From Publishers Weekly
In Fusilli's fourth entry in this complex, character-driven crime series, Terry Orr, single parent and occasional private detective, is more analytical and less self-absorbed than he was in 2003's
Tribeca Blues. Daniel Wu, the appealing friend of Orr's precocious teenage daughter, Bella, asks him to find the missing Allie Powell, a student at Manhattan's Fashion Institute of Technology. Orr, guilty about the lack of time spent with Bella and still haunted by the deaths four years earlier of his wife and son, agrees to look for Allie. What initially appears to be a simple search for a wayward teenager evolves into a byzantine trail of theft, violence, murder, blackmail and politics. Fusilli's themes echo those of his mentors, Raymond Chandler, Ross Macdonald and Robert B. Parker: wealth engenders dishonesty and corruption and, as with the latter two, neglected children. It's not hard to identify the culprits here, though their motives are only slowly revealed. Fusilli is a serious novelist who excels in creating a noirish view of Manhattan and strong characters whose relationships continue to evolve with each book.
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From Booklist
Contrary to its title, a warm heart beats beneath the wintry surface of the fourth Terry Orr mystery, as one more layer of Orr's hard-boiled exterior melts away in the glowing presence of his precocious daughter, Bella, and her pals; his lover, Julie; his friend Diddio, with the failing Tea Shop; and various other exemplars of the good people of New York. Meanwhile, some scumbags from New Jersey will stop at nothing to recover what was stolen from the safe of a godly man left transfixed on the ironwork three stories below his apartment. Caught in the middle is Allie, a slight teen on the run from callous, warring parents and badly in need of a friend. Orr takes his lumps, exacts revenge, and pops a lot of pain killers, while his roving eye details the big city's frozen bustle, and his mind's eye flashes unbidden on the troubling past. Fans of Michael Connelly and Richard Barre will enjoy this solid, reflective PI yarn, but series newcomers are advised to start with
Closing Time (2001) to avoid spoilers.
David WrightCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
