Detective Simon Ziele
2 primary works
Book 2
Both Detective Simon Ziele and his former partner Captain Declan Mulvaney's careers went in different directions after the tragic death of Zeile's fiancee in the General Slocum ferry disaster. While both seemed destined for bigger things, Ziele moved to a small town north of New York City to escape the violence and Mulvaney now heads up the force in the most crime ridden district in the city. Yet, with all of the resources at Mulvaney's disposal, he still needs a man that he can trust to work a case with the potential for disaster when a chorus girl is found dead on a Broadway stage dressed in the leading lady's costume. There are no signs of violence at all and it would look like a suicide if she wasn't the second chorus girl to turn up dead in the last few weeks: It's clear they have a serial killer on their hands. "A Curtain Falls" is a moody and evocative tale that finds Simon and his partners scouring the streets of turn-of-the-century New York in search of a true monster.
Book 3
"The murder of Judge Hugo Jackson is out of Detective Simon Ziele's jurisdiction in more ways than one. It's high profile enough to command the attention of the notorious new police commissioner, since Judge Jackson was presiding over the sensationalist trial of Al Drayson. Drayson, an anarchist, set off a bomb at a Carnegie wedding, but instead of killing millionaires, it killed passersby, including a child. Furthermore, Simon's assigned precinct on Manhattan's west side includes the gritty Tenderloin but not the tonier Gramercy Park, which is where the judge is found in his locked townhouse with his throat slashed on the night before the jury is set to deliberate. But his widow insists on calling her husband's old classmate criminologist Alistair Sinclair, who in turn enlists Ziele's help. Together they must steer Sinclair's unorthodox methods past a police force that is so focused on rounding up Drayson's supporters that they've all but rejected any other possibilities. Once again, Pintoff 's combination of vital characterizations and a fascinating case set amongst the sometimes brutal and sometimes glittering history of turn-of-the-century New York makes for totally compelling reading"--