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Michael Seeley Mystery #3
Havana Requiem
Fueled by alcohol and legal brilliance, Michael Seeley once oversaw his law firm’s most successful litigation. Until it all fell apart. Recklessness and overreach cost him his wife, his job, and likely the life of his last client, a Chinese dissident journalist. After two sober years practicing small-town law in upstate New York, Seeley has earned back most of what he lost: the partnership in his Manhattan law firm, if not his corner office; the wary respect of most of his partners; the lucrative clients—but not the gin-sharpened passion.
Then the renowned Cuban musician Hector Reynoso enters his office with a simple request: help him and six other composers who defined Cuba’s musical golden age of the 1940s and 1950s—the music that made the Buena Vista Social Club internationally famous—reclaim the copyright to their work. When Reynoso goes missing, Seeley’s reluctant promise to help draws him progressively deeper into Havana’s violent underbelly and a decades-long conspiracy that runs from the partners in his firm to the U.S. State Department to Cuba’s security police, who are willing to do anything to suppress the truth. In the heat of Havana, Seeley will lose himself to his worst and best passions as his pursuit of justice becomes a desperate gambit to save not only his composers but the stunning Amaryll, who is playing her own dangerous game.
Then the renowned Cuban musician Hector Reynoso enters his office with a simple request: help him and six other composers who defined Cuba’s musical golden age of the 1940s and 1950s—the music that made the Buena Vista Social Club internationally famous—reclaim the copyright to their work. When Reynoso goes missing, Seeley’s reluctant promise to help draws him progressively deeper into Havana’s violent underbelly and a decades-long conspiracy that runs from the partners in his firm to the U.S. State Department to Cuba’s security police, who are willing to do anything to suppress the truth. In the heat of Havana, Seeley will lose himself to his worst and best passions as his pursuit of justice becomes a desperate gambit to save not only his composers but the stunning Amaryll, who is playing her own dangerous game.
320 pages, Hardcover
First published April 24, 2012
9 people are currently reading
118 people want to read
About the author
Paul Goldstein
79 books18 followersPaul Goldstein is a writer, lawyer, and the Lillick Professor of Law at Stanford Law School. His novel "Havana Requiem" received the 2013 Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction.
Series:
* Michael Seeley Mystery
Series:
* Michael Seeley Mystery
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
May 20, 2025
I turned my attention to Paul Goldstein once more for yet another strong legal thriller. He creates a well-paced piece that is able to keep my attention and educate me in equal measure. With Michael Seeley back in control of his life, he is nestled into the Manhattan firm that helped him build a reputation. With many great clients, Michael is surprised when he is visited by an elderly Cuban musician, seeking to have the rights to his music back. Michael fights against pushback from his firm and the US Government to advocate for his clients, but finds himself in a great deal of hot water along the way. A great addition to the series that exemplifies Paul Goldstein’s work once more.
A legal genius who fell into the bottle, Michael Seeley oversaw his law firm’s litigation and proved himself to be highly successful. After it all fell apart, he lost his wife, his job, and most of his reputation. That was a year ago and Michael has done quite a bit to rehabilitate himself. He's back working in his swanky Manhattan firm and handling countless cases that are both rewarding and complex. When Hector Reynoso darkens his door one day, Michael is confused. Hector comes with a recommendation from one of Michael's longtime friends, but also with a mission. Hector would like the rights back to the music he wrote and performed in Cuba decades ago. Michael knows that he can do this and will likely not have too much trouble getting it accomplished. However, he will have to convince those within the firm of the benefit.
Michael faces significant blowback from certain members of the firm, but is able to convince enough of the partners to back his plan, as long as it does not impede Michael's ongoing work. As Michael begins getting the paperwork in order for Hector, the elderly musician stops responding. Michael is soon told that Hector has returned to Cuba to rally some of his fellow musicians behind the plan to take back their music rights. Michael decides to risk it all and head to Havana, if only to liaise with his soon-to-be clients. There, Michael learns that the State Department is also leery of the ongoing engagement with this case and tries to deter the lawyer at every turn.
Added to the State Department, Cuba's security police has its eye on Michael and there is no turning back. As Michael hunts for his would-be client, he discovers that there is more to the story than simply a few musicians. People much more powerful than he want this entire mess muted and left on the shelf, though they are subtle in their protestations. As Michael finds himself in more trouble, he will have to pull on every ounce of lawyering and use what gumption remains inside him to protect himself and the rights of a number of elderly men who only ever wanted to make music to be happy. Paul Goldstein delivers what I feel is his best novel in this short series, sure to impress the attentive reader.
I love legal thrillers that put me at the centre of all the action. Paul Goldstein replicates the feeling yet again, pushing limits and showing another side of the law. The narrative provides a clear pathway for the reader to see another side of Michael Seeley, as well as more aspects of the law that are both entertaining and unique from anything I have read before. Characters have always been something Goldstein develops well and this is no exception. Michael receives some added depth and his legal surroundings are better explored, but there is also a great sense of flavouring as those Cuban men and women enter the fray. The reader can feel everything going on and the characters serve as wonderful vessels to deliver heightened excitement to the story. The plot moves well, not bogging down as past novels have suffered, and there is a sense of surprise with each chapter. I would easily call this my favourite of the three novels and hope Paul Goldstein returns to offer more to his great protagonist, in whatever capacity that might be.
Kudos, Mr. Goldstein, for yet another refreshing look at the law.
Love/hate the review? An ever-growing collection of others appears at:
http://pecheyponderings.wordpress.com/
A legal genius who fell into the bottle, Michael Seeley oversaw his law firm’s litigation and proved himself to be highly successful. After it all fell apart, he lost his wife, his job, and most of his reputation. That was a year ago and Michael has done quite a bit to rehabilitate himself. He's back working in his swanky Manhattan firm and handling countless cases that are both rewarding and complex. When Hector Reynoso darkens his door one day, Michael is confused. Hector comes with a recommendation from one of Michael's longtime friends, but also with a mission. Hector would like the rights back to the music he wrote and performed in Cuba decades ago. Michael knows that he can do this and will likely not have too much trouble getting it accomplished. However, he will have to convince those within the firm of the benefit.
Michael faces significant blowback from certain members of the firm, but is able to convince enough of the partners to back his plan, as long as it does not impede Michael's ongoing work. As Michael begins getting the paperwork in order for Hector, the elderly musician stops responding. Michael is soon told that Hector has returned to Cuba to rally some of his fellow musicians behind the plan to take back their music rights. Michael decides to risk it all and head to Havana, if only to liaise with his soon-to-be clients. There, Michael learns that the State Department is also leery of the ongoing engagement with this case and tries to deter the lawyer at every turn.
Added to the State Department, Cuba's security police has its eye on Michael and there is no turning back. As Michael hunts for his would-be client, he discovers that there is more to the story than simply a few musicians. People much more powerful than he want this entire mess muted and left on the shelf, though they are subtle in their protestations. As Michael finds himself in more trouble, he will have to pull on every ounce of lawyering and use what gumption remains inside him to protect himself and the rights of a number of elderly men who only ever wanted to make music to be happy. Paul Goldstein delivers what I feel is his best novel in this short series, sure to impress the attentive reader.
I love legal thrillers that put me at the centre of all the action. Paul Goldstein replicates the feeling yet again, pushing limits and showing another side of the law. The narrative provides a clear pathway for the reader to see another side of Michael Seeley, as well as more aspects of the law that are both entertaining and unique from anything I have read before. Characters have always been something Goldstein develops well and this is no exception. Michael receives some added depth and his legal surroundings are better explored, but there is also a great sense of flavouring as those Cuban men and women enter the fray. The reader can feel everything going on and the characters serve as wonderful vessels to deliver heightened excitement to the story. The plot moves well, not bogging down as past novels have suffered, and there is a sense of surprise with each chapter. I would easily call this my favourite of the three novels and hope Paul Goldstein returns to offer more to his great protagonist, in whatever capacity that might be.
Kudos, Mr. Goldstein, for yet another refreshing look at the law.
Love/hate the review? An ever-growing collection of others appears at:
http://pecheyponderings.wordpress.com/
February 12, 2015
Absolutely, without question, the greatest thriller I have ever read about copyright termination.
February 14, 2020
I liked the grittiness, felt the author was reasonably even handed towards Cuba, and felt lots of resonance with my experience living in Africa.
November 30, 2019
Copyright of music is the legal theme of this story - and why I read the book, as I have a general interest in intellectual property copyright issues. The main character Michael Seeley is flawed, obstinate defender of the underdog in the connected worlds of corporate law and the US State department. He sets off to follow a trail with surprisingly little preparation for a lawyer, and along the way uncovers the issues around copyright ownership of old Cuban music. However, he leaves destruction and death in his wake, mainly due to his lack of preparation and self-admitted difficulties with human relationships. A short paragraph illuminates his self-knowledge of this difficulty, and another towards the end of the book moves him into forgiveness rather than retribution. These help the reader as much as anything to understand how much self-awareness Seeley has - although they verge on homilies. Some interesting observations of Havana. Overall it's hard to maintain interest and really get involved in Seeley's exploits.
May 22, 2024
I very much wanted to like this book about a lawyer trying to help Cuban composers regain the rights to their music as the topic and setting are fascinating, but I didn't like the book very much. There was too much telling, too many tired tropes, and the ending was rushed and unsatisfying. It also had a few stereotypes about people in Cuba and no well-rounded, women characters to speak of. For a third book from an obviously highly intelligent author and a major publishing house, it was disappointing.
January 12, 2018
Love the Padura books that inspired this author, but I did not find this one as compelling.
November 19, 2021
Read and reviewed this a long time ago; a good, if somewhat standard, mystery involving intellectual property, Cuba, and murder.
April 19, 2025
Tough one to get through. The writing style felt choppy and the plot was not that interesting. It lacked the kind of flow that a John Grisham legal thriller has.
July 17, 2014
I chose this book because it had won the Harper Lee Prize for legal fiction. This does show a lawyer sacrificing a great deal, fighting political and financial forces, as he struggles to assist clients to get back rights to their authentic Cuban music. This is, a character says,”music that makes people dream.” You might enjoy the book for its colorful street scenes in a more-or-less contemporary Cuba, and a sense of the musicians’ love of “la cultura.” So I wanted to like the book, but I found the intricacies of copyright law and the legal complications excessively detailed and confusing.
June 10, 2015
Read this for a book club. Skip it.
This book feels like a poorly made film version of a book. Neither the characters nor their relationships are developed or believable. It's rushed. Things don't really add up and are concluded in a matter of pages without much explanation. There are sections that really have nothing to do with the plot and are uninteresting in their own right; these are scenes that should have been cut. I was surprised to see unclear writing from a law professor (and practitioner), but maybe novels are his throwaway bin and the good cuts go in his briefs.
This book feels like a poorly made film version of a book. Neither the characters nor their relationships are developed or believable. It's rushed. Things don't really add up and are concluded in a matter of pages without much explanation. There are sections that really have nothing to do with the plot and are uninteresting in their own right; these are scenes that should have been cut. I was surprised to see unclear writing from a law professor (and practitioner), but maybe novels are his throwaway bin and the good cuts go in his briefs.
March 15, 2014
Based on the jacket praise from Alan Cheuse and Timothy Hallinan, I was hoping to like this more than I did. The backbiting and politicking in Seeley's law firm was believable and depressing. The portrait of present day Cuba did not seem quite as believable, but the light it shed on racial and racist elements Cuba from the revolution to the present was very interesting. The book really did make me want to hear and know more about the music that was at the heart of the case.
November 10, 2014
This is supposed to be a legal thriller in the tradition of John Grisham. It got the law part correct but the thriller part fell flat. The book had no suspense, was hugely complex, and too wordy. Just a big bust. I am sorry since the author is a Stanford Law Professor and his acknowledgements read like a directory of my beloved law school. Too bad.
February 29, 2016
I found this highly recommended legal thriller to be decent, but not much of a "thriller." And the legal components are also rather minor. Goldstein crafts nice prose, and I enjoyed his depiction of modern-day Cuba, which came alive nicely in the novel. But the plot dragged just a bit too much to make it a great read.
October 9, 2012
Soulfully written, this love story of sorts explores the native music of Cuba and a lawyer's unbridled zeal in the representation of his clients. Chess match of competing schemes and interests ably portrayed. Highly recommend!
July 30, 2012
Boringly predictable.
October 3, 2012
Not all that you see or hear is as it should be.
October 16, 2012
Very interesting portrayal of Cuba as it is today. An interesting and convoluted legal thriller with a protagonist who is very very human while also very very flawed. Good read.
August 9, 2013
Some legal thrillers grab me. This one didn't. Way too predictable despite the effort to separate itself from the herd.
August 28, 2013
This may be what I deserve for reading the book an ABA poll chose as the best legal novel of the year. Pass.
January 6, 2015
Quick read that really makes you feel like you know Cuba, though the plot is otherwise a bit thin and the main character not terribly likeable.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews