Outerborough Blues: A Brooklyn Mystery

Cotto follows his first novel, The Domino Effect (2011), with an ambitious noir thriller set in pre-gentrification Brooklyn. Caesar Stiles, a one-time drifter and rare white face in his predominantly African-American neighborhood, has settled down for a quiet existence working at a local bar. When Caesar agrees to help Colette, a damsel in distress from the south of France, find her missing art student brother, Jean-Baptiste Rennet, past family troubles complicate his mission. Caesar’s violent brother, just released from prison, still blames Caesar for their older brother’s death as a teenager and wants his share of their late mother’s property. Caesar must also face the threat of a mysterious gangster he calls the Orange Man in his search for Jean-Baptiste. While Cotto’s lyrical prose sometimes veers into the affected, he shows a strong sense for character and place in a novel that reads like Raymond Chandler taking dictation from Walt Whitman. Agent: Jennifer Carlson, Dunow, Carlson and Lerner. (June)