Cuba Libre - Tapa dura

In an effort to turn straight, former convict Ben Tyler makes a shady deal to travel to Cuba in the midst of the Spanish-American War in a suspenseful adventure by the ever-popular author of Get Shorty. Tour.

ve of the Spanish-American War, Elmore Leonard's electrifying novel takes off like a shot.  A spellbinding journey into the heart and soul of the Cuban revolution of a hundred years ago, Cuba Libre is an explosive mix of high adventure, history brought to life, and a honey of a love story--all with the dead-on dialogue and unforgettable characters that mark Elmore Leonard as an American original.

Just three days after the sinking of the battleship Maine in Havana harbor, Ben Tyler arrives with a string of horses to sell--cover for a boatload of guns he's running to Cuban insurgents, risking a firing squad if he's caught.

This cowboy's first day ashore sets the pace for a wild ride to come.  He sells the horses to an American planter, Roland Boudreaux, who's making a killing in Cuba...meets the man's sparkly New Orleans-born mistress, Amelia Brown, and falls in love...makes an enemy of a terrorizing Guardia Civil officer named Tavalera, and a f