I've been putting this Chapter off because I haven't been in much of a mood to read over the last few months. No need to go into that now but last month I did mention that I'd started bringing a book to my chemo sessions (there's a lot of sitting around). I actually got through 80 pages then. I finished that book this month and started on a second. I thought I'd share the story about why I chose this book.
I was having some soup (actually broth only) in the Living Room while watching the afternoon news. I was looking around while it cooled off a little when I noticed 2 books on one of the shelves. They were by the same author and I remember picking them up at a library sale in Woodbridge about a year ago. What attracted me to them was the fact that they took place in The Bronx, my hometown. I started with the one with the oldest copyright date,
Series
Bronx Angel - Ed Dee ($6.50/$.50, copyright 1995, 350 pages, Paperback)
The basic plot is simple enough. A young cop is found dead with his pants around his ankles on a back street in The Bronx. Nearby, water has seeped through a retaining wall and frozen into what the locals believe is an angel. Police Detectives Anthony Ryan and Joe Gregory get assigned to the case and they have some ideas about how to pursue it but an ambitious boss has other ideas. She has them working nights interviewing prostitutes and investigating a sex club for transvestites. Along the way they have to deal with what may be a gang of rogue cops and Gregory's running for President of the Hibernian Society. All this while they ride around a Bronx that was very familiar to me. Ryan is the narrator and we learn a lot about his past, especially what he regrets, while he and Gregory try to make sense of the murder and it's aftermath. Dee is a retired cop and he must've worked in The Bronx because his characters and locations ring true. I enjoyed it.
I've started the other Dee book I had and have gotten through 98 pages. I noticed that "Bronx Angel" is actually the second book in the series and the one I'm reading is the third. I'm enjoying these so much that I ordered a copy of the first of the series from a Discount site that I use. It came in over the weekend,
One book is a start. I'm hoping next month that I can tell you about two or more.
I hope you had a Great Christmas. I wish you a Happy and Healthy New Year. And, until next month …
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