Digital audiobook performed by David Bendena

After his wife left him and his partner was killed, detective sergeant Woodrow Cain left North Carolina to start over in New York City. But it’s 1942 and the USA has entered the war against Germany and Japan. When a body is found floating in the Hudson River. Cain meets a man named Danzinger. He looks like a “crackpot,” but he speaks five languages fluently and has the manners of a man of means and education. But who is he really? And is Danzinger really helping Cain solve the murder, or ensnaring him in a larger espionage plot?

This was really a great read. Many of the hallmarks of literary fiction, as well as the pace of an espionage thriller. The characters are fully realized, and I liked the way Fesperman wove their relationships together. The writing is atmospheric, and the setting is vividly portrayed. There are enough plot twists to keep the most ardent mystery fan guessing. I thoroughly enjoyed it and look forward to reading more works by Fesperman.

David Bendena does a marvelous job of performing the audiobook. He’s a talented voice artist and is able to use a variety of accents as required by the eclectic mix of characters. ( )

Un très subtil roman policier new yorkais, conspirationniste à souhait… et pour une fois c'est une qualité! ( )

Two unlikely partners work together on murders related to national security during the early years of WWII. A former North Carolinian now working on the NYPD becomes involved with a professional letter writer, a man who makes his living collecting information and passing it on. Each man has a past and they gradually come to trust one another. Corruption threatens on all sides.

This was a nice literary mystery/speculative fiction, but left me wanting somehow. It's not that this book was not good, more that my expectations were too high. I loved reading about New York City in wartime-- it was a nice history lesson, and, having recently been to the city, made the places easy to recall. (In fact, it's one of those books I wish I'd read before my visit, so that I could look at places in modern day and say, "ah ha! I see!") I think the world of Danziger, the letter writer, also held a fascination for me because of my heritage, and my family that had to flee Europe before and during WWII. I think part of my feeling unfulfilled had to do with wanting more of that world. Woodrow Cain, the policeman from small town North Carolina, now in the big city, who ends up working with Danziger, was a sympathetic character, too, but his story doesn't touch mine quite as much. But Dan Fesperman's writing was engaging, and all I can say is the fault is mine, not his in the telling of this tale.

tags: 2016-read, made-me-look-something-up, places-i-have-been, taught-me-something, thank-you-charleston-county-library, thought-i-was-gonna-like, will-look-for-more-by-this-author ( )