Cuba Libre

Leonard made extensive use of research and a researcher named Gregg Sutter for many of his novels, and Cubra Libre seems to be one of the more exhaustively researched and well-penned (he never used a computer or word processor, and rarely a typewriter) books in his oeuvre. Leonard, who began as a writer of westerns, then turned to city crime books, is back in semi-familiar territory in this book with a cowboy protagonist (Tyler) running horses to Cuba. The plan is to sell the horses and rifles at a substantial profit to a buyer in Havana, who in turn hopes to obtain an even greater markup when war breaks out between the US and Spain.

It all goes according to plan until it doesn’t. A dandified young member of the Guardia with thin skin finds one of Tyler’s comments too insulting to bear and immediately challenges Tyler to a duel at sunrise. Tyler essentially laughs at the guy and says Why wait? They back off from each other, the Guardia goes for his pistol and finds his quick end with a bullet in his forehead. Tyler and the guy who talked him into doing this horse wrangling job are quickly arrested and labeled as spies and hauled off to a miserable prison, where he meets up with Virgil Webster, a Marine and one of the few survivors of the deadly explosion of the USS Maine—he was sleeping on deck and blown into the harbor.

Fortunately for Tyler (and Webster), Amelia, who witnessed the fair duel at the Inglaterra bar, is intent on saving Tyler from the prison and formulates a plan with Fuentes, a helper in the employ of the end purchaser of the horses, Mr Rollie Boudreaux.

Much exciting action ensues, and Leonard disappears behind his true-to-life characters, made real by mannerisms and how they interact and speak to one another. We are also getting a history lesson between the action scenes, but it is never too much or out of place. One of the big misnomers Leonard was likely aching to address and saved it up as a cherry on top at the novel’s end is the mythology behind Teddy Roosevelt and the Rough Riders taking San Juan Hill.

But I won’t spoil it.