The Con Man's Daughter, by Ed Dee

Thursday, November 18, 2004

Excitement, a well-concocted plot, and most of all, fully-developed characters make The Con Man's Daughter, by Ed Dee, is a mystery to open up to the possibilities of thrillers the mind of even a confirmed devotee of the cozy mystery novel.

From page one, which you can read online, author Ed Dee grabs the reader's attention. If the little school girl telling an old knock-knock joke can so love and laugh at her grizzled fifty-something grandfather, there must be a wonderful person beneath his gruff exterior. Eddie Dunne is an ex-cop who was booted off the force for consorting with the Italian Mafia. Since then, he has made his living with its counterparts among the recent Jewish Russian immigrants who work out of Coney Island. A womanizer and a usually sober alcoholic, Eddie's past is checkered with vices, but in the meanwhile, he has raised his red-haired daughter, Kate, to adulthood, and taken in her and her exuberant daughter, Grace, when Kate's husband disappeared.

They all live in Yonkers, right across from the bar Eddie's father owned and which is now operated by Eddie's brother and sister-in-law. It definitely is a tightly knit Irish-American family.

On the scene, in an official capacity, as soon as Eddie finds that his daughter has been kidnapped, is another lifelong acquaintance. The Polish policewoman Babsie temporarily moves in and is gradually revealed to have been in love with Eddie at least since they danced together in high school.

With everyone loving Eddie so profoundly, his catalogue of sins becomes palatable. He had been a top-notch policeman until his superior had the insane idea to pair him with a known brother of the Mob. It wasn't an easy position for Eddie to be in and it's doubtful it could have ended in anything but their joint expulsion from the police force, even without the booze and other temptations. But that was fourteen years ago. Now Eddie's only daughter is gone. His son-in-law has mysteriously reappeared with a sudden interest in taking custody of Grace. No ransom demand enforces the idea that the kidnapping of Kate had been unplanned: that the break-in in which Kate was abducted was a foiled attempt to find an imaginary stash of millions.

While looking for Kate, Eddie tackles all his Underworld connections. Using his prize fighting fists wherever he has an opportunity to vent some of his frustration, he beats out only very meagre bits of information, but each is enough to propel Eddie to the next set of clues and the next heavy for Eddie to pummel. Breaking and entering, shooting off toes, and putting a gypsy in a position to be killed are the extremes to which Eddie goes in his hunt for Kate.

What doesn't quite make sense to Eddie -- although he is eternally grateful, of course -- is why his daughter has been kept alive. The reason for her continued existence is the clue Eddie must translate into the identity of the kidnapper.

After finishing The Con Man's Daughter, I craved more Eddie Dunne. The characters are so vivid and multi-faceted I already miss them. So what if there's a bit of unnecessary blood and gore? I don't have to watch it in grotesque living color on the tube, but can skim over the unpleasantness. The world of the Underworld has fascinated people since Mario Puzo's The Godfather and the Russian Mafiya Ed Dee describes presents an intriguing new twist.

The Con Man's Daughter
by Ed Dee
Publication Date: November 2003
Mysterious Press
ISBN 0892967943
288 Pages

Thursday, November 18, 2004