Brooklyn Wars

May 8, 2017
Stein’s intriguing fourth Erica Donato mystery (after 2015’s Brooklyn Secrets) finds the PhD candidate under pressure from a new adviser to complete her dissertation about changing city neighborhoods. Naturally, she chafes at the “or else” attitude, in part because she’s convinced that a new chapter on the famed Brooklyn Navy Yard would be an excellent addition to the project. To prove the chapter’s merit, she attends a meeting on the fate of the former navy yard’s valuable real estate, with its prime waterfront location. When she sneaks into an off-limits area, she witnesses the fatal shooting of ruthless New York power broker Michael Conti, a speaker at the meeting, who was deeply involved in the yard’s controversial history and closure. Erica tries to stay out of the investigation, but is drawn into the case by Conti’s widow and a bevy of ex-wives, who each have a thing or two to say about the political fixer. Stein’s sure hand weaves history and mystery together for a colorful tale of love, loss, greed, and murder.

June 1, 2017
The murder of a community organizer sparks the academic interest of a student of Brooklyn history who wants to include the back story in her dissertation.The heat is on doctoral student Erica Donato to finish her dissertation and soon, but she can't stay focused after she and Lisa Wang, a reporter friend, attend a neighborhood meeting to determine the fate of the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Although the meeting is organized as a town hall, things quickly spiral out of control when several interest groups make things personal, and Erica and Lisa are relieved when a man who identifies himself as Michael Conti takes charge. Under Conti's no-nonsense leadership, the conversation becomes less contentious and more focused. After the meeting, Erica ventures down to the Navy Yard only to discover Conti's corpse. She deals with her shock by wondering how to connect Conti and the Navy Yard to her dissertation research. To do so, she has to determine whether Conti's murder has more to do with his city management past or his habit of romancing the wrong ladies. Erica tries to stay focused even when Joe, her longtime friend-turned-new boyfriend, has problems of his own. Though Joe has a long history of standing by Erica during her forays into dangerous investigative work (Brooklyn Secrets, 2015, etc.), she hopes he won't be equally needy while she's working on this new project. The same goes for Erica's teenage daughter, Chris, who inconveniently agrees to make a family visit to her grandmother, Erica's former mother-in-law, just as Erica's making progress in Conti's case. But Erica won't hold the trip against Chris if she can use it to pry even more deeply into the past. Though Stein doesn't seem to notice it, her heroine comes off as self-absorbed, uninterested in other characters until it suits her. Readers might be more motivated to see her learn an important lesson than solve another mystery.

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July 1, 2017

The Brooklyn Navy Yard provides PhD candidate Erica Donato one more chapter for her thesis about changing city neighborhoods. It also provides her with the scene of a crime when she witnesses the shooting death of Michael Conti, a consultant and wheeler-dealer who wasn't always popular with the workers in the area. Nor was he well loved by his wives or his daughter. Everyone is a suspect. As Erica digs into Michael's story, she discovers even her late husband's family had historic links to the Navy Yard. Stein's fourth book in the series (following Brooklyn Secrets) wraps up Erica's career as a student. VERDICT Readers who enjoyed Clea Simon's "Dulcie Schwartz" mysteries for the doctoral student aspects, or Mary Anna Evans's books involving history might enjoy this series.--LH

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 1, 2017
In each of Stein's Erica Donato mysteries, doctoral student Donato is pursuing historical research on a different Brooklyn neighborhood when trouble startstrouble that she can't ignore. In Stein's latest, Donato is this close to finishing her dissertation, which covers the history of Brooklyn's storied Navy Yard, but motivation is hard to come by. A stern warning from her advisor sets her on the research path once more, where she becomes embroiled in intrigue that stretches back a few decades and involves dirty politics, extramarital shenanigans, and more. Donato endures present-day relationship drama as well, and the combination of boyfriend woes, local interest, and well-written dialogue keeps the pages turning even though this mystery isn't top-notch. Other than for fans of the series, this could work for readers who enjoy titles by Lawrence Block and the TV show The Wire that cover graft and tumultuous lives along Baltimore's gritty waterfront.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)