Detective John Stone of the NYPD has the best arrest record in the 43rd precinct. But he’s a dinosaur who belongs to another age. Detective Carmen Dehan has such a bad attitude that nobody at the precinct can stomach her. Captain Jennifer Cuevas wants them both out of the way and thinks they make a perfect pair. So she gives them the Cold Cases file – the cases nobody gives a damn about. She has … about.
She has no idea just how hot a cold case can get.
Ten years back Nelson Hernandez and his four cousins were playing poker in a dive at Hunts Point. Somebody came in, blew them away and beheaded and castrated Nelson, leaving his head and his balls on the table. There was no shortage of suspects, the Jersey Mob, the Triads from Manhattan, or the 43rds own bent cop, Mick Harragan. But nobody was ever charged, and the night of the murder Mick Harragan went missing with Nelson’s wife, Maria.
Now Stone and Dehan plan to find him – whatever the consequences…
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So often, books disappoint. Well, here’s one that doesn’t. Not a wasted word, labored passage, or forced plot point. Just good clean story-telling and suspension of belief that works. Yes, the plot is complicated and sometimes it’s hard to keep track of all the different characters. But that’s okay because this book is about an old-time detective – not quite over the hill but designated a dinosaur nonetheless – who schools a young female colleague and does so with intellect, wit, and use of the English language.
To be fair, the book has the mob, Mexican gangs, the Triad and others floating about here and there. But its heart is Stone, the NYPD cop who never quits , and Carmen, who will probably become just like him in 20 years.
SPOILER ALERT: There is no romance in “Ace and a Pair.” And that’s kind of interesting. It made me realize how often romance is thrown in gratuitously when a man and a woman work together. Of course there are plenty of relationships that develop in the workplace but there are many more that don’t. It was refreshing not to have the plot and characters clouded by an “ordinary” roll in the hay. Kudos to Blake Banner for avoiding that trap.
Definitely looking forward to more from this author!