Flesh and Blood - Softcover

Thomas H. Cook

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0006177069 ISBN 13: 9780006177067

Publisher: Fontana / Collins, 1990

Synopsis

Former Atlanta cop Frank Clemons, now an NYC private eye searching for the relatives of murdered Hannah Karlsberg, delves into the victim's puzzling history

About this title

From Publishers Weekly

Rich in character, complex in plot, Cook's second Frank Clemons novel, after the much-praised Sacrificial Ground , finds the former homicide detective relocated in New York. Now a private eye, Frank lives with Karen on the upper East Side, but he is falling out of love and becoming increasingly aware that his real sympathies lie with Manhattan's less-privileged citizens. That's one reason why he is drawn to the case of Hannah Karlsberg. Hannah, in her 70s, was brutally murdered (her right hand chopped off) in her apartment; her employer, a high fashion designer, hires Frank to locate Hannah's next-of-kin so the body can be released and buried. But Hannah's past is full of gaps and contradictions, and Frank is soon on a trail that begins in the Lower East Side sweatshops of the 1930s, where Hannah was a forceful strike leader for the American Garment Workers' Union. The scent then leads to a small village in Colombia, and ends in a settlement house in Brooklyn. Frank's investigation is steeped in a deep personal, lyrically evoked sorrow; talking with Hannah's old co-workers, he uncovers dark deeds and omissions that resonate with his own growing sense of isolation and betrayal. Cook constructs a many-layered and shimmering tale in which the history, locale and personality build to an unsuspected, satisfying end. BOMC alternate; Detective Book Club and Mysterious Book Club main selections.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Former policeman Frank Clemons, a private investigator, is hired by famous dress designer Imalia Covallo to find a relative of her slain employee so the police will release the body for burial. Frank reconstructs the dead woman's past: a garment worker and union activist, she mysteriously left for South America only to reappear in New York as the unknowing sidekick of a drug runner; she was a diligent assistant to Covallo. Frank experiences a deeply felt empathy for the woman and ends by discovering her murderer. Strong prose and steel-etched characters complete an enticing puzzle. Detective Book Club main selection. REK
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Fontana / Collins
• Publication date: 1990
• ISBN 10: 0006177069
• ISBN 13: 9780006177067
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 288