Outerborough Blues: A Brooklyn Mystery

by Andrew Cotto

A beautiful young French girl walks into a bar, nervously lights a cigarette, and begs the bartender for help in finding her missing artist brother. In a moment of weakness, the bartender—a lone wolf named Caesar Stiles with a chip on his shoulder and a Sicilian family curse hanging over him—agrees. What follows is a stylish literary mystery set in Brooklyn on the dawn of gentrification.
While Caesar is initially trying to earn an honest living at the neighborhood watering hole, his world quickly unravels. In addition to being haunted by his past, including a brother who is intent on settling an old family score, Caesar is being hunted down by a mysterious nemesis known as The Orange Man. Adding to this combustible mix, Caesar is a white man living in a deep-rooted African American community with decidedly mixed feelings about his presence. In the course of his search for the French girl's missing brother, Caesar tumbles headlong into the shadowy depths of his newly adopted neighborhood, where he ultimately uncovers some of its most sinister secrets.
Taking place over the course of a single week, Outerborough Blues is a tightly paced and gritty urban noir saturated with the rough and tumble atmosphere of early 1990s Brooklyn.
Andrew Cotto has written for numerous publications, including The New York Times, Men's Journal, Salon.com, Teachers & Writers magazine and The Good Men Project. He has an MFA in creative writing from The New School. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Crime, New York

200 pages, Paperback

First published May 15, 2012

About the author

Andrew Cotto is the award-winning author and a regular contributor to The New York Times. Andrew has also written for Men’s Journal, Rolling Stone, Conde Nast Traveler, La Cucina Italiana, Brooklyn Magazine, Rachael Ray In Season, AARP, Italy magazine, The Huffington Post, Parade, Salon, Maxim, Deadspin, Relish, the Good Men Project and Teachers & Writers Magazine. He has an MFA in Creative Writing from The New School.

Reviews

[Richard Derus · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rating: 3.9* of five

The Publisher Says: A beautiful young French girl walks into a bar, nervously lights a cigarette, and begs the bartender for help in finding her missing artist brother. In a moment of weakness, the bartender—a lone wolf named Caesar Stiles with a chip on his shoulder and a Sicilian family curse hanging over him—agrees. What follows is a stylish literary mystery set in Brooklyn on the dawn of gentrification.

While Caesar is initially trying to earn an honest living at the neighborhood watering hole, his world quickly unravels. In addition to being haunted by his past, including a brother who is intent on settling an old family score, Caesar is being hunted down by a mysterious nemesis known as The Orange Man. Adding to this combustible mix, Caesar is a white man living in a deep-rooted African American community with decidedly mixed feelings about his presence. In the course of his search for the French girl's missing brother, Caesar tumbles headlong into the shadowy depths of his newly adopted neighborhood, where he ultimately uncovers some of its most sinister secrets.

Taking place over the course of a single week, Outerborough Blues is a tightly paced and gritty urban noir saturated with the rough and tumble atmosphere of early 1990s Brooklyn.

My Review: The Doubleday UK meme, a book a day for July 2014, is the goad I'm using to get through my snit-based unwritten reviews. Today's prompt, number 12 in the series, is to discuss the book that gave you the best sense of place.

I moved to Manhattan in the 1980s, when it was still dirty, stinky, vice-ridden, and a boat-load of fun. Now it's clean and sanitary and there's a damn Disney store where there used to be hookers, drugs, and other useful things. Yuck.

Anyway, the same thing happened to Brooklyn about ten years later. This development is called "gentrification" and it's a double-edged sword. Nicer middle-class neighborhoods, no place for the poor to live...well, can't make an omelette....

Cotto's reluctant sleuth, Caesar, came to be in this country because of his great-grandmother:

My mother's mother came to this country in the usual way--she got on a boat with other immigrants and sailed from Sicily. She wasn't one of them, however: neither tired nor poor or part of any huddled mass. Instead, she traveled alone, with her money in one sock and a knife in the other, coming to the new world with an old world motive--to murder the man that had left her for America.

Such a fine, upstanding family! Things don't get a lot better in succeeding generations, and Caesar is running at top speed to get the blood-feuding nightmare of his family away behind him. So why does he agree to help the waifish French lassie, Colette, find her brother Jean-Baptist (sic)?

Because he wants some. Because the bar where he works is closing in on him. Because. He starts to search for the boy, an artist, and he gets himself tangled with some people who are where they are because it's where they want to be:

The lady in the liquor store sold me a fifth of whiskey and the landlord’s name without taking her eyes off the book she was reading.

It's clear that Cotto knows his folks well, and has their collective number. It's also clear that Caesar is walking streets deeply familiar to Cotto:

In the open sky above the hushed streets, the moon was a porcelain plate on a black table as I walked home. A breeze raised the collar of my jeans jacket as I sliced through the silvery silence, past unlit buildings and quivering trees and cars idle by the curb. The air felt like glass. I crossed empty corners under the mauve light of overhead lamps.

A more perfect, more poignant recreation of a fall night's walk in the seaport of New York I haven't read. Something that people who live here forget is that this is a seaside place, it was a port for centuries, it is spang doodle on the Atlantic Ocean, and that means the seaside is all around:

The full moon rose above the harbor as brightly lit tour boats skimmed along the black water, the brilliant cluster of lower Manhattan piled like stacks of coins from a treasure chest in the distance. Up the river, bridges arched across the wide water all the way up the east side, while the Brooklyn side was marked by soft, round lights, like a string of pearls.

I've stopped for that view any number of times in the past, and it never failed (or fails) to render me immobile with a blazing bolt of homecoming joy.

So, Caesar and his quest kick into high gear, several associates of his prove to be more than what they seem, and the more questions he asks about Jean-Baptist (sic) the more trouble he gets into. Beatings. Threats. Some sex. Memories blast our guy at every turn, all the crap he's wanted to escape from bubbles up as he searches the druggier parts of Brooklyn for Colette's foolish artist wannabe brother:

Gypsy cabs jostled and honked...Dollar vans lined the sidewalk and people piled in and out. As I walked down the slope, the buildings grew smaller and squalid. Trees vanished...and the heat picked up. Beyond the brick wall of the Navy Yard, the silver skyline of Manhattan glimmered in the distance like a mirage. The industrial remains of the flats were low and decrepit and mostly abandoned, though a few beeping forklifts unloaded trucks here and there. The storefronts were shuttered except for a bank busy with Orthodox Jews. The funk of a chicken processing plant contaminated the air.

I walked along the high brick wall that separated the Navy Yard from the street, frequently stepping over pulverized vials that sparkled like jewels on the sidewalk. There was no shade. I blinked away the dust.

Yep, been there. The Navy Yard, by the mid-1990s, was a cheap warehousing area, and the publisher whose office work I did had his books stored there. Not a super-nice place to walk at night. Fascinating history, and very different now, but this passage nails the sensation of blasting heat and stinking blight that permeated the place then.

More stuff about the search for Colette's brother turns up nasty secrets involving everyone Caesar knows, information that he uses to get a ghost from his own past laid to rest, and then *clap clap* the mystery's solved.

This made me mad. I don't like being taken on a ride and then dumped outside town, told I'm there, and left.

But you know what? Homecoming means more than how you traveled to get there. I liked the people I met on the trip. I liked the evocative landscape descriptons. I liked the sense of Caesar's working through so much about his past wasn't going to Make Shit Better, because landing him in more trouble later means more of this:

Past the projects, the land opened up and water came into view. The breeze carried rain and salt. Jetties and barrier walls supported the shore, which was stacked with crumbling brick warehouses. Out in the channel, the Statue of Liberty stood alone on her little island, her corroding flame held high in the air as the sun set over the industrial shoreline and skyways of New Jersey. Across the narrows, the bluffs of Staten Island wavered in the smoky light of dusk that turned the Verrazano into bronze. Faint light burnished water into busy with freighters and tug boats. A lone sail boat flitted in the distance. On the near shore, on a slip of water between a jetty and the land, a blood red barge bobbed on the tide.

And that, laddies and gentlewomen, is good.

[Raven · Rating 4 out of 5]

When you read and review regularly, you can sometimes get a little jaded as books can oftentimes meld into one, or display all those bad writing habits of one-dimensional characters, ludicrous plotting and so on. However, every so often an unexpected treasure lands in your lap which restores your faith, and Andrew Cotto’s Outerborough Blues is one such book. Combining the style of some of the best contemporary American fiction (I would draw comparisons with David Prete and Elliot Perlman) and the street savvy social analysis of a writer like George Pelecanos, Cotto has delivered a book that rises above the simple tag of crime novel into a truly powerful and affecting read.

I won’t dwell on the intricacies of the plot in the interests of keeping it fresh and surprising for you all, but needless to say it is beautifully weighted, with the alternating time frames of past and present, seamlessly melded into the overall story. As elements of our main protagonist Caesar’s former life are revealed, Cotto gradually unveils how the events of the past are so instrumental on Caesar’s actions and for his single-mindedness at righting past wrongs in the present, so the split timelines work well within the narrative. All of Caesar’s central relationships in the book are dictated to by his highly attuned sense of morality, garnered by his formerly tumbleweed existence and the relationships encountered along the way, before his settling in a community wracked by racial tension and socio-economic problems. Cotto portrays this community and its underlying problems astutely, bringing Caesar into conflict or comradeship with his fellow inhabitants, as he takes on the problems of those around him and seeks to expose the corruption of others. In any of the passages relating to the neighbourhood itself there is a living and breathing vitality to Cotto’s description and the depiction of place and atmosphere is palpable throughout.

Again, in terms of characterisation, Cotto hits the mark, displaying a natural ease in his portrayal of not only Caesar’s family, but the eclectic mix of people inhabiting Caesar’s neighbourhood and its multi-cultural make-up. All the frailties or false bravado of human nature are exposed throughout these characters and their interactions with Caesar, which again gives a vibrant sense of reality to these protagonists and the parts they play within the novel. This is predominantly where I think the novel rises above the crime novel tag, as this proficiency at characterisation seldom resonates so strongly in a run-of-the-mill thriller and in conjunction with Cotto’s use of powerful imagery in his depiction of place, sets this book apart. The sparseness of the prose and tight dialogue, where more often the power lies within what is unsaid than said, adds to the overall tension of the book as the plot unfolds.

It probably goes without saying that I was highly impressed by ‘Outerborough Blues’ as it ticked many of the boxes that I look for in American crime writing and fiction. Being a fan of Dennis Lehane, George Pelecanos and Walter Mosley, I would certainly label Andrew Cotto as a comparable read to these luminaries in terms of style, characterisation and its depiction of life in a tough neighbourhood, so what are you waiting for, go find…

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I will admit that I read a lot of books that veer towards the dark, noirish end of the spectrum, and because of that, there can be a feeling of same old same old. So when something like OUTERBOROUGH BLUES comes along, there's a distinct feeling of a dark, chilling, cold wind blowing up your spine. In a good way.

Dark and quite subdued, OUTERBOROUGH BLUES has one of those plots, and central characters, who sneak up and play with your head. Starting out the sense of loss, darkness, and dysfunction seems to be heading in a rather predictable direction, but at about the time that young Caesar ups and gets out of his family home, the action, and Caesar, take a sharp turn and head off into new territory. The story starts out quite simply, low key almost, and though it quickly goes to flashbacks and current day action, the connections between the past and the present are understandable, and informative. As his hunt for the missing brother expands, and his day to day life in his local neighbourhood continues, it all gets increasingly involving, fascinating, and refreshingly different. Caesar's has been a tricky life, as is almost required from this sort of book, but there is a substantial variation in how he copes with the hand that life dealt. He has a sense of right and wrong, a morality that comes from his past, informed by what he's lost but also by the people who he has met along the way - and the kindness that is shown, as well as the brutality and cruelness. It's this aspect that made OUTERBOROUGH BLUES grab this reader by the throat and turned it into a one sitting read.

OUTERBOROUGH BLUES is a book that feeds the readers imagination. Whether it's the wonderful sense of place and culture in which the book takes place. Sparse, clever and sensitive descriptions that give the reader a feeling for the neighbourhood, the houses, the bars, the people. Often brush stroke light, they work incredibly well. Whether it's some great characters, not just Caesar, but the supporting cast, all of whom are believable. Fragile, flawed, victims, perpetrators all, there are glimpses of real human characteristics everywhere. Fleshed out by more of those well gauged brush stroke descriptions, expanded with good dialogue which reads authentically. Regardless of how OUTERBOROUGH BLUES fires up the imagination, it does it very very well, and I am very grateful that the author offered me a copy for review. I'll be on the lookout for purchase options for the next one.

http://www.austcrimefiction.org/revie...

[Andrea · Rating 4 out of 5]

The writing was fairly gorgeous for the most part, the action fast-paced but nicely rythymed between flashbacks and present, and the main character breathlessly well-rounded, right down to the white working-class chip on his shoulder which I loved and which troubled me the most. Set in a gentrifying Brooklyn, this dealt with the subjects I know most about so I am far too obnoxiously opinionated to rest easy with other less critical views, but this was an all right one. A genuine one, though my politics were chattering up a storm in the back of my mind as I read it. But definitely an author to look out for.

The only complaint really was the copy editing, and not just because an earlier reader had made all kinds of corrections in the library copy with a pencil.

[Julie H. Ernstein · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some books start strong and stay that way, establishing and layering themes, returning to them later and circling back to complete loops begun pages or chapters earlier. Andrew Cotto's Outerborough Blues: A Brooklyn Mystery a noirish work of fiction, is precisely one of those works. Its opening paragraph is thoroughly successful as both barometer and pace clock for events in the tightly-written 200 pages that follow:

My mother's mother came to this country in the usual way--she got on a boat with other immigrants and sailed from Sicily. She wasn't one of them, however: neither tired nor poor or part of any huddled mass. Instead, she traveled alone, with her money in one sock and a knife in the other, coming to the new world with an old world motive--to murder the man that had left her for America (p. 9).

Outerborough Blues... provides a window into one week in the life of Caesar Stiles, a twenty-something New Jersey man ten years uprooted by a missing father, a dead mother, a habitually violent eldest brother, a dead elder brother, and a none-too-suprising inability to give, receive or expect any sort of permanency.

Characterized on the book's jacket as "a drifter," Caesar is a keen observer of the human condition who, against all odds, gets drawn in (in classic noir style) by an attractive freckled young French woman who appears at the Brooklyn bar/restaurant called the Notch, where he works. He is quickly drawn into her dead-ended search for her missing brother, a painting student who has gone MIA from the Art Institute and fallen into the world of drug addiction in an ill-advised effort to tap into the pain experienced by many famous artists as a means for improving the quality of his already-outstanding art. Part mystery, part treatise on the vicissitudes of family dysfunction, neighborhood demographics, race relations and the search for identity, Caesar Stiles is both no man and every man in so far as he seeks to free himself from his many demons who include his absent father, a criminal kingpin known as the Orange Man, his recently-paroled murderous brother Sal and, most of all, his long-felt guilt over his well-loved brother's death. He likewise taps into experiences that are both regionally distinct and iconically transcend region or group. What sets Caesar apart from other noir antiheroes is the fact that he is a decent person, is able to learn, and will likely find his way out the other side of his dilemma. While by no means a man to be trifled with, he has compassion for others and shrewdly distinguishes between fights that are his to wage and those that belong to others. Case in point, his final interaction with the Captain during which Caesar observes, "He had a fight coming, but it wasn't with me" (p. 199).

This book was exceptionally well written, and I definitely look forward to reading more of Cotto's work. (In fact, had it not been so riddled with distracting typographical errors [esp. repeated and/or inverted word order] I'd have given it five stars. Let's please do better next outing, Ig Publishing.)

[Jeanette · Rating 3 out of 5]

Excellent writing that tends to the lyrical poetic in descriptive and emotive lengths. But overall, as he is SUCH a talented writer, I expected far more of plot or more meaty context. The very first paragraph could have been my own history. Almost the entire first page could have. My Mother's mother and father both came from Sicily the exact same way. Worked with carts to get a small grocery store too. But NEVER had any of that revenge baggage. They could have.

Actually, I think the trailer is quite misleading. This isn't about the French girl, her brother, or nearly any of the various other characters you meet in the prime's current location job etc. It's nearly an autobiography of sorts. It does not at all surprise me that it was his first published.

If I was truly honest upon my pleasure of reading this and the connections I had with it- I would give it 2 stars. It's a man's effusion of reactive tale re his tragedies and his druthers as a young man. And at the same time, you aren't truly "filled in" for any of his true motives either. Beyond which there are huge holes and voids in the "other" characters' renditions/ progressions. And it's written in the style of the late 20th century noir too, as if that makes the travails of spirit/ identity deeper. Nope. Even within this dynamic of crowd association, overall attitudes were BETTER than the present.

A placement and a story for which I had no liking either- lots of nasty, grifting, cons, etc. Overall people who wanted to slam doors in faces. I expected to have at least some "wanting to return to it" factor on top of it. Never did.

2.5 stars rounded up for the writing skills.

[Andrew Cotto · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm proud of this book as it accomplishes my intention of a different kind of noir, one where the protagonist has more depth and vulnerability along with a poetic sensibility while still maintaining the grit and intrigue.

[Olga Miret · Rating 5 out of 5]

I discovered Andrew Cotto through Rosie’s Book Review Team a few months ago, when I read and reviewed his novel Black Irish Blues. A Caesar Stiles Mystery, which I loved even (or because) I found it difficult to pin down to a specific genre. Although it was stylistically a noir mystery/thriller, I thought it also shared some of the characteristics of the cozy mysteries: pretty special/peculiar/singular characters; a main protagonist that is not your standard cool, slick, and tough guy (Caesar Styles is pretty cool and fairly tough, but he tries to go unnoticed rather than advertise those characteristics); and a sizeable part of the novel being dedicated to a hobby/job/talent... of the protagonist that sometimes might be related to the mystery, although mostly marginally. In this case, the protagonist works as a cook, and he seems to be pretty talented at it as well, and he regales us with mouth-watering descriptions of meals and dishes throughout the novel. I was fascinated by this unusual combination of seemingly diverse parts and how the author managed to bring them together. And I was intrigued as well because although the story could be read independently, I became aware that a previous novel with the same protagonist had been published years back, and there were a few enticing references to what had happened before that left me wanting more. Unfortunately, at that time, the first novel was only available as a paperback, and it was not easy to get hold of.

However, the author informed me that the first novel in the series would be available in e-book format and kindly sent me an ARC copy, which I freely chose to review.
So, this is how I came to read the first novel in this series after the second. This has happened to me more than once, and although I might have got hints of what had happened before, in general, I have enjoyed checking if I was right and filling all the gaps. And yes, this is one of those occasions.

I went through a detailed summary of my thoughts about Black Irish Blues, not only because being concise is not my forte, but also because much of what I thought and said about that novel applies here as well.

Although the novel is set in the 1990s, there are clear indicators of the social era, and the author manages to convey a very strong sense of the Brooklyn of that period, warts and all, there is also something atemporal about the novel. The descriptions of the traumatic events of Caesar’s childhood are, unfortunately, universal and timeless (bullying and domestic violence, a father who leaves the home and a mother bringing up her sons on her own, a tragedy and a life-changing decision), but there are also details reminiscent of the Depression: runaways (a boy in this case) hopping on trains, living in the streets, a wanderer learning as he goes and living off-the-grid, and others much more modern (drug wars, property speculation, a neighbourhood whose social make-up is changing and where racial tensions reflect a wider state of affairs, changes in the notions of family, loyalty, tradition...).

And despite the noir vibe and set-up (down to the mystery that gets Caesar into all kinds of troubles: a foreign [French] young girl enters the bar where he works and asks for his help in finding her missing brother. He is an artist who came to New York to study and has now disappeared) reminiscent of classical noir novels and films of the 1940s and 50s, there is also something very modern in the way the story is told. In noir films, flashbacks and a rather dry, witty, and knowing voice-over were typical narrative devices and a sparkling and sharp dialogue was a trademark of the genre in writing as well. Here, Caesar tells his story in the first person, but this is not a straightforward narrative. The story is divided up into seven days and told in real-time, but the protagonist spends much of the novel remembering the past, reflecting upon things that had happened to him before, and we even witness some of his dreams (hopeful ones, but also those that rehearse the past), so anybody expecting a fast-paced, no spare-details-allowed kind of narrative, will be disappointed. For me, the way the story is told is one of its strengths, and there are incredibly beautiful moments in the book (Caesar is a poet at heart), although there are also some pretty violent and ugly things going on, and Caesar is the worse for wear by the end of the story. (And no, that doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy the ending). There is something pretty intimate and personal about the way the story is told, and we get privileged access to the protagonist’s subjectivity, thoughts, and feelings, that is not typical of the classic noir genre (dark things in the past might be hinted at, but they are hardly ever looked at in detail or studied in depth. The answer to most questions can be found in the barrel of a gun).

I was looking for some information in E. Ann Kaplan’s Women in Film Noir (somewhat old now, but excellent) and a comment she made about Klute and Chinatown (some later films that fit into the noir category) rang true for me. She mentioned that both of these films seemed to show a "European” sensibility and style different to that o many of the other American crime films of the same era, and that got me thinking, as Chinatown kept popping in my head as I read this book (although Chinatown is far more classically noir than this novel), perhaps because of the subject of property speculation, of the amount of violence visited upon and endured by the protagonist, of the intricate maze of clues, illegal acts, false identities, hidden interests and influences, and secrets that fill its pages... And, considering the protagonist’s Italian origin, and the fact that the story of his grandmother opens the novel, it all seemed to fit. Although the sins of the father might be visited upon the son as well, here, the sins are those from previous generations and keep being revisited upon the members of the family left alive.

In some ways, the mystery (or mysteries, as others come to light once Caesar starts investigating and unravelling the story strand) is not the most important part of the book. At first, I thought Jean-Baptist played a part somewhat akin to Hitchcock’s concept of a MacGuffin, an excuse to get the story going, to set our character off on a quest, and we learn very little about him throughout the book, and he is never given a voice or an opportunity to explain himself (we only hear other people’s opinions about him), but later I decided he was a kind of doppelgänger, a double or a mirror image of Caesar, somebody also trying to run away to find himself and to find a place where he can fit in, although, of course, this can only be achieved when one is at peace with oneself, and the protagonist reaches the same conclusion. I don’t want to go into a lot of detail about the ending, but let’s say that Caesar manages to put to good use his connections and to trade off good information in exchange for settling some family issues that had been hanging over him for a long time. He is not overly ambitious and although he has a sense of right and wrong and morality, he does not play the superhero and knows that some things will only be sorted out by time, and others perhaps never. But he had to attune and reach his internal peace, and that, he does.
Rather than a review, this seems to be a mash-up of a few somewhat interconnected thoughts, but I hope it gives you an idea of why I enjoyed the novel. There is plenty of wit, great descriptions, a tour-de-force banquet towards the end of the book, fabulous dialogue, and beautifully contemplative moments. I will share a few snippets, but I recommend checking a sample if you want to get a better idea of if you’d like his style or not.

At the entrance stood a large security guard who looked like he had swallowed a smaller security guard.
I was in the Mediterranean, floating in the warm water of my ancestors. I rose and fell in the hard green sea, salt in my nose and sun on my face, my fanned hair like a cape behind me. Fishing boats were moored to a nearby jetty, and brilliant white birds circled in the swimming pool sky.
Oh, and, the beginning of the book has joined my list of the best openings of a novel:
My mother’s mother came to this country in the usual way —she got on a boat with other immigrants and sailed from Sicily. She wasn’t one of them, however: neither tired nor poor or part of any huddled mass. Instead, she traveled alone, with her money in one sock and a knife in the other, coming to the new world with an old world motive— to murder the man that had left her for America.

Don’t worry. We get to know what happened, but, if you need more of a recommendation, this is it: the rest of the novel lives up to its beginning. So, go on, read it, and I’m sure you’ll read Black Irish Blues next. Enjoy.

[CatMS · Rating 5 out of 5]

My first foray with Andrew Cotto, so glad I discovered this wonderful story of a Brooklyn neighborhood and its inhabitants under the guise of a mystery. Caesar Stiles, a white man in a black neighborhood, an inigma to his neighbors, working in a neighborhood bar as a chef and occasional barman. He is approached by Collette fresh from France to assist her in searching for her artist brother who has fallen into the drug world. His search for the brother is secondary to the story the meat is of the people who inhabit this Brooklyn neighborhood and the surreptitious dealings by shady denizens. A bit of noir storytelling. I loved the story and bought the second Caesar Stiles book "Black Irish Blues." Highly highly recommended.

[Jodi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Have you ever read a book that you know you will read again and again? Outerborough Blues is now a book on my list. Andrew Cotto has a style of writing that is lyrical and commanding. He skilfully draws the reader’s attention with the voice of Caesar Stiles as he tells the history of his family’s lineage and his attempt for redemption.

Caesar Stiles is a man haunted by his past. A drifter recently arrived in Brooklyn, he is looking to set down roots and create a ‘normal’ life for himself. He takes a job in a local joint called The Notch as a bartender and cook, minding his own business and doing a good job of it until an attractive French girl walks in to the bar, orders a drink and enlists him to find her missing brother. Stiles agrees, and his quiet little world is thrown off kilter.

In the course of his search for the artist, Stiles finds himself rooting around in the seedy side of Brooklyn’s underground: a place of drug addicts, prostitution and organized crime. Stiles begins to notice a car tailing him and a growing pile of cigarette butts outside of his front gate. Someone is watching him, leaving a crawling feeling down his spine as he wonders who it could be. Having crossed a nefarious individual who he calls The Orange Man, Stiles is worried the man may be looking to retaliate.

Caesar’s past soon catches up with him in the form of his ex-convict brother who has a violent temper usually directed in Caesar’s direction, and this time isn’t an exception as he seeks to settle a family score. With his brother on the warpath, the continued search for the missing man, and a beating from a group of local thugs, Stile’s life spirals out of control in the course of one week.

With his second novel, Andrew Cotto has firmly carved a niche for himself in the mystery genre. A teacher and seasoned writer with published works in many publications, including regular contributions to the New York Times and the Good Men Project, Cotto has an MFA in Creative Writing from The New School. He presently spends his time teaching composition courses and creative writing workshops in New York City while working on a third novel.

This book was provided graciously by the author for review.

[Kristen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading this book! I am not a critic, but I
Know a good story when I read one. I love noir and would recommend this book to anyone else who lives a great story! I like Andrew Cotto's writing style and I didn't want this story to be over!

[Kajal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Found out about this book after having read another book written by Cotto, The Domino Effect. Having just finished reading Outerborough Blues, I can attest to the fact that Cotto's ability to write in a descriptive manner allows the reader to be drawn into the book in a manner that makes the reader feel as if they're witnessing the events within the book first-hand. Cotto's writing style and gritty dialogue between the characters within this noir allows the reader to visualize the what Brooklyn once was. Personally, I felt as though I was touring Brooklyn in a past that I otherwise would never have known. The author manages to address issues such as gentrification and racial tension in a manner that captivates the reader's attention, raises awareness of what Brooklyn once was, and helps the reader genuinely appreciate Brooklyn's past (and present). The novel is complex in nature in that the reader must focus on details. However, the author manages to tie all details of the story by the conclusion of the novel. The characterization of Ceasar captivates the reader's attention from the very first page of the book. Despite a broken past, the character of Caesar exudes a level of confidence that attracts others (individuals that serve to help as well as hurt him). Themes of this book include family, redemption, and closure. The reader experiences the joy of actually experiencing the adventures Caesar endures. Highly recommended read.

[Masquerade Crew · Rating 3 out of 5]

WALKI'S REVIEW

It is the story of Caesar, an unattached young man in his 20's. It starts one evening when a young woman arrives at the bar/restaurant where he cooks, and asks for his help to find her brother. 'Outerborough Blues' is about the Brooklyn neighborough where Caesar is currently dwelling and its estate intrigues and power games. It is about how Caesar ran away from home to escape his violent brother and made a wandering life off grid throughout the U.S.

This end-of-the-20th-century story is written almost emotionlessly, but with enough life to keep the reader going with the main character. The search for the missing man seems an excuse for Caesar to dig out the secrets of his neighborough and take a stroll down Memory lane. It is the story of Caesar's coming of age in a brutal world where surprisingly he learned an honest trade.

Outerborough Blues' starts like a mystery, but doesn't deliver the intrigue first expected. The background is a bleak look at a community and its unravelling. The most interesting parts for me were his memories and the snippets of his family history.

While it didn't totally grasp my attention, it had enough to keep me reading, but its feeling of hopelessness left me dissatisfied at the end despite Caesar finding closure with his past.

[Stacie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Outerborough Blues: A Brooklyn Mystery is an intriguing story that grasps readers and pulls them into the obscure life of Caesar Stiles. A plot rich with mysterious twists compels you to continue reading and leaves you yearning for more.

Caesar Stiles has ended up in Brooklyn after a somewhat shady and very momentous past. Now, he's just trying to survive in a neighborhood where he's anything but welcome. A dark figure seems to lurk in the shadows near Caesar's home and he is certain someone is after him. A young French girl enters the pictures and begs Caesar to help her search for her missing brother. Unknown to Caesar, his seeming act of kindness will lead to the discovery of evil plans that have been set in motion. Caesar must be cunning if he has any hopes of surviving.

Outerborough Blues: A Brooklyn Mystery is truly a suspense that will keep you on edge. The author is skilled in storytelling which is evident in his ability to lead readers into the believable world he creates through ample detail and fascinating story line.

I highly recommend picking up a copy of Outerborough Blues: A Brooklyn Mystery.

[Nick Davies · Rating 3 out of 5]

I can understand why some people would really like this, but it wasn't really to my tastes.

The story concerns a savvy but damaged protagonist who is approached by a mysterious beautiful French woman looking for her brother. For slightly unclear and unbelievable reasons, he takes her up on this, and there is a load of other stuff involved with dodgy neighbours and a nasty piece of work of a brother.

The main problem was that the book was heavy on description and setting (some beautifully described, some a little tediously long) and short on plot. I think so much time is spent trying to fully illustrate who the central character is, I got a little bored and lost track of the key parts of the story included in small bites within. The guy at the centre of the story ends up slightly unlikeable and pretty unbelievable too. Hmm.. I've read similar stuff (a couple of Ethan Hawke novels spring to mind) but enjoyed it more because I was a little younger and because they had a bit more plot than this.

[this is a pretty rubbishly put together review isn't it - I wish I was thinking clearer!]

[Rob Kitchin · Rating 4 out of 5]

The strength of Outerborough Blues is its strong sense of place, deeply fleshed out characterisation, social realism, and its poetic narrative. It’s a kind of literary urban noir, full of subtext and allusion. Caesar Stiles is a compelling character with a colourful back story that is metered out over the course of the tale, and is surrounded by other well penned and distinctive characters. Cotto vividly places the reader in Stiles world, especially the landscape of gentrifying Brooklyn, and its oddities, rhythms and gatherings. The prose is wonderfully rich and engaging. The plot, for the most part works well, though it becomes a little complex and confusing at points as Cotto intertwines a number of different threads. This does not though detract the pleasure in reading the book, however. Overall an evocative and thoughtful story about trauma, home and finding oneself.

[OrchardBookClub · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book explores the life- both past and present- of a young man fighting to find his place in the world.

Caesar is a likeable character, who is quite a loner after having experienced, and survived, a hard, traumatic childhood. Events, such as the death of his beloved brother and being abandoned by his father, shape Caesar's life and take him into a dark world of violence and drugs.
Is he able to put his demons to rest and escape his past in hope of a happier, settled future?

A very well written story. The plot separates the past and present events of the character's lives using flashbacks, which I felt worked very well.

I would definitely recommend this story and think it would be more suited to people who enjoy a darker read, with a hope of a happy ending.

[Mark Day · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is difficult to rate a book that is well written but does not satisfy. If you are a fan of noir, this book is probably amongst the best you will find. Andrew Cotto is a gifted writer. He packs a punch into 200 pages with great pacing and a lyrical style of writing. My issue with the book is that the main character is simply not credible. We are expected to believe that this drifter with a troubled background is going to go on a life threatening quest on behalf a foreigner that he meets in a bar? It’s up to the reader to believe that his troubled past and empathy for a women in distress is enough to cause him to turn amateur detective. Despite this shortfall, there is much to like about this book.

[Maddy · Rating 5 out of 5]

PROTAGONIST: Caesar Stiles
SETTING: Brooklyn, NY, early 1990s
RATING: 4.5
WHY: A product of a dysfunctional family, Caesar Stiles left has home in New Jersey as a teen and has since bought a place in an African American neighborhood in Brooklyn, NY. He works at a local pub as a chef and bartender and constantly struggles to achieve a sense of belonging. He aids a young French woman in trying to find her artist brother. He also has to deal with his abusive older brother who has just been released from prison. BLUES is a beautifully written book, lyrical in its descriptive passages around the Brooklyn setting and melancholic about the struggles that Caesar faces--spare and poetic.

[Lina Simoni · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed Outerborough Blues from beginning to end. The prologue caught my attention, and the rest of the story built upon the book's initial beauty. The main character, a NJ drifter with a deep sense of humanity and roots, steps out of a life that is rough and unfair and walks into a second life that will take him places he never imagined he could reach. Elegantly written, with understated yet powerful descriptions that allow the reader to plunge into a setting that is perfect for this urban "noir".

[Benjamin · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very well written Noir/Mystery novel that was not only entertaining but also of high quality writing. There are too many authors churning out mediocre books which may be interesting but fall short of being well written. Well, this novel is NOT like that at all. Andrew Cotto is a gifted storyteller and a skilled writer, and it was nice to read a mystery novel that could also be considered Literature. A+ to Andrew Cotto, I hope to see more from this author.

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

a good read, overall. cotto's debut novel has a ton of grit, vivid dialogue, and some well-drawn characters, but does some weird veering off and expositional side-tracking come denouement time. i would absolutely recommend the book, however, and i will most definitely be there to see what cotto writes next. he's a talent in need of a stronger editorial hand or a longer book to flex out on.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is was a good, fast enjoyable read. Does what a good mystery of this sort does - orient you in the place it is set. Since the setting is the Fiort Greene neighborhood in Brooklyn where I live, I had a good time reading it. Well plotted without being overly impressive and reasonably fast-paced.Not Ross thomas by any means, but an enjoyable read nonetheless.

[Thomas Mcmillen · Rating 4 out of 5]

French dame walks into a rough Brooklyn bar tended by the only white guy in the neighborhood looking for help in locating her drug-addled artiste brother. One couldn't tick any more noir boxes if you tried - yet this is was a cracker-jack joint. (Spoken in a nasel tone while wearing high-waisted pants)

[Jenny · Rating 5 out of 5]

Devoured this book in about 2 days. The author makes gritty, mid 90's Brooklyn sound enticing and dangerous at the same time. Despite the heaviness of the plot, the beauty of the writing is incredibly moving. A must read.

[Terry Curtis · Rating 3 out of 5]

A solid first effort -- good characters, good Brooklyn, at times awkward transitions to the past (and a bit too much of the past as well). Ig Press needs a proofreader.

[Isla McKetta · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love the land where genre and literary fiction meld. Read more about Andrew Cotto's writing prowess on my blog.

[Diane Dean · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great read!

[Debbie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok book, i liked the writing, but felt it didn't really go anywhere.

[Blimi Marcus · Rating 4 out of 5]

The writing was great, the story was good. I rated it 4 stars for that. However, I did not love this book, but simply because the story was not to my taste. I recognize a good book though.