»Red Hook

Artie Cohen, the protagonist of "Red Hook", a piece of 21st century New York noir comes across as a latter-day successor to Rex Stout's hardboiled Archie Goodwin: a tough man of the street, knowledgeable about New York City in its infinite permutations. Artie, however, is sensitive and slightly nervous, less cock-sure. He screws up his loyalty, unevenly distributes his friendship, and anxiously calls in favors.
Author Reggie Nadelson's other mystery stories are not consistently available in the States (the recent "Fresh Kills", for example, is something I will pick up from an airport bookstall sometime).

I bought this book after reading the jacket copy, which includes an endorsement from Salman Rushdie. The title called to mind the rapidly-gentrifying warehouse area along Brooklyn's waterfront, and much of the action in the book takes place there, along the soon-to-be-redeveloped High Line, in the Meatpacking District, and at Hunt's Point. I have a delicious photo of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge somewhere, the bridge with a massive Evergreen container ship heading to the Bayonne docks perhaps.