The Big Fear

New York City—not a recently sanitized Big Apple, but a “fresh, darker, looser city” currently on its way back under different management—plays a leading role in playwright Case’s first novel, a hard-punching police procedural. Case draws on his experience as an investigator and policy director of New York’s Civilian Complaint Review Board, which is charged with probing alleged police misconduct, for his protagonist, Leonard Mitchell, who serves as the acting head of the city’s Department to Investigate Misconduct and Corruption. When Det. Ralph Mulino, an “elderly cop” at 53, arrives at a crime scene aboard an anchored cargo ship, he winds up shooting an armed man, who turns out to be a fellow police officer. Leonard, who looks into the incident, soon finds himself pursued by powerful forces out to cover up the truth. Finely tuned city backdrops and sharply realized psychological portraiture make this a standout among Serpico-type crime thrillers. [em]Agent: Kim Witherspoon, Inkwell Management. (Feb.) [/em]