Bloody London (Artie Cohen) Book

"Blood floats. It was the first thing I noticed that morning. It spread slowly outward over the water in the swimming pool uptown". So begins Reggie Nadelson's third Artie Cohen novel with the Russian/American private eye leaving a New York basking in an Indian summer for damp London as part of his investigation into the Manhattan murder of a rich Englishman. The body was found in the swimming pool of an exclusive apartment block. Russian gangsters are buying themselves respectability in the form of upper East Side apartments. Any connection? What do you think? The New York inhabited by the emigrant Russian community is vividly captured. London as seen by Artie is equally evocative. He arrives as the bonfires of November 5 light up the sky. He drinks champagne and goes to the Groucho Club. But "London is rough" and soon the river turns from a tourist attraction into an act of god as a Millennial flood threatens to engulf the city. Artie's job, his personal life and his family history become ever more entwined and when the conclusion ultimately comes it is both surprising and satisfying. "When I'm at a murder scene I like to think about in metaphors", mutters Artie. "It passes the time and keeps you sane". He said it. Bloody London has it all. History and geography. Liquid and solid. Life and death. --Nick WroeRead More