Styx & Stone

August 5, 2013
Near the beginning of Ziskin’s competent series starter set in 1960 New York City, reporter Ellie Stone is shaken to learn that her estranged father, a famed Dante scholar, is in critical condition after a brutal beating, with no suspect yet in sight. Moreover, a second attempt on his life, which takes place in the hospital, indicates that the culprit won’t stop until Professor Stone is dead. A determined Ellie throws herself into the case, only to discover a maze of possible motivations, ranging from anti-Semitism to professional rivalry. An attack on a second academic, Ruggero Ercolano, this time fatal, underlines the urgency of Ellie’s investigation. Ziskin’s sense of period isn’t always believable, but he makes the unjust social constraints and pervasive double standard then inflicted on women painfully clear. This solid debut mystery promises even better for future series entries. Agent: William Reiss, John Hawkins & Associates.

September 1, 2013

The prodigal daughter, journalist Eleonora ("Ellie") Stone, rushes to her father's New York City hospital bed after he's savagely beaten in his apartment. Abraham Stone, Dante professor and scholar, is mostly beloved by his colleagues, but an underlying tension within the department makes a curious--and angry--Ellie investigate. Not only is her father near death, but also his most recent manuscript is missing from his torn-up study. Then, horrifyingly, another professor dies in a scenario meant to look like a suicide. While grappling with her own identity and grief, Ellie pieces together the clues she's amassed from what's been left in the study and from conversations with others. When she catches a whiff of anti-Semitism, the case is clarified for her, and DS Jimmo McKeever wisely listens. VERDICT This is an engrossing debut in what promises to be a fascinatingly complex series set in the 1960s. With abundant academic flair and somber references to the Holocaust and World War II, Ziskin successfully pulls off a nuanced plot sure to appeal to both fans of academia and Mad Men.

Copyright 2013 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.