The Girl in the Next Room: A Sam Russo Mystery

Stapleton, Staten Island. Holding on to the rest of New York by a ferryboat, it's not the kind of place where a real Private Eye would live. But Sam Russo does.

In Good Dog, Bad Dog, he and his dog Jane barely missed gruesome deaths. That's twice now.

The 1949 Kentucky Derby is about to run. Sam, who counts out his life by Derbies, has his seat by the radio all picked out. He'll be listening with Jane and his new friend Holly.

Holly lives right next door to him in a room as shabby as his. She's a man. He's a woman. Sam doesn't care. He likes Holly. Jane likes Holly. She's the best thing Sam has if he doesn't count the love of his life, Jane. Or Mrs. Willingford-who's married to a rich someone else.

Everything's set for the Derby until a rare and classy Lagonda rolls through Stapleton. Getting into that Lagonda, Holly's turned the worst trick of her life and threatened to ruin Sam's in the bargain.

When the girl in the next room disappears, Russo and Jane find themselves lost in sordid world of hidden mansions, a twisted social club, and high society secrets.