Small Town: A Novel of New York

One of the premier crime writers of our time delivers a mesmerizing thriller about the effects of a tragedy on a disparate group of New Yorkers whose lives begin to intersect. A beautiful young woman called Marilyn picks up a stranger in a bar and takes him home to her Manhattan apartment. The next morning her housekeeper arrives, unwittingly cleans the crime scene, then enters the bedroom to wake his client, to discover her strangled body. Marilyn's life and death have far-reaching effects on others, even people she has never met: a charismatic former police commissioner on the verge of a breakdown; a struggling writer on the verge of a breakthrough; a folk art dealer plumbing the depths of her own fierce sexuality; a lawyer who prefers murder trials because there's one less witness; and in the shadows of a city reeling from 9/11, an unlikely mass murderer waging a one-man war against everyone. In telling this big, gripping, multi-faceted story, Block not only brings to life in brilliant detail his beloved New York City, but makes it crystal clear that he is one of the most talented, innovative and surprising crime writers in the business.