Siegel, James, (Epitaph [hc, Mysterious Press, 2001] 978-0892967124 [pb, Mysterious Press, 2003] 978-0446678704 [William Riskin is a retired, “energy-deficient” New York private investigator spending his golden years working as a janitor at a Queens off-track betting office. He is essentially lonely and waiting to die. His quiet life is disrupted when he reads the obituary of his former detective business partner, Jean Goldblum. Goldblum was a concentration camp survivor and supposed WWII Resistance hero, but he also brutally destroyed Riskin’s marriage by revealing an affair. At Goldblum’s funeral, Riskin is handed a list of names left behind by his ex-partner. The list contains several elderly retirees who supposedly moved from New York to Florida but completely disappeared along the way. Driven by complex lingering emotions and a desire to finish what Goldblum called the “biggest case of his life,” Riskin takes over the investigation. Riskin acts as the central investigator, traveling from Flushing to Miami. Despite battling physical ailments like arthritis and exhaustion, he methodically pieces together dark secrets. His investigation exposes a trail leading back to occupied France and a WWII criminal based on Dr. Marcel Petiot. Ultimately, Riskin’s role is to uncover the truth—including Goldblum’s own dark, morally corrupt complicity in wartime atrocities. – Google/AI]
United States · Fiction author
James Siegel
James Siegel (born 1954, New York City) – Raised in New York City, he attended York College of the City University of New York, supporting himself at one point by driving a taxi before beginning a distinguished career at the advertising agency BBDO, where he rose to become Vice Chairman and Executive Creative Director. After leaving commercial advertising, he also created political advertising for prominent Democratic campaigns. He then turned to writing thrillers, two of which are relevant here::
Siegel, James, (Detour [hc, Warner Books, 2005] 978-0446531856 [pb, Time Warner, 2005] 978- 0751536133 [While the core plot revolves around an American couple caught up in a dangerous Colombian kidnapping and drug-smuggling scheme, a significant portion of the book’s second half heavily features Jewish characters and specific New York Jewish cultural subcultures. Miles Goldstein is the Orthodox Jewish lawyer based in New York who initially coordinates the international adoption for the protagonists, Paul and Joanna Breidbart. When the plot goes sideways, Paul turns to him for desperate assistance. Moshe Skolnick is a dangerous and powerful Brighton Beach Russian mobster whom Paul and Miles must deal with as the conspiracy deepens. When the main character, Paul, returns to New York forced to act as a drug mule, his quest to save his family takes him deep into the highly insular worlds of Brooklyn’s Orthodox Jewish communities and the Russian-Jewish immigrant enclaves of Brighton Beach. The book uses these distinct cultural backdrops to ground the fast-paced thriller elements in local New York color. - Google/AI]