RED ROSA

“In this first-class new novel, the author’s one-armed private investigator Dan Fortune faces a tough question: Who would want to kill 88-year-old Rosa Gruenfeld, a lifelong firebrand Communist living in a seedy New York S.R.O. hotel, still spouting doctrine and passing out pamphlets?

Rosa survives her attackers bullet. Hospitalized, disoriented, near death, she’s visited by son Nicholas, who hasn’t spoken to her in years and who now makes no secret of his hatred. Granddaughter Lennie, a rock singer, hires Dan to find the would-be assassin, and Dan promptly becomes the target of unfathomable enemies.

The road to understanding leads him through Rosa’s tragic past; her three husbands, her children, and her brother; to Lennie’s support for the Black Liberation Force and its current cause — jailed ex-sports hero Isaiah Monroe; to New Jersey police and political biggies; to the miserable occupants of Rosa’s Oneida hotel; the FBI, and more.

When it’s all over, the pieces of the puzzle fit with sweet inevitability. Dan survives a variety of attacks to fight the good fight another day. The reader can hope it’s in a story as suspenseful, character-rich, and absorbing as this.”

— Kirkus Reviews

“rare ... smashing ....” — Publishers’ Weekly

“Conspiracy never sounded so good.” — Inside Books

“Gets you in the brain, in the heart, and in the gut.” — Mystery Scene magazine

“Here’s a crime novel you can sink your teeth into ... adventure and grit crafted from lusty language.” — Houston Post

“Lively characters and experiences rarely encountered in the tough-guy mystery.”
— Santa Barbara magazine