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Authors are advised to 'write what you know' and SJ Rozan certainly does. In her second standalone (her tenth book), this former NYC architect traces a scandal in the construction industry in New York City, one that has lead to the death of a woman. Ann Montgomery is a New York City cop in the division that investigates other city departments, simply called the Department of Investigation. Her former partner Joe Cole had been railroaded and convicted several years earlier. A building inspector had been bribed by the site superintendent and a child was killed. Joe had been building a case against the inspector but wanted it to be watertight, so Joe was the scapegoat. He is now out of prison and living in a cottage in upstate New York. One day, Ann drives up to Heart's Content, as Joe's cottage is known. Joe is a forensic engineer. There have been several incidents at a building site in the Mott Haven district of The Bronx, and Ann wants his opinion. Was it bribery, accident, carelessness or sabotage? What caused the bricks to fall on a windy night and kill the single mother of three walking by the site? There is a site in Harlem that the rich white developer of the Mott Haven site wants, but residents of Harlem are unhappy with him. He will build 'Harlemland', a safe haven for whites who want to live in the 'hood, while the local leaders would prefer affordable housing and retail on Site A as it is called. Joe reluctantly looks at the photos that Ann has brought and realizes that in at least one of the accidents at Mott Haven, an accident in which some scaffolding collapsed injuring several workers, bolts had been removed from the scaffolding, thereby weakening it. Ann knows the developer. And she hates him. She wants to put him in prison. So she involves Joe in her plans. IN THIS RAIN has an intricately-woven plot building a story of construction in and for the City of New York (or probably any big city) in which the developers and the politicians are in bed together. An old NYC reporter once told me that the city bosses would be suing a contractor for non-compliance or non-completion or whatever while that same contractor would be bidding on another project. I doubt things have changed. I wouldn't be surprised if Rozan gets at least an Edgar nomination for this one. It's an even stronger book that WINTER AND NIGHT for which she won the Edgar in 2003. I do miss Lydia Chin and Bill Smith, but Ann Montgomery and Joe Cole will satisfy me for now.
Reviewed by Barbara Franchi, December 2006
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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