Death's Little Helpers

Starred review from May 30, 2005
Shamus-winner Spiegelman's intricate, intelligent second thriller to feature all-too-human New York PI John March (after 2003's Black Maps
) explores skulduggery in the world of high finance. Nina Sachs, a high-strung Brooklyn artist, hires March to find her missing ex-husband, Gregory Danes, an arrogant stock analyst who became a media star during the last bull market. Sachs hates Danes, but he's the father of their teenage son and her primary money supply (alimony, child support). March uncovers a huge list of potential enemies: investors burned by Danes, a vindictive ex-mistress, a scary Russian mobster and a reclusive hedge fund manager. That someone else is also looking for Danes—someone with the resources to surveil March, his girlfriend and his extended family—adds to the suspense. Spiegelman makes all the details ring true, and his fine prose can be lyrical (a spring rain gives Manhattan "a scrubbed, surprised look, like a drunk, waking up sober and in his own bed for the first time in a long time"). While the determined March has the requisite grit, he is also appealingly vulnerable and introspective. If it's hard to care too much about the victim, Spiegelman makes the search extremely compelling. Agent, Denise Marcil.

February 1, 2005
Black Maps P.I. John March is after a ruined Wall Street analyst who has literally fallen off the map. With a five-city tour.

Copyright 2005 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 1, 2005
Well-heeled, demon-haunted Manhattan PI John March returns in this uneven but ultimately satisfying sequel to " Black Maps" (2003). The first half of the novel threatens to sink under the weight of its own prose, what with whale-bloated descriptive passages cataloging every walnut-paneled location, investigative Web search, and head-clearing jog under purple-tinged clouds. (Perhaps Spiegelman's editor misplaced his red pen?) But March, an ex-cop still struggling to get over his wife's death and engaging in an uneasy dance with siblings who stayed in the family investment-banking business, remains a canny, winning protagonist. And the missing-persons case driving this tale--a fallen-star stock analyst with a balance sheet full of enemies storms out of his office one day and into thin air--picks up more than enough steam to deliver a rousing finale. The author, a veteran of the financial-services industry, knows how to follow the money. But he also has a strong feel for human relationships, which proves an even bigger asset. And Spiegelman introduces an intriguing Russian Mob boss who seems destined to lead March into a (more) thrilling third adventure.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2005, American Library Association.)

Starred review from July 15, 2005
Spiegelman's debut, "Black Maps", introduced John March, former upstate sheriff's investigator -turned -NYC private eye. Here March, who's been in self-imposed isolation since the murder of his wife, again encounters the world of high finance (the writer's own extensive background), as he searches for a missing stock analyst even after the client, the analyst's ex-wife, fires him. Someone else is looking for the same man, March soon realizes, someone with immense power and the ability to threaten March's own relatives and girlfriend. He doggedly continues, however. What sets Spiegelman's books apart from the competition is his considerable writing skill, complicated yet fair plots with more than one twist, and the developing character of March, a complex and tortured soul with a mouth as quick as his fists. Spiegelman, a fan of classic American mystery fiction, believes that the detective is the central mystery. He succeeds admirably in carrying on that tradition. Highly recommended for all mystery collections. Spiegelman lives in Connecticut. [See Prepub Alert, "LJ" 2/1/05.] -Roland Person, formerly with Southern Illinois Univ. Lib., Carbondale

Copyright 2005 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.