Rizzo's Fire [Hardcover]

Lou Manfredo (Author)

Book Description

Release date: March 1, 2011

As twenty-year NYPD veteran Joe Rizzo edges closer to retirement, things only seem to get harder: a new partner, a promise to his wife to quit smoking, and the most baffling case of his career—a murder investigation.

The victim, Robert Lauria, was practically a hermit and was dead ten days before anyone found him. Fired from his job as a shoe salesman weeks ago, he rarely left his apartment and had no visitors except his cousin, who says she hardly knew him. So who strangled him late one night as he made tea in his kitchen? And could there be a connection to the headline-grabbing murder of a Broadway producer a day earlier?

Armed with more street smarts than the FBI agents assigned to the more glamorous case, Rizzo and his new partner, Priscilla Jackson, are tasked with navigating the twin labyrinths of the case and NYPD politics in order to find the killer and bring him to justice.

Full of the sounds and sights of walking the beat in Bensonhurst, Rizzo’s Fire comes on the heels of Lou Manfredo’s acclaimed debut, Rizzo’s War, and brings the streets of Brooklyn to life in a way that no New York City crime novel has before.

Rizzo's Fire is a Kirkus Reviews Best of 2011 Mysteries title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Manfredo's prosaic second novel featuring Brooklyn Det. Sgt. Joe Rizzo (after Rizzo's War) gets off to a slow start. Rizzo, a battle-hardened veteran nearing retirement with a zen approach to his work ("It's not right, it's not wrong. It just is"), has a new detective partner, Priscilla Jackson, a lesbian African-American. Many chapters of routine police work and soap opera (Jackson's estranged from her mother, who cut her off over her sexual preference, while one of Rizzo's daughters wants to join the force against his wishes) pass before the pair start investigating the strangling homicide of ex-shoe clerk Robert Lauria. Lauria's death may be connected with a similar killing of a Pulitzer Prize–winning playwright, though oddly the police don't run the NYPD computer to check for similar murders. A less than gripping whodunit plot doesn't help. Fans of contemporary New York City crime fiction will find Reggie Nadelson's Artie Cohen series (Blood Count, etc.) more realistic. (Mar.)
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From Booklist

In Manhattan, the murder of an acclaimed playwright will make some NYPD detective a media darling. But in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, Detective Joe Rizzo has the usual fare: a mugger who preys on the elderly, a serial flasher, and the loser in a fistfight, who drunkenly seeks revenge with a hunting rifle. But then Bensonhurst has its own murder, the 62nd Precinct�s first in two years. The victim is an unemployed shoe salesman, and Rizzo and his new partner get the case. Their investigation soon produces a link between the two murders, and Rizzo gets caught up in the possibility of beating Manhattan to an arrest. Rizzo�s life and work are so compelling that readers will be surprised that the book�s linchpin, the shoe salesman�s murder, occurs almost halfway through it. Authenticity is the cornerstone of Manfredo�s work (Rizzo�s War, 2009), whether in his portrait of Brooklyn or his depiction of the �murky and morally ambivalent� world of the NYPD, which Rizzo desperately wants to keep his youngest daughter from joining. Fans of gritty procedurals will love this one. --Thomas Gaughan

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Minotaur Books; First Edition edition (March 1, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312538065
• ISBN-13: 978-0312538064
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #207,898 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Street Smarts June 10, 2011

By Ted Feit VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

There are many police procedurals, but few on the down and dirty street level of veteran detective Joe Rizzo, who has been around long enough to have collected all sorts of favors, seen most of everything possible in Brooklyn and developed his own set of standards, ignoring, often, "the book" but solving "the crime."

After wandering around for the first part of the novel, in which the characters are established and Rizzo's new, black, gay, female partner is introduced, and some amusing situations set the stage, the detectives catch a murder of an old recluse. At first blush, it appears to be a break-in, but nothing seems to be missing. Meanwhile, across the river in Manhattan, a Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright is also murdered. The MO's are similar, and the investigation progresses, as Rizzo puts it, by him following his nose.

This entertaining, but serious, book is the second in the series. Rizzo is depicted as a wise-cracking, street-wise cop, but he is very human. Throughout the novel, he faces torment when his youngest daughter decides to join "the cops." He is convinced it is a wrong choice for her, but is he man enough to stand by her decision? The book is well-written and enjoyable, and recommended.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Rizzo Not Quite Redux March 7, 2011

By Quixote010 VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

When I read Rizzo's War I was greatly impressed with Lou Mandfredo's initial characterization of Detective Joe Rizzo, a retiring New York cop who is struggling with wanting retirement while still fastened to the financial needs of college-aged children.

Manfredo's second novel featuring Rizzo is a much weaker effort than his first. Whereas Rizzo's War featured a concise, direct issue neatly and professional presented and completed, this effort is choppy. Too many events and too many activities may well reflect the daily operations of the NYPD, but they don't work as well in a novel. When one event after another stops short of the having something to do with the major event of the book, I kept asking myself "where is this going?"

Also, Rizzo's on-going effort to persuade his daughter to not join the force takes up an excess amount of the book, and really tends to lend no value other than to explain to the reader (again and again) how he feels about current and future of law enforcement.

What made Joe an interesting character in the first novel was his no-nonsense, street-smart ascertation and actions. Mandfredo does incorporates that feature into this novel, but not as directly nor as interestingly as he did in the first. Readers will enjoy Rizzo most when he is in his element: the streets of New York. When he ventures outside of that into family issues the story seems bogged down and less interesting. I first thought of Joe Rizzo as a more sophisticated, modern Harry Callihan. Now not so much. Harry Callihan at home doesn't work for me.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars A good, solid mystery April 15, 2011

By LynnK

Format:Hardcover

Det. Sargent Joe Rizzo is at the end of his career with the Brooklyn Police Department. Rizzo and his partner, Det. Priscilla Jackson, arrive at the apartment of Robert Lauria who was murdered days earlier.

Lauria was living like a hermit with no close friends or relatives, and Rizzo and Jackson believe his death is tied to the murder of a famous playwright in Manhattan. Trying to stay under the radar to prove the connection without giving away their information to Manhattan is a difficult task, but Rizzo is convinced this is the case that will end his long police career on a high note.

Meanwhile, Rizzo is facing a real problem at home; his youngest daughter wants to attend the police academy. Rizzo is dead set against her career choice because of his knowledge of how frustrating police work can be.

If Joe's retirement is truly just a year away, this series is going to be short lived which would be a shame. The banter between old world Italian Rizzo and Priscilla, an African American lesbian, livens up Manfredo's latest. RIZZO'S FIRE is a good, solid mystery, but the references to damaging information that Joe and his previous partner have on a local politico compel me to suggest that you read RIZZO'S WAR first. Lynn Kimmerle