Bronx Requiem: A Detective Jack Kenny Mystery

Coleman's literary gifts, last seen in Gun Church, are nowhere on display in this clich%C3%A9-ridden kickoff to a procedural/whodunit series co-written with retired NYPD detective Roe. The unsolved 1976 murder of Angelina Reyes, a stripper and prostitute known as Angel Dancer, near the Throgs Neck Bridge returns to view in 2008 after a witness comes forward to name Det. Jack Kenny's deceased ex-partner, Tony "Gee" Giambello, as the killer. Although Kenny thinks little of his crooked former colleague, whom he knows attended a police stag party at which Angelina entertained shortly before her death, he doesn't believe that Tony was the straight razor-wielding "Bronx Barber." It only bolsters his skepticism when someone makes a heavy-handed attempt to scare him off from digging too deeply. The paucity of surprises and the trite plot will disappoint fans of Coleman's superb Moe Prager novels (Hurt Machine, etc.). (Nov.)