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Dressed in the grungy trappings of a crime drama, this literary tour-de-force from Padura (
Grab a Snake by the Tail) offers a colorful cultural history of Cuba and the islandâs historical contact with Europe that helped to shape its peopleâs religious beliefs. Detective Mario Conde, an aging former cop, is hired by his old school friend, Bobby, to recover a statue of the Virgin of Regla, a Black madonna integral to Bobbyâs worship of Santeria. The statue was stolen by Bobbyâs lover, Raydel, but when Raydel and a confederate turn up murdered and high-end art dealers begin mingling with the suspects, Conde realizes Bobbyâs statue has more than just sentimental value. As Condeâs adventures lead him into increasingly dangerous waters, an alternate narrative thread follows the statueâs ownership back through time to the Crusades and the Knights Templarâa pedigree it shares with the eponymous statue of