09/17/2010 (7:42 pm)
First-time novelist mines familiar but interesting territory “In the Shadow of Gotham”
The Edgar Allen Poe Awards features a prize for “Best First Novel by an American Author.” Such a claim doesn’t imply that the novel is perfectfar from it. Instead, it applauds a writer first for the difficult task of creating a book that can hold a reader’s attention, and secondly for displaying a talent that can only grow with time. The 2010 award went to Stefanie Pintoff’s In the Shadow of Gotham. While the book does have its flaws, it remains a fascinating mystery story with room to grow.The book takes place in New York in the year 1905. Turning a complex mystery into a period piece (or vice versa, if you prefer) is not a new accomplishmentCaleb Carr is perhaps the most notable practitionerbut the comparison comes off much better for the first-time author than you would expect. Pintoff’s story brings protagonist Det. Simon Ziele into contact with turn-of-the-century criminologists, feminist protestors, and accurate depictions of historical New York locales. It’s true that Pintoff sometimes has the tendency to over-describe, laying her settings or set-pieces out in almost-clinical detail. [»]
