Publisher Description

WELCOME TO NEW YORK A PERILOUS PLAYGROUND FOR THE RICH, THE YOUNG AND THE TROUBLED, AND THE CRIMINALS WHO PREY UPON THEM. Fueled by black coffee and vengeance, Felix Novak speeds across the country to New York City on a mission to find and kill whoever's responsible for his sister's death. Felix's childhood friend, Soraya Navarro, collided with the drug-addled Penelope the night she died. But Soraya may be too close to the nightclub establishment to really help. With time against him, Felix is forced to turn to the last person he wants to see: his father. A disgraced former cop turned P.I., Franklin Novak has the connections and muscle to work the city's underworld. Soraya doesn't trust Franklin, and the past has given her good reason. But Felix knows Franklin may be their only hope if they're ever going to catch his sister's killer.

Author Biography

Alex Minter is the author of Killing Cousins and Little Sister's Last Dose. 

Review

Ethan Black author of Dead for Life A hip and gritty triumph. Dark, dangerous and cool. I want to see more of these characters soon. Lauren Henderson author of the Sam Jones series A beautifully written, hypnotically subtle tour through the hip underground of New York, with a cute guy in a cowboy hat to boot! I was very resentful of anything that came between me and finishing this book. Jon Katz author of Geeks and the Suburban Detective mystery series Alex Minter brilliantly redefines the New York mystery genre. Felix Novak and Soraya Navarro are a great new sleuthing pair, two hip, contemporary and complex kids whose stomping ground is the hottest real estate on the planet -- Manhattan. This is a terrific new contribution to mystery readers and lovers, wherever they live.

Long Description

WELCOME TO NEW YORK A PERILOUS PLAYGROUND FOR THE RICH, THE YOUNG ANDTHE TROUBLED, AND THE CRIMINALS WHO PREY UPON THEM. Fueled by black coffee and vengeance, Felix Novak speeds across the country to New York City on a mission to find and kill whoever's responsible for his sister's death. Felix's childhood friend, Soraya Navarro, collided with the drug-addled Penelope the night she died. But Soraya may be too close to the nightclub establishment to really help.With time against him, Felix is forced to turn to the last person he wants to see: his father. A disgraced former cop turned P.I., Franklin Novak has the connections and muscle to work the city's underworld. Soraya doesn't trust Franklin, and the past has given her good reason. But Felix knows Franklin may be their only hope if they're ever going to catch his sister's killer.

Review Quote

Lauren Hendersonauthor of theSam JonesseriesA beautifully written, hypnotically subtle tour through the hip underground of New York, with a cute guy in a cowboy hat to boot! I was very resentful of anything that came between me and finishing this book.

Excerpt from Book

Chapter 1 Felix Novak crossed into Manhattan at about half-past one in the morning, on the last of what had been a succession of unusually hot March nights. He came off the George Washington Bridge and coasted down Broadway. He told himself again that he knew where he was headed and fought to keep cool against the great human surge of the city. Within minutes he''d made eye contact with a man who told him to go the fuck on back home, with a woman who smiled and ran her hand over the sparkling purple paint on the hood of his car. Soon he was caught up in late night Times Square traffic. He found himself banging on his horn for what felt like the first time in his life. Then he eased back, remembered what he was here to do, turned down the old Nirvana that always helped him think. He looked away from the tourists who stared at his ''70 Roadrunner, beaten down but still beautiful, Plum Crazy and powerful as any production ever built, by every standard Detroit ever set. When he''d called Soraya Navarro that morning, she''d said to meet her at a place called Eden-Roc. He had the address. He''d been driving straight for a day and hadn''t slept since Cleveland. But he couldn''t stand the idea of waiting anymore. He drove fast, one hand on the map he''d bought, and soon got down to the south edge of Chinatown. He slid along Chrystie Street and stared around him. He smelled the hard mix of hot oil and food and exhaust fumes. He looked out at Chinese men in white shirts, black pants, and sneakers, sitting on benches in front of something that looked like a garbage-strewn highway median. His map called it Roosevelt Park. Behind the men, he saw bunches of kids chasing one another through pools of yellow light. He found Canal Street on his third try. He circled around, cut right onto Eldridge Street, and parked. Salsa music came pulsing out of the brightly lit store on the corner -- Richie''s Bodega. More men stood there, all Latin, drinking Coronitas poorly hidden in brown paper bags. They ignored him. A low doorway across the street was marked by a black awning that had the street number written across it in dark blue script. That was all. Felix checked the address Soraya had given him. It matched. He leaned against his car, his tan suede cowboy hat pulled low over his dirty brown hair, blue jeans stiff from sitting, a rumpled white windbreaker covering his sweatshirt. A doorman with a shaved head opened the mirrored door and a couple dressed in black came out and turned west, acknowledged no one. Felix waved at the doorman, who did not react. Felix came across the street. Still the doorman was unseeing. "I''m looking for Soraya Navarro," Felix said. "She knows me." Felix heard the steady bump of hand-scratched bass coming from inside the club. The doorman disappeared. Felix went back and stood by his car. The doorman came out with a pink-eyed albino pit bull on a short metal chain. He stepped into the street. "She''ll be along," the doorman said. Felix said nothing. The dog pulled toward him and the man tugged hard on the chain. He saw the dog wince and cower. The man kicked the dog behind its rib cage. The dog whined and sat down on the curb. "She likes you," the man said. Felix squatted down and looked the dog in the eyes, said, "That makes one of us." The man stopped smiling and got ready to kick the dog again. But he stopped when Soraya Navarro came fast through the doors and moved across the street. She was in low-cut black cords and a black gypsy tee, with her hair shooting out at all angles. She came up and hugged Felix hard. He felt the tension ease out of him, like breath released after cars don''t collide. And then he was crying. Soraya said, "I''m sorry we''ve got to say hello like this." Felix crushed into her like there hadn''t been a dozen years since he''d seen her, and then he knew he''d never hugged her before, certainly not when she was eight and he was eleven. But still, he didn''t let her go. Then he felt the doorman''s gaze and made himself stop. "Walk with me," Soraya said. He saw her nod to the doorman. She was definitely grown. Just nineteen now and no more tomboy about her. She was as tall as him in her boots, with brown skin, long black hair. But there was the same dark scar below her left eye, in the shape of a crescent moon. "Don''t worry about your car," Soraya said. "Danny will look after it. My boyfriend, Gus Moravia, manages the place." They walked east, toward the river. The sidewalk was slick with oil and the remains of the day''s markets, fish scales and rotting vegetables. Felix let his steps grow careful. They were surrounded by redbrick tenements, with dozens of open windows. They heard a radio playing songs in Chinese. A squirrel-sized rat ran out of an open black garbage bag on the curb and disappeared between close-set iron bars over a restaurant. Felix looked at Soraya. She''d jerked back but then moved on without comment. "Tell me about Penelope," Soraya said. "I''m sick about what happened to her and I know I can help you. But first -- tell me good things about her." He kept it brief, which wasn''t hard. He hadn''t seen his sister for over three months before she''d died. She''d been running away on and off for years before that, and in the last year, no matter what he''d said, he couldn''t get her to come back home to Oregon and see their mother. Then she''d stopped talking to him. Now nothing was left but nightmares and the half hour of funeral that he''d had to run himself. "I miss her," Felix said. "My mom keeps getting so frustrated with me. She says she feels like since we left this place, Penelope was the only person I ever trusted. And she''s right. Then Penelope comes back here, and a few months later, she''s gone." Soraya put her arm around Felix''s shoulders. He just kept shaking his head. To their left were acres of vast gray projects, which blotted out most of the eastern sky. Cars hurtled past them on Allen, turned hard on Delancey, and headed down to the Williamsburg Bridge. Felix said, "All I know is what''s long past. She was running with some serious users by the time she left Portland, I can tell you that for sure. Of what happened here, you probably know more than me." "I saw her, back there at Eden-Roc, just one time, about a week before she passed." Soraya stopped. "One of the men she was with is called Max Udris. He does contracting for Gus''s boss, Terrence Cheng." "What kind of work?" "Interiors, that kind of thing. Gus told me Max doesn''t deal, but...he must''ve known the group she was with. There''s always drugs around clubs. It''s something you can''t avoid, like drunks in a bar. Felix, I saw her using. And I asked Gus to bring me to Max, but he doesn''t want to cross his boss." "Max Udris. That''s one more name than the police were able to give me." "The police don''t know anything about what goes on inside Terrence Cheng''s clubs," Soraya said. "That much I know for sure. Pick me up tomorrow." She wrote out information on an Eden-Roc card. Felix looked north, at the lights of Midtown, and felt the gas-heavy air blow around him. Then he looked at Soraya and saw that she''d grown beautiful. Her face was intense, and he imagined that her look was sought after, and further, that she probably knew it. He decided to say something before his own face betrayed his thoughts. "You really turned out incredible looking, Soraya. Who''d have thought it, considering what a tough little tomboy you were." She looked up at him, fast, searched his face. "Liar," she said. "You always thought I was hot. Probably you think it less now and so you''re talking to cover up. Here''s my numbers. You have a cell phone with you?" He shook his head. She bit her lip and her face was suddenly open and young. "Don''t think I''m not sorry," she said. "This has been bothering me for months. I feel like Penelope was my sister, too." Felix breathed in, slow. He''d felt utterly alone since the funeral -- and he thought it was wrong to lose that feeling now. But Soraya was like family. And he needed somebody, that was for sure. He wouldn''t go to the old man, and there was no way he could search the city alone. "I know how to say goodbye to people," Felix said. "But her -- I didn''t think I''d have to say goodbye to her." "Back when we were kids, you used to trust me, too." "I''ve gotten harder since then," Felix said. "You can still trust me. I promise. I know I can help." Felix left her. He drove north and then west and parked on a quiet street next to some dark row houses. He pored over his five-borough map by a streetlight. He closed his eyes and thought, Horatio Street. He leaned forward to look up through his dirty windshield and the sign above showed him he was learning fast. He fell asleep, cowboy hat pulled down low, head back. He rested his right hand on the steering wheel, his left on his money clip and the short aluminum billy club he kept tucked under his thigh. Everything else he''d brought was in the trunk. A few minutes before dawn, a patrol car stopped next to him. A policeman rapped on the window and woke him up. "Welcome to New York, huh?" Felix said. "That''s right, genius. You want to sleep in this town, go get yourself a room with a bed in it," the cop said. Felix nodded. He eased his hand off the club and started his engine. The last phone call he''d gotten from Penelope had found

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