scene until the rebel Ernesto exposes a secret that ends the romance. "Titi" still loves him. So does Fay. Celia loves him from afar. She is a streetwalker he saved from a perilous way of life. But the bachelor businessman falls for Bonita, a Marxist. The ensuing love affair is a dangerous one for two people from different sides of town. Protecting Bonita from the communist hunter proves to be just as challenging as convincing her to halt her anti-government actions. In time the socially conscious school teacher comes to realize that Army is a capitalist with a heart. But not before she ends up in a torture chamber. ARMANDO'S HAVANA LOVES is a romantic suspense novel tingling with lust, treachery, torture and murder in a Spanish-speaking city brimming with salsa music, spinning roulette wheels, sizzling señoritas, sexy cabaret singers, spies and mobsters. Buy the Kindle Edition and trade paperback today. William M. iezzi is a former sports reporter for The Philadelphia Inquirer. He has been writing stories about Cuba since 1997, when he found the country's best pitcher in a psychiatric hospital following his attempt to escape from the island. Some 21 years later, iezzi has written his first novel based on years of research and interviews with people in the know in Havana City. You can connect with him at www.facebook.com/HavanaBananaBill. Go to YouTube to see Armando and Bonita is the musical video: Havana Sugar Man.