|
|
The James Deans
Jan. 25, 2005
Plume
ISBN 0-452-28650-6
Nominated for an Edgar Award®and a Barry Award for best paperback, and a Gumshoe Award for best mystery
It's 1983, but beneath the facade of junk bonds and easy money, New York remains a gritty metropolis. Moe Prager, ex NYPD cop turned reluctant PI, is too busy reeling from a family tragedy to see what's coming. Moira Heaton, a young intern for an up-and-coming politico, has fallen off the face of the earth. Although there is no evidence linking the politician to her disappearance, vicious rumors swirl about his involvement. Moe, along with a rag tag team of cops, ex-cops, a US marshal, and an alcoholic reporter, uncover the truth of Moira's disappearance. But when Moe chips further beneath the surface, he stumbles upon an older, more heinous crime. See if Moe can bring justice to a crime that time has forgotten.
|
Publishers Weekly on
THE JAMES DEANS:
A Moe Prager Mystery
Reed Farrel Coleman
Plume, $12 paper (288p)
ISBN 0-452-28650-6
Coleman draws inspiration from the real-life Gary Condit/Chandra Levy case
for his appealing third hard-boiled mystery set in the early 1980s (after
2004's Redemption Street). New York PI Moe Prager and his wife, still
traumatized by a recent miscarriage, are surprised to be guests at a high
society wedding. The affair proves to be a pretext for a mover and shaker to
recruit Prager to the cause of a charismatic state senator, Steven
Brightman, whose political rise was stalled by the disappearance of an
attractive young intern more than a year earlier. Despite the cold trail,
thorougly explored by both the police and Brightman's hired sleuths, Prager
finds new clues that lead him to a surprise solution. Given this revelation
relatively early on, few readers will be startled that a different truth
emerges before the refreshingly ambiguous conclusion, with justice at best
partially served. Not everyone will go for the heavy-handed humor (a
long-winded "southern politico" named Clinton "had better stay in Arkansas,
because he has about as much chance for national office as the Mets have of
winning a second World Series"), but all will cheer the likable, virtuous
Prager. Agent, Wendy Silbert at Harvey Klinger. (Feb. 1)
Forecast: Blurbs from Michael Connelly, S.J. Rozan and Steve Hamilton will
help lift this one out of the pack.
Crime Spree Magazine
The year is 1983 and Moe Prager is back. Reed Farrel Coleman’s third book
in his N.Y. cop turned P.I. series has all the sizzle and substance of a
Nathan’s hot dog. “I’ve heard you’re lucky,” says Thomas Geary. “After two
years, this case can use a bit of luck.” Two years ago political intern
Moira Heaton strolled out of her office on Thanksgiving Eve. Never seen
again, her disappearance has tainted the political aspirations of Steven
Brightman. After two years of whispers, wonderings and a stalled career
Geary and Brightman want answers into the young woman’s disappearance.
Someone has suggested that the full time wine store owner/part time P.I.
may be the primer to get the engine to turn over in this case. Not so
subtle threats and a series of escalating promises intrigue Prager. So do
the intern he can’t seem to get to know and the politicians he knows all
too well.
Coleman introduces more strong characters to his series and we visit with
friends and foes from the first two books. We cross the river from New York
to Jersey and fly to Florida. We smell the manipulation. We rejoice at the
small victories in this case and we mourn for the futility of life. Moe is
a character to savor and Coleman? He’s an author to watch. Make that watch
and read. For this is only the beginning folks, and I’m hitching my wagon
to this ride.
Ruth Jordan
Coleman's NYC investigator searches for missing intern
By CRAIG McDONALD
ThisWeek Staff Writer
The third installment in Reed Farrel Coleman's Moe Prager series is a wrenching tale of lost children and grieving parents.
Moses Prager is a former cop turned sometimes private investigator. He runs a successful and growing wine sales enterprise with his brother in New York City.
The previous Prager installment, Redemption Street, was set in 1981.
In The James Deans (Plume, 288 pages, $12) it's 1983. Reagan is president, the Twin Towers still stand and Moe is approached to assist a politician whose career arc is being severely impeded by a missing intern with whom the rising Democrat star was fleetingly romantically involved.
The publicity materials for Coleman's new novel make no bones about it: The James Deans mines the Chandra Levy case for its central material. Coleman's intern is named Moira Heaton. Coleman's senator is a polished and more sympathetic spin on Levy's former employer.
It's a treacherous tightrope that Coleman has strung for himself. The unabashed re-imagination of Chandra Levy's murder could easily smack of cynical exploitation.
But Coleman, a deft and conscientious crime writer, sketches an unflinching and honest portrayal of loss … he never panders.
The missing intern's father has become an embittered, self-destructive mess. His grieving process is juxtaposed against Moe's own: Prager and his wife are struggling in the aftermath of the miscarriage of a child.
Prager's investigation eventually affords him a shot at rejoining the NYPD.
Coleman writes enticing nostalgia -- never cloying -- and his prose style is supple and polished. His skill for deft characterizations recalls the best of Steve Hamilton and Randy Wayne White -- two other crime writers who, like Coleman, can be counted upon for plausible, smart crime fiction with a heart.
The James Deans is more than just a great mystery novel: Moe Prager's third outing is an elegiac evocation of parental loss.
November 2004
Murder and Mayhem Book Club
Reviewed by Kathy Thomason
Moe Prager, ex-NYPD cop turned reluctant PI, is hired by a wealthy
backer of State Senator Steven Brightman to clear the senator’s name,
who has been under a cloud since the disappearance of one of his young
interns, Moira Heaton. But when, after only a little digging, Moe finds
a perfect suspect, he decides that it was just a little too easy. And
when the dead girl’s father won’t talk to him and a lot of other people
are acting very antsy around him, he decides that there is more to the
story than they want people to know. So he begins to do some serious
digging and quickly finds himself in a rat maze of lies and deceptions
until he begins to doubt that anyone can tell the truth. And when his
old boss from the NYPD calls and offers to reinstate him with a gold
shield, despite his medical retirement, he gets even more suspicious and
tenacious. Thanks to his digging, he uncovers a secret that a lot of
powerful people had kept hidden for decades, a secret more devastating
than the death of an intern.
Moe Prager is an intelligent, tenacious PI who doesn’t let anything get
in his way as he bulldogs his way to the truth. Coleman has a knack for
digging down into the depths of the human psyche and bringing out the
best and worst qualities of his characters. He captures your attention
early in the story and keeps you on the edge of your seat all the way
through this exciting tale that you won’t be able to put down. Prager is
on track to become one of those detectives you just can’t get enough of
and will recommend to all your friends.
|
|
|
|
