Reading order#
| # |
Title |
Published |
Author |
Buy on Amazon |
| 1 |
Havana Lunar |
2009 |
Robert Arellano |
Buy |
| 2 |
Havana Libre |
2017 |
Robert Arellano |
Buy |
Robert Arellano’s Cuban Noir novels use the crime genre as a lens for examining life in Cuba. Havana Lunar is set during the Special Period of the 1990s, when the collapse of Soviet support plunged Cuba into extreme poverty. A Havana doctor’s investigation into a death draws him into the underworld that flourished during the crisis.
Havana Libre shifts between time periods, connecting the idealism of the revolution to contemporary Cuba’s complicated reality. Both novels are noir in the truest sense — not just crime stories but explorations of moral ambiguity in a society under pressure.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many books are in the The Cuban Noir Novels series?
There are two books in the The Cuban Noir Novels series, published between 2009 and 2017.
What is the first book in the The Cuban Noir Novels series?
The first book in the The Cuban Noir Novels series is Havana Lunar, published in 2009.
What is the Cuban Noir series about?
The Cuban Noir series consists of two novels. Havana Lunar, published in 2009, follows a doctor in 1990s Havana during the Special Period — the economic crisis that followed the Soviet Union’s collapse — who gets drawn into a criminal investigation. Havana Libre, published in 2017, moves between the revolutionary era and modern Cuba. Both books use crime fiction to illuminate Cuban history and daily life.