Redemption Street: A Moe Prager Mystery

By Reed Farrel Coleman

Book Overview

Walking the Perfect Squareintroduced Moe Prager?retired New York City cop-turned-wine shop owner?to much acclaim and an enthusiastic readership. Still possessed of his vintage police savvy, and perhaps the only Jewish licensed PI in the five boroughs, Moe wonders if he?s really meant to be a merchant and not a cop. Redemption Streetfinds him in 1981, lured into the mystery of a 1966 hotel fire?one that killed seventeen people, including his first love?by a long-grieving brother and Moe?s own restless determination to set things right.Reed Farrel Coleman?s crisp, page-turning narrative has Moe trudging through his childhood summer vacation stomping grounds, the now-decaying Catskill resort scene. The borscht belt?s near-forgotten landscape of scarred lives, ambitious politicians, and corrupt cops is the minefield Moe must brave to find the truth. Was the fire really sparked by a negligent smoker or was it murder? Will the long dead keep their secrets or divulge their stories? And will what Moe uncovers lead him down another blind alley or into the bright light of Redemption Street?

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0670032913
• ISBN13: 9780670032914
• Release Date: March 2004
• Publisher: Viking
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.86 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.3" x 1.0" x 5.5"

Customer Reviews

Redemption Street

Moe Prager is a hard-boiled ex-cop with a nose for trouble and a nose for the guilty. This is an excellent read from beginning to end and Reed Farrell Coleman kept me on the edge of my seat from the first page. This is loaded with suspense, culminating in an unspeakable terror that happened long ago. The murderer is revealed at just the right time. I highly recommend this to anyone who likes Edgar Award winning novels.

Richly Worked Detective Novel

I'm really hooked on Coleman's writing. Rich characters and suspense all wrapped into one.

I love these books

I read the Moe Prager books out of order--third one first, then back to the first and second--but it didn't hurt a bit. The writing here is so good--Moe's such an appealing character--and the stories are so interwoven from book to book that it was almost MORE fun to experience them backwards, as it were. I can't wait for the next one!

A gritty mystery

Moe Prager, former cop, current wine merchant and a guy with a P.I. license is approached by an apparent looney tune who wants Moe to investigate a decades old fire in New York's "borscht belt" that killed several people. Inclined to dismiss the man at first, Moe is pushed by his memory of one of the victims: a girl he had a crush on in high school. Moe is pulled deeper into things and then deeper and deeper. The characters are rich: a callous Manhattan real estate developer; a former comedian who missed his big-chance and runs a decaying hotel. A neo-Nazi and his hangers-on. Moe runs the gauntlet, always pining for his wife and child, always nudged by his brother and fellow wine-merchant. But once Moe gets involved, he doesn't let go - and the reward is an exceptionally fine read.(...)Jerry

Intelligent crime fiction with heart

The sequel to the fantastic Walking Perfect Square is a great read. Without giving away the tight plot it is enough to say that Coleman's intelligent references to pop culture as well as classical literature give a depth to the character of Moe Prager rarely seen in books today. The steady build of tempo and logical, realistic moves by Prager make it difficult to put down.Reed Coleman is a writer to watch!