~Written 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. (Amazon)
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. Available at Amazon.com.

Andrew Cotto is a writer and teacher who lives in Brooklyn, NY. He is the author of two novels: "The Domino Effect" - winner of the 2012 Readers Favorite Silver Medal - is a coming of age story about a kid from Queens with a damaged past and a complicated present at a boarding school in rural New Jersey; "Outerborough Blues: A Brooklyn Mystery" is an unconventional noir about a drifter seeking a missing person and a remedy to his family's curse on the dawn of urban gentrification. His novels are represented by Dunow, Carlson and Lerner Literary Agency. Andrew's articles have appeared in many national journals, including the New York Times, Men's Journal, The Huffington Post, Salon.com, Deadspin, the Good Men Project and Teachers & Writers Magazine. He has an MFA in Creative Writing from The New School. (Amazon)