Bloody London - Softcover

Nadelson, Reggie

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0571192130 ISBN 13: 9780571192137

Publisher: Faber & Faber, 1999

Synopsis

As New York basks in the finest Indian summer of the century, no one notices the feral teenagers in Central Park or the new, angry class of homeless living near the river. No one connects them to the dead Englishman in the swimming pool of the city's most exclusive apartment building, or to the second-generation Russian gangsters who are buying respectability on the upper East Side. No one notices because everyone is at the party. Artie Cohen, quitting his contented new life as a low-risk private investigator, finds himself in London, where the plot uncoils with a second series of murders, a heartbreaking encounter with his longtime girlfriend, Lily Hanes, and a meeting with a figure out of Artie's Russian past. 'Perfidious Albion, anybody's for a price,' Artie's father always said. But Artie finds London surprising, exciting, a city high on itself, the markets cranked up, a place ready to blow or sink when a millennial flood threatens to sweep it all away, and the rust on the windows in the riverside warehouses runs red in the rain.

About this title

Review:

"Blood floats. It was the first thing I noticed that morning. It spread slowly outward over the water in the swimming pool uptown". So begins Reggie Nadelson's third Artie Cohen novel with the Russian/American private eye leaving a New York basking in an Indian summer for damp London as part of his investigation into the Manhattan murder of a rich Englishman. The body was found in the swimming pool of an exclusive apartment block. Russian gangsters are buying themselves respectability in the form of upper East Side apartments. Any connection? What do you think? The New York inhabited by the emigrant Russian community is vividly captured. London as seen by Artie is equally evocative. He arrives as the bonfires of November 5 light up the sky. He drinks champagne and goes to the Groucho Club. But "London is rough" and soon the river turns from a tourist attraction into an act of god as a Millennial flood threatens to engulf the city. Artie's job, his personal life and his family history become ever more entwined and when the conclusion ultimately comes it is both surprising and satisfying. "When I'm at a murder scene I like to think about in metaphors", mutters Artie. "It passes the time and keeps you sane". He said it. Bloody London has it all. History and geography. Liquid and solid. Life and death. --Nick Wroe

Review:

"Praise for Reggie Nadelson
'A writer who ranks alongside the best of Paretsky, and one who could easily inherit Cornwell's vacant crown.'" (Daily Express)

"Bloody London
'Superlative stortytelling, with writing so good that you hardly dare turn the page in case it goes off the boil. Rest assured, it doesn't... Disquieting, timely, terrific.' Literary Review"

"'Artie Cohen is the latest in a long line of slick, wise-cracking American private eyes. A worthy sccessor to Raymond Chandler and Dalshiel Hammett, he is a Philip Marlowe for our times...Lesser thriller writers...waste pages reaching for the effects that Nadelson achieves in a couple of lines.' Daily Mail"

"Nadelson is a brilliant chronicler of post-communist Russia's shady exiles... A clever, exciting story, believable dialogue and thumping action.' The Times"

"Her style is one that shoots straight from the hip - full of slick one liners, cunning second guesses and characters who manage to be both mythic and credible.' Daily Express"

About this edition

• Publisher: Faber & Faber
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0571192130
• ISBN 13: 9780571192137
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 320