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About
The Detective's Garden: A Love Story and Meditation on Murder is set in Brooklyn in 1995. Originally from Slovenia, ex-NYPD Homicide Detective Emil Milosec, a man with a past poised to reclaim him is perennially on the outside. Elena, his beauty of a wife, has died, but she has filled pages of letters to him which he has so far refused to read. Elena always remained elusive to him, and she still is. An ugly discovery among the leafy haven of their backyard garden unsettles the uneasy truce Emil has managed since Elena's death. A lively cast of local characters, a dark history and an international mystery all inform the story. Underpinning events are a heat wave, the Brooklyn housing bubble underway, a gun that goes off, and a smattering of science. A little bit Sophocles, a dash of Shakespeare, and tablespoons of Old Testament go into a brew that is both contemplative and neo-noirish.
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Reviews
"What I love about The Detective's Garden, besides the fine, suspenseful writing, is Janyce Stefan-Cole's understanding of history that it is a hostage-taker, a predator, and only fearless storyteller will submit to the undertow of its appetite."
Bob Shacochis, author of The Woman Who Lost Her Soul
"Like the best Graham Greene novels, The Detective's Garden coils deeply into a half-buried past. Stefan-Cole explodes the secrets of one man's life into a present that threatens and, finally, at a price, healsutterly engaging and aware, with the loveliest sense of character and place."
Varley O'Connor, The Master's Muse
"Contemplative and intriguing, The Detective's Garden is the story of ex NYPD Detective Emil Milosec, whose biggest crime is yet to be solved. Set in Brooklyn, Stefan-Cole, in beautifully evocative prose, takes us on a journey encompassing loss, love, and suspense, bringing her noir-tinged tale to a satisfying and totally unexpected conclusion."
John S.