Canzoniero chronicles his grandfather’s remarkable life, which took him from Italy to the United States at the end of the 19th century, in this biography.

In 1873, Giuseppe Canzoniero, affectionately called Pepino by his mother, Francesca, was born in Albano di Lucania, an achingly poor village in Southern Italy, tucked away in a “forgotten corner of the world.” Early on, Giuseppe was brimming with ambition and had no desire to become an impoverished day laborer like his father, Vincenzo, or a priest, as his mother had hoped. Instead, he longed to become an artist, and he landed an apprenticeship with successful fresco painter Gustavo Belloni. Still, the dearth of professional opportunity made a decent living all but impossible, so Giuseppe headed for the United States in 1892, where he worked in both California and New York, first as a sign painter—or “walldog” as they were then called—and then painting and wallpapering homes. He persevered through nearly inconceivable adversity; he lost his entire first family—a wife and twins—to what was known as the “Russian flu” in 1893. It’s a heartbreaking tragedy affectingly portrayed by Canzoniero in this endearing homage, which is based on family stories, with some parts imagined by the author. As recounted here, Giuseppe’s life was impressive and, ultimately, inspirational: Against great odds, he became a successful businessman and raised a family. Also, the author insightfully anatomizes the Italian American experience with rigor and subtlety, expressing the paradox of life in America as a place of superabundant opportunity and arbitrary prejudice. The author indulges in far too much granular detail, covering 86 years of his grandparent’s life and the lives of his family members, and, as a result, the narrative can be very slow. Also, the author’s affection for his relative, while sweet, leads him into hagiographical territory, and the story, which he describes as a “tear-filled tale,” can be overly sentimental. However, Giuseppe’s history is extraordinary, and it reveals much about the plight of Italians of his era who made their home in the United States.

A poignant and historically captivating remembrance.

A young woman’s mysterious murder forces a troubled detective to come to terms with his past.

No one can figure out who killed Greta Broz. She was discovered dead in her Long Island apartment from a gunshot wound. The problem? There’s no bullet to be found. That’s not the only confounding thing about the young Hungarian immigrant’s death that Detective William Hael discovers as he investigates the crime. The victim was mild-mannered and had no enemies. But as Hael digs deeper, disturbing truths about Greta’s past surface. Her father was an alcoholic imprisoned for murder, and her uncle sexually abused her. Hael’s own father was an abusive alcoholic and the case stirs up unpleasant memories and emotions, which express themselves in a series of dreams starring baseball legend Babe Ruth. Then Greta starts appearing with Ruth in the dreams (“Could the Babe, in holding Greta’s hand, simply be saying the two of them were connected? And if they were connected, what was the tie that bound them? Was it their father’s drinking?”). The Great Bambino seems to be trying to tell the detective something important, but Hael may not get the message before the killer strikes again. This debut novel is half hard-boiled mystery, half psychological study of the lasting damage and pain caused by abusive, addicted parents. That’s not surprising given that the author is a licensed psychologist who has worked with those affected by drug and alcohol abuse, and he draws on his professional knowledge to explain how children of alcoholics learn to cope. This information, while enlightening, is occasionally a bit didactic; some passages read like excerpts from a Psych 101 textbook. The detective’s obsession with Ruth and the related dreams are an inventive way to explore the character’s psyche, but sometimes disrupt the narrative’s flow, as the action pauses while Hael recounts another strange vision. Some readers may wish the narrator spent less time dozing and more time detecting. The book’s core mystery is clever and engaging, complete with effective red herrings, colorful cops, reliably sketchy informants, and dynamic action sequences. The case wraps itself up in a satisfying way, but the resolution to Hael’s troubles with his father is a bit too pat, especially because dad only appears in person in the final pages.

A deft thriller with an important message about the lasting damage of alcohol abuse.