Icepick

Foggy Moskowitz #3

by Phillip DePoy

Two children need former car thief turned amateur sleuth and Child Protective Officer Foggy Moscowitz’s help in this latest noir mystery set in Florida.

Foggy Moscowitz is shocked when ID found on a body in the bay suggests it’s his close Brooklyn friend, Pan Pan Washington, and the car involved belongs to one of their old associates, Sammy ‘Icepick’ Franks. What message is Icepick trying to send Foggy, and why?

The children who found the body were looking for their mother – one of twenty-seven women missing from John Horse’s Seminole tribe, and Foggy immediately takes the pair under his wing as they follow a disturbing trail.

Is John right about there being a connection between the car in the bay and the missing women? Could Foggy’s old associates in New York be involved? Hit men, crooked police officers, and even oil-rich Oklahomans can’t stop Foggy on his mission to uncover the truth.

Genres: Mystery

224 pages, Hardcover

Published September 1, 2018

About the author

Phillip DePoy has published short fiction, poetry, and criticism in Story, The Southern Poetry Review, Xanadu, Yankee, and other magazines. He is currently the creative director of the Maurice Townsend Center for the Performing Arts at the State University of West Georgia, and has had many productions of his plays at regional theaters throughout the south. He is the recipient of numerous grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the state of Georgia, the Georgia Council for the Arts, the Arts Festival of Atlanta, the South Carolina Council for the Arts, etc. He composed the scores for the regional Angels in America and other productions and has played in a numerous jazz and folk bands. In his work as a folklorist he has collected songs and stories throughout Georgia and has worked with John Burrison, the foremost folklorist in the south and with Joseph Cambell.

Reviews

[LJ · Rating 3 out of 5]

First Sentence: Sammy 'Icepick' Franks drove his snappy black Lincoln town car up to the docks at three in the morning.

Two Seminole children were witnesses to a dog being shot and a body being dumped. Foggy Moskowitz is Child Protection Services in Fry's Bay, Florida, so it makes sense that Officer Brady would call him at 4 a.m. Foggy becomes even more involved when Officer Watkins identifies the body as someone he'd been friends with when he lived in the Bronx. But nothing is ever simple after learning the children's mother, along with a number of other Seminole women, is missing, and getting her back involves trips back to New York, and on to Oklahoma with Shaman John Horse.

DePoy creates wonderful imagery—"I never knew Florida could be so cold before I came here from Brooklyn. But with Blake Road, it wasn't so much the temperature. It was more the way a tombstone feels, or the sound of a late-night train." With his introduction to Topalargee (the Wonder), the little girl, one receives a very good, succinct description of Foggy's background.

Not only does DePoy write unique, interesting characters, but one can appreciate that he creates girls who are intelligent and strong, regardless of their age. The names of the children can be a bit confusing at first. The girl is Topalargee/The Wonder/Sharp and is very good with knives, while her brother is Little Cloud, an excellent tracker. John Horse is the type of character one always enjoys, especially if one likes characters who are somewhat mystical—"Some people in his family told me he was over a hundred years old. Two told me that his body was dead but his spirit was unwilling to go along with it. What you'd call a Trickster, with a capital T."

A plot twist sends Foggy and John Horse to New York City. The reference to Nixon's Organized Crime Control Act reminds one of the time period in which the book is set. There are several really well-done plot twists and that feeling of never knowing who one should trust. Trying to sort the bad guys from the really bad guys becomes a challenge.

"Ice Pick" has great dialogue and humor. Whenever one starts to think of Foggy as relatively harmless, he proves he is anything but. There's a bit of Kipling here, and a wonderful ending.

ICEPICK (CPS-Foggy Moskowitz-Florida/NY/Oklahoma-Contemp) – G+
DePoy, Phillip – 3rd in series
Severn House Publishers; First World Publication edition – Sept 2018

[Judy Lesley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley and Severn House Publishing for a digital galley of this novel.

Author Phillip DePoy has written another enjoyable novel in his Foggy Moscowitz series set in Florida in 1976. Foggy fled from Brooklyn to hide out for a crime he committed and has somehow (and I still don't understand the route from criminal to State of Florida employee) gotten himself hired as the Child Protective Services officer for Fry's Bay. When Foggy gets the call about two children reporting a dead body he finds himself dealing with two kids from the Cherokee tribe who are looking for their mother who has disappeared. Things get even more complicated when it turns out the victim died from a "signature" killing by one of Foggy's old acquaintances in Brooklyn, a contract killer for...….well, best not to say the name of the group Icepick works for. Prepare yourself for a road trip with Foggy and John Horse from Florida to New York to Oklahoma and back to Florida - with multiple dangerous situations along the way.

So how can a story with so many threads manage to tie up satisfactorily? Basically you have to trust to the writing skills of the author. I recommend you do trust him because DePoy quickly became one of my favorite authors when I read the first Foggy Moscowitz story. There is humor cleverly mixed in with the murder, but one of the things I like so much about this series is the light of truth DePoy shines on the horrible treatment by the United States government of the Cherokee tribes in Florida and Oklahoma.

I find these mysteries absolutely require that I suspend belief in having the situations actually happen. However, if you can relax and follow where the author wants you to go, you will enjoy getting to know Foggy, the folks he left behind in Brooklyn and the Cherokee in their compound deep in the swamp. If you find yourself intrigued by the situation DePoy talks about with the Cherokee tribes in Oklahoma, I would suggest you read Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann. It is an amazing history of what happened to Cherokee tribal members when the "useless" land they were given in Oklahoma was discovered to contain vast quantities of petroleum products.

[Jacqueline Murphy]

This is my first read in the Foggy Moscowitz series. I found the book a little confusing at first (but to be fair that’s probably my fault for not reading the first two books in the series, which I intend to rectify!) as there is a lot going on but Depoy masterfully pulls it altogether so stick with it, believe me, its worth it. Very well written with great plots and interesting characters. For those of my friends who like mysteries, I will definitely be recommending this series.
Many thanks to Netgalley and Severn House Publishers for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

[Peggy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the first Foggy Moscowitz book I have read. It is the third in the series. I thought I may have missed some of the background, but it was still an enjoyable book. Foggy is a former car thief from Brooklyn who escaped a police hunt for him. He landed in tiny Fry’s Bay, Florida where he is the lone child protection services officer. He lives around a lot of Seminoles and is fond of their leader, John Horse, an enigmatic man who is somewhat mystical. This book finds Foggy called to the scene of a body dumped in the bay. He is called because the two witnesses are children, Seminole children. Foggy is further shocked to learn the children are looking for their mother who never came home after work. The shock increases for Foggy when he learns the dead body is his best friend from New York. He has his hands full with the girl, who wields a huge knife, and boy, who is supposedly an expert tracker. He vows to help the kids, but the more he learns the more twisted is the story. John Horse tells Foggy bits and pieces- enough to get him involved deeply, but not all. The cops in town are crooked. The Seminoles are secretive. Foggy is baffled by his friend’s body showing up in Florida. The trail leads Foggy and John Horse to Manhattan and Oklahoma City. The tail of kidnapped Seminole women being secreted to Oklahoma is strange. Foggy is street smart and handy with a gun when he has to be. With bad guys and bad cops and FBI agents all after Foggy and John, the plot is fast and furious. The end story is an unexpected plot twist. The book is filled with the history of the poor treatment of the Seminoles by the US government. It has some humor, too. Foggy is easy to like.

[WroteTrips · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fantastic voice.
Heavy violence.
Neo-noir.
Blurb: Foggy Moscowitz is shocked when ID found on a body in the bay suggests it's his close Brooklyn friend, Pan Pan Washington, and the car involved belongs to one of their old associates, Sammy 'Icepick' Franks. What message is Icepick trying to send Foggy, and why?

The children who found the body were looking for their mother - one of twenty-seven women missing from John Horse's Seminole tribe, and Foggy immediately takes the pair under his wing as they follow a disturbing trail.

Is John right about there being a connection between the car in the bay and the missing women? Could Foggy's old associates in New York be involved? Hit men, crooked police officers, and even oil-rich Oklahomans can't stop Foggy on his mission to uncover the truth.

[LInda L · Rating 4 out of 5]

My first Phillip DePoy book and I loved it, despite not having read the first 2 in the series. It's about Foggy Moscovitz, who committed a crime in New York, fled the area, and somehow got hired by Child Protective Services in Florida. Best to not enquire into that too much. Other than the questions there, it was great -- funny as well as sometimes violent. I knew little about the Seminoles and their wanderings (sometimes not of their choosing), and after I finished the book I'm not too sure I learned much. BUT -- it was interesting and you have to love Foggy, who is SO Jewish it's kind of amazing/entertaining. It was definitely a Noir Mystery -- at least by my definition. A totally different kind of story.

[Linda Branham · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Phillip Depoy. I do however, like Flap Tucker and Fever Devlin better than I do Foggy for some strange reason...but do still enjoy Foggy :)
A story of Foggy saving children - this time two native american children whose mother is missing. Foggy gets into dangerous situations with criminal characters and outsmarts them

[Teresa · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quick and quirky read. But will never top Depoy’s Fever Devilin series, my long time favorite.

[Margie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just a fun, laugh out loud series. Have enjoyed all 3.

[William · Rating 1 out of 5]

Violent. Poorly put together and rather stupid. didn't do the Seminole tribes of Florida any favor. I thought it might get more interesting towards the end. It didn't! Stayed dumb.

[Philip · Rating 5 out of 5]

One absolutely fantastic work created by Phillip Depoy. If one wants to read a Foggy Moscowitz serial, let this be the one. Simply amazed by the artistry and talent of Depoy.

[Joyce · Rating 4 out of 5]

i think he is funny while writing about serious things. The Foggy series are set in the 1970s in Florida. His characters act and talk like many people really did then. He is politically incorrect.

[Lizabeth Tucker · Rating 5 out of 5]

In 1976, Sammy "Icepick" Franks drove from New York City to Fry's Bay, Florida, to dump a body in the bay. The body had the identification of Foggy Moskowitz's best friend from Brooklyn, Pan Pan Washington. While normally this would've consumed Foggy, the two children who saw the body dumped were there looking for their missing mother, one of twenty-seven Seminole women who have gone missing from the swamps. Determined to find their mother, Foggy is forced to deal with crooked cops, a drive back to New York City, and another longer drive to Oklahoma, accompanied by John Horse.

I've really come to love this mystery series. Each installment gives me more joy and, at times, sadness. I truly understand much of Foggy's confusion over who he is and where his home is.
The respect that DePoy gives to the Seminoles is gratifying. And to have Foggy learning their language was a lovely touch. He really is integrating into the community in ways most of the whites wouldn't consider. The ending was sad, as well as a bit empty in some ways, yet could lead to better things for Foggy in the long run, emotionally at least.

The children are quite an unusual pair. As someone who was rather sarcastic and snarky herself at their age, I recognized myself in their interactions with the adults, particularly Foggy. But their gifts are unusual. I hope to see more of them. 5 out of 5.

FYI: the Original John Horse is an actual person. Check him out on Wikipedia. The settlement of $16 million is also accurate, occurring in April of 1976. However, it was a complicated situation considering that some were not recognized under the treaty, including the Black Seminoles. It was years before things were settled between all concerned.

[Richard Marman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Set in 1976, here's a kinda Kinky Friedman meets Stephanie Plum pleasant surprise. Ex- tough-guy from the New York Jewish mob, Foggy Moscowitz is seeking solace by working for the Florida Child Protection Agency as an atonement for past dirty deeds.
Two Seminole kids witness arch baddie Sammy Icepick Franks dump a body of the wharf at Fry's Bay, a hick town close to swamp country and Seminole Nation Reservation.
Icepick is known to Foggy who thinks the kids are in danger if it gets out they'd witnessed the incident. So taking his job seriously, Foggy goes about trying to see they come to no harm.
And he's right because a whole bunch of seedy folk are interested in the murdered body. Good and bad cops, good and bad Indians, good and bad FBI agents, bad and not so bad gangsters, kidnapping, murder, arson, illegal drugs, people smuggling and sex trade all weave their good and bad way into the story.
At just over two hundred pages, like Sally Spencer's detective books, it's just the right length so all the twists and turns don't get too confusing. This is a good little page-turner. Enjoy.