SHADOWS ON BLEECKER STREET ...by Milton Polsky and Warren Wyss

       I am an avid researcher of history, and I also love a good thriller, and authors Milton Polsky and Warren Wyss have cleverly combined both of these genres in their new book. A young college professor is murdered and a rare book from 1838, with an inscription by Frederick Douglas himself, is missing from his rooms. The narrator in the book, an older teacher, sets out to find the book and solve his friend’s murder. The mission leads him to search for clues along New York’s famous Bleecker Street, by taking a walking tour along this historic street.

Along the way, we visit the homes and hear the stories of the illustrious former inhabitants of this part of Greenwich Village.  Who knew that towering figures such as the following movers and shakers... Revolutionary Essayist Thomas Payne Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger    Great Saxophonist Charlie "Bird" Parker Beleaguered comedian Lenny Bruce Eloquent poet Walt Whitman Ex-slave & Abolitionist Frederick Douglass  and most of all...  All lived along or nearby this vibrant street. Actually, regarding the identity of the killer, I must confess I figured it out around page 173 but that didn’t lessen my enthusiasm for reading on. By then I was hooked on revisiting Bleecker Street itself, having spent many past hours of my well-spent youth at the clubs and cafes along the route described so well by Polsky and Wyss.  Read the book. Lose yourself in New York’s fascinating history. You’ll be glad you did.

Publisher: Puck Press; www.shakespeareinc.com