14 Peck Slip [Mass Market Paperback]

Ed Dee (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 1995

When two veteran New York City detectives, Anthony Ryan and Joe Gregory, discover the body of a police captain floating off South Street Seaport's Peck Slip, their investigation threatens to turn their own force against them. Reprint. NYT. PW.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

They arrive every season like clockwork, those cops-turned-novelists who are promoted as the "next Wambaugh." But Dee, a retired 20-year veteran of the NYPD, may be the real thing. While his first novel lacks Wambaugh's raucous humor, there's no doubt that it's told in an authentic and powerful voice. When Dee's narrator, NYPD detective Tony Ryan, describes the streets of the Fulton Fish Market as "cobblestones coated with grease from a century of fish" or visits a bar where "the air was warm and damp and smelled of cigars, pine needles, and wet wool from a dozen damp overcoats," the sense of place is almost palpable. In 1982, Ryan and his partner, Joe ("The Great") Gregory, come across the body of a crooked cop who, 10 years earlier, was due to testify before the Knapp Commission investigating police corruption before he disappeared. Their investigation keeps bringing them closer to the worst possible revelation: that detective John "Jinx" Mulgrew was murdered not by the mob, but by fellow cops. Though it will be obvious to some readers that a seemingly peripheral character is deeply involved in the mystery, this flaw is far outweighed by Dee's way with words. Here's Dee's take on the stresses that cops experience when working nights: "It happened to cops all the time: guys work all night, sleep all day. They lose track of wives, kids, days, months, lies they've told, bars they can't get back into, women they've screwed, stories about them that aren't true." Any writer who can sing NYPD blues like that is worth keeping an eye on.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

In 1982, while on a stakeout, detectives Joe Gregory and Anthony Ryan see a group of neighborhood enforcers dump a white barrel into Manhattan's East River. The divers who are sent to retrieve it find the wrong barrel, which happens to contain the body of Jinx Mulgrew, a detective who disappeared during an investigation of police corruption ten years before. Gregory and Ryan set about piecing together the fragments of this elaborate puzzle. Dee, a first-time author and former New York City policeman, has captured and succinctly portrayed his former profession in this very tidy novel. Readers of the police procedural will welcome Dee to the ranks of such outstanding novelists as William J. Caunitz and Joseph Wambaugh. Highly recommended.
Jo Ann Vicarel, Cleveland Heights-University Heights P.L., Ohio
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Warner Books (August 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0446602388
• ISBN-13: 978-0446602389
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 4.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,129,289 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Color It Gritty, May 25, 2002

By 

sweetmolly (RICHMOND, VA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: 14 Peck Slip (Mass Market Paperback)

Debut novel (1994) of Ed Dee does not read like a novice work. It is amazingly mature and a first rate police procedural. Narrator Anthony Ryan is a complex, broody man with a heartbreaking sense of loyalty to his family, his partner, and his job. When these loyalties are at odds, which they often are, Ryan's suffering is almost palpable. He drinks more than is good for him, spends too much of his off time with the boys in blue, and gives too much time to the job. His sensitivity to his patient wife's moods and anxieties is always with him like a rainy cloud hovering overhead. Exuberant partner, Joe Gregory, is an extroverted, imaginative total cop who has stripped his life of any encumbrance that could possibly stand in the way of his ambition, high good humor, and complete devotion to the job.

Though Anthony and Joe are born New Yorkers and the city itself is a major presence, the book has the flavor of the best British procedurals with its mean streets and melancholy detectives. Nothing is clear-cut and nothing is easy.

Anthony and Joe, while on surveillance at the Fulton Fish Market, witness a white barrel being dumped in the river by some very suspicious (read mobbed up) guys. Joe is convinced a body is in the barrel, and wants full action taken immediately. Anthony is not so sure, as the last time Joe got this excited, the body turned out to be a dog, and they are still living down the embarrassment. Joe prevails; divers arrive and locate---the wrong barrel. The rusty wrong barrel contains the body of detective Jinx Mulgrew, missing these last ten years. Mulgrew had disappeared under a cloud. Known as the King of the Bagmen, he had been about to give evidence to the Knapp Commission. Smart money had it that he had taken the cash and ran. Was it a mob hit or his fellow policemen? Neither side wanted Jinx to spill the beans. Joe sees the case as a shining opportunity to get his gold shield. Anthony thinks it will be a can of worms. As the case wears on, sometimes it seems they are getting more cooperation from the mob than the police department.

Every page of this finely constructed novel has the stamp of accuracy. Mr. Dee's expertise as a former NYC detective serves him well. "14 Peck Slip" is entertaining, puzzling, and an overall good read. Rating: B+

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Job, March 24, 2000

By 

Baywriter (San Francisco) - See all my reviews

This review is from: 14 Peck Slip (Mass Market Paperback)

I happened across this book on our office used book shelf. Started it that evening and couldn't put it down until I finished it the next day. The real main character in this book is The Job--and, through excellent choices, the author shows us how that main character affects all who come in contact with it. The Job influences the lives of not only the police officers, but also their families, friends and associates. The detectives, Ryan and Gregory, are nuanced and fully-dimensional. The realities of their profession are uncovered for examination, leaving the reader to make her own judgments. I'm looking forward to Mr. Dee's other books.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 14 Peck Slip, August 31, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: 14 Peck Slip (Mass Market Paperback)

Just when I'd started to get sick to death with all these detective books that concentrated only on serial killers, where the detectives were so like James Bond that you couldn't believe them, along comes Ed Dee. Dark, gritty, sad but also very amusing.Yeah, some of the characters are larger than life but they are believeable, they show there frailities, pain and cares. They are human, well maybe not Gregory (only a joke).
The story well, there's a years old missing cop, a criminal gang, a bit of corruption, and a dog, not necessarily in the order.
All in all its a must read, a feel somewhere between Blade runner and a Bogart PI movie, dark 3am and its raining feel to it, but with the sought of humour that will have you coming back for more.
This is darker than any of his other books but I reckon the best.