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Redemption Street
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Plot Summary of Redemption Street
"Moe is married and has a baby girl as well as a ton of guilt for not telling his wife everything about her father and the truth about her brother's disappearance. His knee still aches and while he may be the only Jewish licensed P.I. in New York City, he hasn't used his license once since that case. Instead, the wine shop in which he is a partner with his brother has opened and he spends his days advising customers and trying to reconcile his past.

That is until, by all appearances, a homeless man appears in the shop. He carries with him some of Moe Prager's press clippings as a result of a missing child case covered in the first book as well as the missing person case of three years ago. Moe repeatedly tells the man that he can't help him and the man begs for help anyway. The man explains he is Arthur Rosen, and he wants help for his sister, Karen Rosen, who Moe allegedly went to school with years ago.

The name doesn't ring any bells and still doesn't when R. B. Carter shows up in his limo and tries to convince Moe to stay uninvolved. She, along with many others, allegedly died in a famous fire at a resort up in the Catskills years ago and R. B. Carter doesn't want the case looked into by Moe for any reason. He paints a picture of Arthur being insane with grief and delusional and then gets out his checkbook and tries to buy Moe off. Insulted and bored with his working life, Moe begins to dig into the case. Before long, he is further motivated to keep digging by guilt over the sudden suicide of her brother as well as the fact that he finally remembers how he loved her from afar those years ago. Getting free from his wine shop obligations as Christmas approaches in 1981, he makes a pilgrimage deep into the Catskill Mountains to see for himself where she died. Once there, guilt won't let him leave and he begin to realize the sheer depravity of some outcasts from society. As Moe works the case and realizes who the killer was, he finds new evidence that makes him wonder if Karen Rosen is really dead or just living a lie as he is?
"

Kevin R. Tipple, Resident Scholar



Review Analysis of Redemption Street
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot

Composition of Book
descript. of violence and chases - 20%
Planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 30%
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 50%




Tone of story - depressing/sad
How difficult to spot villain? - Somewhat obvious
Time/era of story: - 1980's-1999
What % of story relates directly to the mystery, not the subplot? - 70%
Murder of certain profession? - businessmen
Misc. Murder Plotlets - "All in the family" murder - solving long-past murder
Kind of investigator - hard boiled/private eye
Any non-mystery subplot? - feelings of fear/loss/inadequacy
Crime Thriller Yes
Murder Mystery (killer unknown) Yes

Main Character
Gender - Male
Profession/status: - small businessman
Age: - 20's-30's
How much violence does he/she use? - just the right amount
Ethnicity/Race - Religious Jew
How sensitive is this character? - sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor - Cynical sense of humor
Intelligence - Smarter than most other characters
Physique - average physique

Main Adversary
Identity: - Male
Age: - 60's-90's
Profession/status: - criminal
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in: - an average amount
Motive of antagonist - money/treasure
The antagonists are: - rednecks
How sensitive is this character? - mean, arrogant
Sense of humor - Cynical sense of humor
Intelligence - Average intelligence
Physique - average physique

Setting
Mountains/Cliffs Yes
City? Yes
City: - New York

Style
Part of a series? Yes
Person - mostly 3rd
Accounts of torture and death? - moderately detailed references to deaths
How many deaths? - 8 or more
Amount of dialog - roughly even amounts of descript and dialog
Most similar books to Redemption Street
Unfaithful Servant by Timothy Harris
The Red Scream by Mary Willis Walker
Desert Shadows by Betty Webb
Tell Me Your Dreams by Sidney Sheldon
Murder in the Bastille by Cara Black


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Reed Farrel Coleman Resident Scholar Profiles

TOP SCHOLAR:
  
Harriet Klausner  

SCHOLARS:
Kevin R. Tipple  


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