‘The Red Letter’ by Daniel G. Miller; Poisoned Pen/Sourcebooks; 352 pages; $17.99
Daniel G. Miller delivers an energetic private detective novel with a solid police procedural, bits of Korean culture and visits to New York neighborhoods in “The Red Letter.”
It also works well as a story about a new business getting off the ground and the challenges that entails.
Life has taken a turn for the better for Hazel Cho. Her boutique private investigative firm has finally taken off, her staff is tight-knit, and she and her business partner have thrown a terrific opening party. She’s deeply in love with a nice man, who even has her parents’ approval; he’s also a strong candidate for New York mayor. And her relationship with her family and friends has never been better.
What she doesn’t want is a case that one of her closest friends wants her to take. Father Kenneally, a well-respected Catholic priest, was poisoned, with his death captured on camera inside St. Patrick’s Old Cathedral in Lower Manhattan. A young man who did odd jobs and errands for the priest was soon arrested, his fingerprints found on a red envelope containing an odd Bible verse inside the priest’s desk.
Hazel’s reluctance stems from her personal knowledge of the priest. Hazel knew him to be compassionate, involved with an unblemished reputation. She fears that an investigation may prove the priest had a dark side. But she changes her mind after visiting in jail the young man accused of the murder. The case takes a turn when more people who seem to have nothing in common are poisoned, each of whom possessed a red envelope containing similar verses.
A brisk plot keeps “The Red Letter” moving as Miller, who lives in Delray Beach, takes the reader to myriad New York streets teeming with believable characters. Miller invests unique personalities into each of Hazel’s staff and her business partner, Kenny, at C&S Investigations.
Hazel and crew will be most welcomed back.
Meet the author
I will be leading a conversation about “The Red Letter” with author Daniel G. Miller at 2 p.m. Aug. 2 in the Rubel Mystery Collection at the Pompano Beach Library, 50 W. Atlantic Blvd., Pompano Beach; 954-357-7643. The event is free; books will be available for sale. Registration is required at broward.libnet.info/event/14095140.