Sidewalk Saint

In DePoy’s enjoyable fourth mystery featuring reformed crook Foggy Moscowitz (after 2018’s Icepick), Foggy, who was once “Brooklyn’s finest Jewish car thief,” now lives in Fry’s Bay, Fla., where he has managed to start a new life as a Child Protective Services investigator. He becomes involved in a complex inquiry after Nelson Roan, an escaped prisoner, breaks into his home. At gunpoint, Roan asks Foggy to find his 11-year-old daughter, Etta, who was put into the child welfare system after his wife died of cancer. Foggy tracks the missing girl to Lake City, where he finds that her adoptive parents have moved out of their home and that someone directed the post office to forward their mail to Foggy’s office address. Things only get more mysterious after Foggy learns that gangsters are seeking Etta, who has a photographic memory. DePoy succeeds at making the over-the-top elements plausible in this effective blend of humor and an original plotline. Readers will hope to see a lot more of Foggy. [em]Agent: Janet Reid, New Leaf Literary. (Dec.) [/em]