City in Shadow: A Hidden Manhattan Mystery

In Marshall's absorbing fourth Hidden Manhattan mystery (after March 2010's Dark Alley), sanitation garage supervisor Anna Winthrop is looking forward to a long visit from second cousin Patti Fairchild, a recent Cincinnati high school grad not yet interested in college. Meanwhile, Nettie Clouchet, Anna's nervous upstairs neighbor and "ghost blogger" journo, is researching Anna for her proposed book on New York City women of achievement. Soon after Anna sells a roll-top desk to Ukrainian Grigori Sidorov to make room for Patti, a striking young woman who was waiting in Grigori's truck outside Anna's apartment building drops a note on the sidewalk reading "help me," then hops in a cab. Anna and her boyfriend, NYPD officer Santos Reyes, can't ignore this distress message—and neither can Nettie. The suspense mounts as Anna seeks the elusive young woman in this fresh if sometimes sad tale of human trafficking with a goofy Stepford Wives twist. (Nov.)