The Letter Writer by Dan Fesperman
The Letter Writer by Dan Fesperman
February 9, 1942. Disgraced Southern cop Woodrow Cain arrives in New York City for a new position with the NYPD and is greeted with smoke billowing out from the SS Normandie, which is engulfed in flames on the Hudson River. On Cain's first day on the job, a body turns up in the same river. Unfamiliar with the milieu of mob bosses and crooked officials in the big city, Cain's investigation stalls, until a strange man who calls himself Danziger enters his life.
Danziger looks like a miscreant but speaks five languages, has the manners of a gentleman, and is the one person who can help Cain identify the body. A letter writer for illiterate European immigrants, Danziger has a seemingly boundless knowledge of the city's denizens and networks -- and possesses information that extends beyond the reach of his clients, hinting at an unfathomable past. As the body count grows, Cain and Danziger inch closer toward uncovering an underground web of possibly traitorous corruption, but in these murky depths, not even Danziger can know what kind of danger will await the two of them.
Vintage Crime/Black Lizard, Softcover, 2016
THIS IS A BRAND NEW BOOK.