Customer Reviews

Murder in Alphabet City: A Manhattan Mystery

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

After taking some time off to recover from her encounter with a serial killer, New York Police Department Detective First Grade Jane Bauer returns to duty in time to work a cold case with her two partners. Power broker Flavia Constantine wants the police to reopen the case of her brother Anderson Stratton who supposedly committed suicide eight years ago. She demands the police prove it was murder and find the perpetrator.

After doing multiple interviews, Jane discovers a link between Stratton, his social worker Erica Renzler and building superintendent Larry Vale. Jane assumes that Erica visited Stratton as an excuse to talk to Vale. Eight years ago Erica also supposedly committed suicide after she quit her job at social services; Jane thinks the two deaths are linked. When she finds Erica's secret postal box with hidden records hinting that she was involved in something illegal, both cases are officially reopened as murder investigations. Someone doesn't want the police investigating and someone named Bill Fletcher takes off with the daughter of Jane's partner. When that doesn't cause the detective to back off, someone tries to kill Jane.

This is a very dynamic and exciting police procedural. The author gives the audience a step-by-step insight into an ongoing investigation so that readers see how a case is solved. Jane is a remote individual so it is hard to warn up to her but nobody can doubt her dedication to solving the case especially after her two partners are deeply affected by one of the perpetrators. Lee Harris can always be counted on to give her fans an exciting mystery although her Manhattan mysteries are darker and grittier than the Christine Bennet tales.

Harriet Klausner

We were delighted to see this second entry in the Jane Bauer series about a NYPD Detective and her two sidekicks that specialize on cold cases. As the author's ex-nun Chris Bennett series seems to sputter a little, this new character is a welcome change from Lee Harris; one that features a somewhat grittier storyline and less family machinations than the "holiday" set. As with other reviewers, though, we do agree that Jane's ten-year affair with a married man (Hack) seems out of character, and a rather unwelcome twist to what we presume to be the author's values on such matters...

In the fine storyline, a mentally troubled man (Stratton) is dead from apparent self-starvation. His prominent sister, with connections high up in the NYPD, wants the case re-opened eight years later, as she never accepted it as a suicide. When Jane and partners Defino and MacHovec start interviewing people and chasing now-distant clues, a suicide of the man's case worker is discovered, which seems way too coincidental to the cops. Eventually that latter death is ruled a murder, and that case is reopened as well. Most of the book then actually pursues that crime and its real circumstances, outcome, and perpetrators to a somewhat surprising conclusion that significantly endangers Bauer. Possibly the only dissatisfaction to the novel is the somewhat unresolved status of Stratton's death.

We seem to enjoy Harris' mysteries and feel she is on the right track to promote Bauer's exploits and maybe let the other series fade away. If she can dream up further interesting cases and maybe fix Bauer's love life while she's at it, we predict she can pump out another dozen or so stories in this set! Not bad for an author with some forty books (under various names) already under her belt!

Eight years ago, Andrew Stratton starved to death. That was the official cause of death of the cold case Jane Bauer, NYPD, and her two partners are assigned to investigate. His prominent sister has gotten the brass to reopen the case.

As they investigate and begin tracking down people in his past, they discover the suicide of his social worker. Things don't add up and soon they discover it was murder. They continue investigating and trying to discover what really happened to Andrew and his social worker. And what were they involved in.

I really enjoy this series by Lee Harris. Jane Bauer is a great detective and I like the way she works and thinks. Generally, I read more light mysteries (generally called cozies), but this is one police procedural that I always read. The characters are well written and the stories are interesting. There is enough police action but without all the gore of other authors.

I highly recommend this book and series.

[...]

This book was a good enough and enjoyable read, however it didn't really truly satisfactorily solve the crime it tells you about on the back cover, which actually led to the one they spend most of the book on, which they finally figure out in the last 3 pages.
A few things in this book bothered me-1 there was more profanity they necessary, which I could have happily done without; and 2 the love interest in the book (which she doesn't even really tell you anything about his personality at all except to say he's everything she could ever want) is MARRIED and they having been having an affair for 10 YEARS--excess and stupid and wrong--she needs someone else and I don't see why the author had him as the love interest, or the excess foul language, unless she was tired of the holy ex-nun and went overboard with change.
Other than those 2 annoying things the book was enjoyable enough-as I did still want to read it all the way through, overall a good "rainy Tuesday morning" read, but go with the free library version on this one, unless you find it somewhere cheap.

With the Christine Bennett series getting stale, this is a wonderful alternative. With Jane being a NYPD detective, the stories are a lot more plausible and the writing just seems to be on a much higher level.

The only thing I don't like about the series is Jane's relationship with Hack. She comes across as such an intelligent, self-sufficient heroine in the books that it's disappointing to see her acting like a lovesick schoolgirl over a married man. Hopefully, as the series progresses, Hack will become history and Jane will find a real romance.

I want to state emphatically that I am a huge fan of Lee Harris. Adore the Christine Bennett stories and can't believe there are no more of them. I keep all mine and have reread them at least 3 times already. I just started ordering them for my sister who is in a group home in New Mexico. And, thanks Amazon for making it so easy to purchase them and have them shipped to her. Didn't think I'd like the Cold Case Unit Detective stories at first but really loved the first one when I got into it. Also really enjoyed Murder in Alphabet City till it came to near the end when the detectives find out how 4 babies died. Jane's glib assurance to the people at the laundry that "it was just an accident and nobody is to blame" is just so wrong that I'm surprised that it ever got past the book editor. Lee Harris is supposed to know so much about the police and the law that I can't believe that she never heard the phrase "criminally negligent homicide" or "injury to a child" and just passes over the deaths of 4 babies like it wasn't really important. I guess I let myself get upset about it even though I kept telling myself "it's fiction - didn't actually happen". It just disappointed me that Lee Harris could have written that because I am such a great admirer of her books. I sort of wish that Jane Bauer could find a man who isn't already married but it's a very human thing about her that she doesn't really want a man that she might have to actually commit to at some point in time. What she has with "Hack" is all that she is really capable of having with a man. Very human trait that makes her character more interesting.

I really like this Manhattan Series. The characters are very believable and the Cold Cases always appear totally different than they end up. This one starts with an emaciated rich young mentally impaired man found dead alone in his living room. It has been 8 years since this happened and the Team takes it on (pressured by the Brass) and away it goes.