Redemption Street

Walking the Perfect Square introduced Moe Prager—retired New York City cop-turned-wine shop owner—to much acclaim and an enthusiastic readership. Still possessed of his vintage police savvy, and perhaps the only Jewish licensed PI in the five boroughs, Moe wonders if he’s really meant to be a merchant and not a cop. Redemption Street finds him in 1981, lured into the mystery of a 1966 hotel fire—one that killed seventeen people, including his first love—by a long-grieving brother and Moe’s own restless determination to set things right. Reed Farrel Coleman’s crisp, page-turning narrative has Moe trudging through his childhood summer vacation stomping grounds, the now-decaying Catskill resort scene. The borscht belt’s near-forgotten landscape of scarred lives, ambitious politicians, and corrupt cops is the minefield Moe must brave to find the truth. Was the fire really sparked by a negligent smoker or was it murder? Will the long dead keep their secrets or divulge their stories? And will what Moe uncovers lead him down another blind alley or into the bright light of Redemption Street? Still reeling from his wife's recent miscarriage, Moe Prager is bullied into taking the case of an up-and-coming politico whose career has stalled over the suspicious disappearance of a young woman. It's been almost two years since Moira Heaton, State Senator Steven Brightman's intern, vanished on Thanksgiving Eve 1981. In spite of Brightman's best efforts to clear his name, he has been tried and convicted in the press. As a reluctant Moe peels away the layers of the case, he discovers the tragic circumstances of Moira Heaton's disappearance are buried deep in the past and that there is another more heinous crime at the heart of it all. Will the ugly truth set Brightman free or will it bury all the players beneath the crumbling artiface of corruption, murder, and hate? Struggling to cope with the family tragedy that has rocked his world, Moe Prager, a former NYPD cop turned P.I., is plunged into the middle of a politically sensitive case involving the disappearance of a young intern to an ambitious politician when state senator Steven Brightman enlists Moe's help to uncover the truth Nominated for the Edgar, Macavity, and Gumshoe Awards! Winner of the Shamus, Barry, and Anthony Awards!