Murder in Hell's Kitchen (Manhattan)

Murder in Hell's Kitchen (Manhattan)

“Lee Harris, author of the beloved Christine Bennett holiday mystery series, gives us a new detective and a grittier neighborhood in Murder in Hell’s Kitchen, but her storytelling skill remains top quality.”—Tony Hillerman After twenty years of loyal service, Detective Jane Bauer is just two months and one case away from leaving the NYPD for a cushy desk job. Her last assignment: working for a special unit that tackles unsolved crimes. At a crossroads in her personal life, Jane relishes the chance to lose herself in a challenging investigation. Four years ago, Arlen Quill was found dead in the entryway to his apartment building—leaving no clues, no witnesses, and no leads. When Jane decides to interview Quill’s old neighbors, she makes a startling discovery: Every single occupant at the time of the murder subsequently disappeared. Like any seasoned New Yorker, Jane knows that mere homicide isn’t enough to drive people from their rent-controlled apartments. In Hell’s Kitchen—where a cold case suddenly heats up—Jane soon finds herself face-to-face with a killer. . . . “Lee Harris heads off in an exciting new direction with  Murder in Hell’s Kitchen —a page-turner of a police procedural, in which a cold case turns hot and the suspense builds and builds. Detective Jane Bauer is a most welcome addition to the ranks of fictional cops.”—Peter Robinson “Lee Harris, author of the beloved Christine Bennett holiday mystery series, gives us a new detective and a grittier neighborhood in Murder in Hell’s Kitchen , but her storytelling skill remains top quality.” —TONY HILLERMAN “Lee Harris heads off in an exciting new direction with Murder in Hell’s Kitchen— a page-turner of a police procedural, in which a cold case turns hot and the suspense builds and builds. Detective Jane Bauer is a most welcome addition to the ranks of fictional cops.” —PETER ROBINSON After twenty years of loyal service, Detective Jane Bauer is just two months and one case away from leaving the NYPD for a cushy desk job. Her last assignment: working for a special unit that tackles unsolved crimes. At a crossroads in her personal life, Jane relishes the chance to lose herself in a challenging investigation. Four years ago, Arlen Quill was found dead in the entryway to his apartment building?leaving no clues, no witnesses, and no leads. When Jane decides to interview Quill?s old neighbors, she makes a startling discovery: Every single occupant at the time of the murder subsequently disappeared. Like any seasoned New Yorker, Jane knows that mere homicide isn?t enough to drive people from their rent-controlled apartments. In Hell?s Kitchen, where a cold case suddenly heats up?Jane soon finds herself face-to-face with a killer. . . . “Lee Harris, author of the beloved Christine Bennett holiday mystery series, gives us a new detective and a grittier neighborhood in Murder in Hell’s Kitchen , but her storytelling skill remains top quality.” —TONY HILLERMAN “Lee Harris heads off in an exciting new direction with Murder in Hell’s Kitchen— a page-turner of a police procedural, in which a cold case turns hot and the suspense builds and builds. Detective Jane Bauer is a most welcome addition to the ranks of fictional cops.” —PETER ROBINSON Lee Harris is the author of the popular mystery novels featuring ex-nun Christine Bennett. In 2001, Lee Harris received the Romantic Times magazine Career Achievement Award for her distinguished contribution to crime writing. Murder in Hell’s Kitchen is the first mystery starring Jane Bauer. Lee Harris’s e-mail address is mysmurder@aol.com. She also has a Web site which she shares with three other mystery authors. It can be found at www.NMOMysteries.com For seven days the picture had haunted front pages and small screens. In the overcast haze of a fall afternoon in downtown New York was the eerie image of the wheelchair with its small, lifeless occupant alone on the grass. The photograph had become the symbol of the dangers of a city so preoccupied with its own needs and wants that it ignored or overlooked a killing in its midst, that it passed alongside death and never stopped to look even once. The City Hall Park Murder, as it came to be called, had promised to be the case of a lifetime, the capping of a career, the most fitting of departures. But that was a week ago. Today Jane Bauer's life was upside down and she hadn't thought of the little figure in the wheelchair for at least eight hours. She looked at her watch once again. "We'll get there," Det. Martin Hoagland said. "I know. I just can't help looking." He was traveling north on Riverside Drive to avoid the problems on the Henry Hudson Parkway, which ran just west of the drive along the river of the same name. At red lights, he edged forward, then shot across. They drove along the western end of the Twenty-sixth Precinct, the Two-Six, her first assignment out of the Academy. Almost twenty years had passed since she had put on her blues, "th