Red Hot Blues [Hardcover]

Ms. Reggie Nadelson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 15, 1998

Artie Cohen is a good-looking New York City cop with a taste for women and jazz and no intention of looking back to the past he left behind twenty-five years earlier in Moscow. In Red Hot Blues, he is faced with a case that leaves him no choice but to confront that past. When a former KGB general is shot dead on live TV, Artie is compelled to take the case; the general was a friend of his father's. Artie doesn't have to go far until he is led into the heart of the Brighton Beach mafia, where the most lethal weapon on the street is rumored to be an elusive substance known as Red Mercury - an atomic weapon that has the terrifying advantage of being pocket-sized. Artie stumbles upon a radioactive trail of atomic smuggling that leads all the way back to Moscow. For Artie to solve this case, he must reclaim his past and return to the home he left behind. It is in Moscow that he finds love, tragedy, and the truth.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Reggie Nadelson, an American journalist and documentary filmmaker living in London, has created a fascinating character for her first mystery: Artie Cohen, a New York cop who was Artemy Maximovich Otalsky before he left Russia as a teenager. Artie, burned to a crisp by working on some of the worst crimes America has to offer, is seriously reconsidering his choice of careers when his old Russian mentor/hero--former KGB general Gennadi Ustinov--is shot dead on a live television talk show. Egged on by a slippery federal prosecutor and the beautiful woman who hosted the show, Artie goes after the truth about Ustinov's life and death. His search takes him through the streets of Brooklyn's Brighton Beach and a shiny new Moscow that is as full of dangerous potholes as the old one he left behind. The London Times called the book "A Gorky Park for the 1990s, as Dashiell Hammett might have done it," and they were right on the money.

From Publishers Weekly

When former KGB General Gennadi Ustinov is murdered on a live New York TV talk show, NYPD Detective Artie Cohen is called in. Cohen grew up in Moscow, where Ustinov had been his father's closest friend. His investigation leads him on a twisting path peopled with the Russian Mafia of Brooklyn's Brighton Beach, the other guests on the TV show and Chaim Brodsky, owner of a media empire that includes the TV station where the murder occurred. Ustinov's killer is soon identified as a young Russian named Lev, who worked as an "atomic mule," selling stolen radiation samples to anyone able to pay. In a rage at the immorality of these transactions, Cohen kills Lev. Cohen then flies to Moscow, which he comes to view as a hell where people will sell their souls for money to live on, though this dim vision lightens up when he falls in love with the beautiful Svetlana. Cohen's probing leads to death for the people close to him before he finally solves the puzzle. If Nadelson's debut is hampered by too many characters and plot complications, it makes up in energy what it lacks in elegance.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Minotaur Books; 1st edition (February 15, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312181663
• ISBN-13: 978-0312181666
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,448,517 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars New York/Russian Noir Thriller, September 3, 2009

By 

Lucinda Surber "Stop, You're Killing Me!" (New Mexico & California) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Red Hot Blues (Paperback)

Red Mercury Blues (APA: Red Hot Blues) introduces Artie Cohen, a New York cop who isn't eager to remember that he was once Artemy Maximovich Otalsky of Moscow. When Gennadi Ustinov, an old friend of his father and a former KGB general tries to make contact on a visit to New York, Artie ignores him until it is too late: Ustinov is shot on a live New York talk show and dies before Artie can talk to him. The reluctant Artie, fluent in Russian, is assigned to investigate the killing since the police figure that the answer lies somewhere with the Russian Jewish mafia of Brooklyn's Brighton Beach. Unfortunately no one will talk to a cop, so Artie takes a leave and puts the word out that he is available for hire. Artie identifies Ustinov's killer as a young Russian working as an atomic mule, selling stolen nuclear samples to the highest bidder, and dying of radiation poisoning. Though he swears he will never return to Moscow, Artie is compelled by his search for the truth to confront both his own past and Russia's uneasy present. This New York/Russian noir debut thriller places a troubled protagonist in a situation where he must make hard choices in order to do the right thing.

[...].

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A very sexy cop, January 25, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Red Hot Blues (Hardcover)

Artie Cohen, the hero of RED HOT BLUES is, most of all, a very sexy guy. The kind of guy who loves women who love him back. Maybe he seems like a bit of a womanizer, but it's really true to the way guys are. He's not a creep, he's not PC, either. He's also complex and complicated and more like a real human being than cop I've read in a long time. When you read it, you think Kevin Spacy or Kevin Kline or Jeff Bridges. The plot of RED HOT BLUES is dark and terrifying and takes Artie from Brighton Beach Brooklyn, rule of Russian mafia mobs back to Moscow where he was born and grew up. because the real secret of Artie Cohen is he was born Artemy Ostalsky, son of a KGB superstar, and a Jewish mother, and that they were forced out of Russian in the 70s--Artemy became Artie and after that he only wanted to be an American. A New Yorker. Nothing else seems to matter and you really identify with the sense of ambiguity that confronts most immigrants. The plot in which stolen nuclear materials become an international hazard is played out on both an epic and a small scale, so you are absolutely terrorized by the possiblity that there could real be a tiny nuke. I couldn't wait for more Artie Cohen books, and also loved Hot Poppies. Now Bloody London.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A mindbending thriller, February 16, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Red Hot Blues (Hardcover)

Artie Cohen loves being a swinging single New York City police officer. However, one memory he prefers to forget is his childhood growing up in Moscow. Artie's past and his present collide when a friend of his father, former KGB agent Gennadi Ustinov, is murdered on a live TV show. Artie is assigned to investigate the killing.

Artie soon finds himself in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, dealing with the notorious Russian Mafia. Artie learns that a minuscule nuclear weapon is being pedaled on the streets. He traces the nuclear trail back to Moscow where he meets a citizenry willing to sell everything and anyone for a price. Artie's cynicism is muted when he meets and falls in love with Svetlana. Meanwhile, people close to Artie are being killed, urging him to quickly uncover the identity of the murderer before anyone else he knows becomes the next victim.

RED HOT BLUES is a very good mixing of a police procedural with an international thriller. Artie, who struggles with his heritage, is a wonderful cop. The support cast (in Moscow and Brooklyn) add much authenticity, while the mean streets of both cities are brought to teeming life by Reggie Nadelson. Though the girth of characters (especially those with Russian names) may lead to some confusion, readers will want more novels starring Artie. Hopefully, the next book, HOT POPPIES, released in England will come to these shores very soon.

Harriet Klausner