Here is my review of Closing Time from my website. I also
thought it was a particularly strong on portraying New York
with a positive twist on its reputation. I would recommend
this title to P. I. readers as one of the titles to be short
listed for the Shamus for best first of 2001.
Terry Orr is haunted by violence. Just recovering from the
murder of his artist/wife Marina Fiorentino and their young
son Davy, he has decided to become a P. I. Ostensively he is
doing this for research on a book, since his first career was
as a writer. But the real reason is to develop the skills to
hunt down the missing killer of his family, Raymond
Montgomery Weisz. Surprisingly, he finds himself involved in
two separate criminal acts: the murder of a black gypsy
cabbie named Aubrey Brown and the bombing of the art studio
owned by Orr's friend Judith Henley Harper. Harper had been
exhibiting the works of Sol Bech, and the staff at Harper's
studio believe Sol's father may be the bomber. Orr has his
doubts. He also has his instincts; instincts that tell him a
scarred young black man named Montana is showing too much
interest in the death of Brown. Like a boat tossed on an
ocean in a storm, Orr is pushed from case to case by the
waves, never really seeing the clear horizon because of the
next wave. Meanwhile, he struggles with his memories and
tries to care for his twelve-year-old daughter Gabriella. She
is precocious, but not off-putting and although she is deeply
involved in Orr's life, she is not a co-detective like
Serendipity Dahlquist in the Leo Bloodworth books by Dick
Lochte. Eventually all three concerns are dealt with, but
only one of the three is really resolved. This difficulty
with the plot does not hold back the book, which is well
paced, has great characters, and uses its New York City
setting to the maximum. Plotters may not be happy, but to
everyone else this work can be highly recommended.
Best, GWN Gary Warren Niebuhr P. O. Box 341218 Milwaukee, WI
53234
piesbook@execpc.com http://www.execpc.com/~piesbook/piescatalog.html
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