The Mayors of New York is the title of a book by S.J. Rozan. Like you, I had misunderstood what it referred to. It’s fiction, not history! Along with everyone else I asked, I had guessed that it would be about Fiorello LaGuardia, John Lindsay, Michael Bloomberg, etc. — but we were all wrong, completely wrong.

It turns out that the title refers to the unelected powers-that-be who hold sway in the various neighborhoods and boroughs of New York City. You know, the people you go to when you want a new traffic light put in or a new cop to patrol your street. They function as the real mayors, whether it’s New York or Boston.

If you’re already a fan of Rozan you’re of course expecting a mystery of some sort, and that’s what you get. It stars partners Lydia Chin and Bill Smith, as usual (narrated by Bill, as are about half the books in this series). Verbal snapshots of NYC life — definitely not just Chinatown but a wide range of neighborhoods, from Flushing to Riverdale, are all vividly presented. This is an engaging mystery that will hold your attention the whole time.

To avoid spoilers, the only thing I’m going to tell you about the plot is that the newly elected mayor has hired our private investigators to find her missing teenage son (yes, I said her; you can tell it’s either fiction or Boston) and to keep the incident out of the news. But of course it’s more complicated than that. Great characters, interesting plot, and even better setting make this a must-read, and you don’t need to have read the previous books in the series.

Categories: Books