Island of Steel

First met in Heartless , Eddie Margolis has begun pulling his life together as an investigator for Charlie Murphy's new detective agency. Taken in hand by Murphy, the 27-year-old narrator now finds himself off booze and drugs and in a suit. Eddie's first job takes him to a high-powered New York law firm. Rising real estate lawyer Raymond Fidel has vanished on the eve of closing a multimillion dollar refinancing deal. Raymond's clients, associates and family don't offer much help, and Charlie Murphy is away, so Eddie's on his own. He does track Raymond down in Florida, but Raymond bolts again when he gets wind of Eddie's search. In the course of uncovering a huge real estate scam Eddie is briefly held for murder, beds a beautiful young woman lawyer, manages to stay sober and finds that maybe he's becoming a real detective. This book has much less tortured philosophizing than Heartless , an interesting look at the fast-track New York law life and a satisfying, if melodramatic, ending. Cohen's crisper writing is a big improvement on his earlier book. (October)