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Artie Cohen #9
Blood Count
Mid-December 2008. Barack Obama has just been elected; all New York is ecstatic, especially Harlem. On a freezing night a few weeks later, detective Artie Cohen gets a late call from his ex girlfriend, Lily Hanes, begging for his help. Lily has been living at the Louis Armstrong Apartments, one of Harlem's great buildings, while working on Obama's campaign; now her Russian neighbor, Marianna Simonova, has died, and Lily fears she's at fault and needs Artie's Russian connections. Over a weekend when the city is locked in by snow and cold, with the financial markets tanking, one after another people at the Armstrong die. Artie, out of his element, a white detective in a black world, is drawn inexorably into the realm of Sugar Hill and the Armstrong, where almost everybody except for the real estate developers seems locked in the past.
Working to solve the murders, Artie tries desperately to win Lily back. Blood Count is a murder mystery, a love story, and a tale about New York, race, real estate, money, and music, with an ending one could never predict.
Working to solve the murders, Artie tries desperately to win Lily back. Blood Count is a murder mystery, a love story, and a tale about New York, race, real estate, money, and music, with an ending one could never predict.
352 pages, Hardcover
First published August 24, 2010
1 person is currently reading
46 people want to read
About the author
Reggie Nadelson
36 books19 followersReggie Nadelson is a New Yorker who also makes her home in London. She is a journalist and documentary film-maker. She is the author of the critically acclaimed series featuring Artie Cohen, Moscow-born New Yorker and the first great post-Cold War cop.
Series:
* Artie Cohen
Series:
* Artie Cohen
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
August 31, 2012
‘Blood Count’ by Reggie Nadelson
Published by Atlantic Books, 15th February 2011. ISBN: 978-1-84354-836-1
A surprise telephone call from ex girlfriend Lily Haines takes Detective Artie Cohen to the Louis Armstrong Apartment Building, one of Harlem’s most historic buildings. Lily now lives in the Armstrong building and is with her friend Marianna Simonova. Marianna is dead and Lily begs Artie for help, for Artie left Moscow at age 16 and Marianna was Russian.
Artie is perplexed by the situation, but further entreaty from Lily’s new boyfriend Detective Virgil Radcliffe has him hesitating not for Virgil but for Lily. Although they are no longer together Artie still loves her and will do anything to help her.
The story covers a cold snow locked weekend, and during this weekend Artie is drawn into the lives of the long-term residents of the Armstrong building. Even as he comes to learn more about the residents, the death of three of the residents in quick succession is unusual even taking into account their advanced ages.
The background is the election of Barack Obama, and the hope that it signals to the occupants of the Armstrong Building.
Atmospheric with a setting of jazz, intrigue and politics, guess the last two go hand-in-hand. Artie tries to make sense of the situation but something is off, and troubling him and he cannot pin it down.
A book that keeps the reader guessing. Recommended.
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Lizzie Hayes
Published by Atlantic Books, 15th February 2011. ISBN: 978-1-84354-836-1
A surprise telephone call from ex girlfriend Lily Haines takes Detective Artie Cohen to the Louis Armstrong Apartment Building, one of Harlem’s most historic buildings. Lily now lives in the Armstrong building and is with her friend Marianna Simonova. Marianna is dead and Lily begs Artie for help, for Artie left Moscow at age 16 and Marianna was Russian.
Artie is perplexed by the situation, but further entreaty from Lily’s new boyfriend Detective Virgil Radcliffe has him hesitating not for Virgil but for Lily. Although they are no longer together Artie still loves her and will do anything to help her.
The story covers a cold snow locked weekend, and during this weekend Artie is drawn into the lives of the long-term residents of the Armstrong building. Even as he comes to learn more about the residents, the death of three of the residents in quick succession is unusual even taking into account their advanced ages.
The background is the election of Barack Obama, and the hope that it signals to the occupants of the Armstrong Building.
Atmospheric with a setting of jazz, intrigue and politics, guess the last two go hand-in-hand. Artie tries to make sense of the situation but something is off, and troubling him and he cannot pin it down.
A book that keeps the reader guessing. Recommended.
-----
Lizzie Hayes
February 22, 2013
I thought this book was really good! This is the first more adult, murder-mystery book I have read and I really liked it!
January 5, 2022
A book that tries too hard to be clever, and just ends up being a literary sleeping pill. I struggled to keep my focus with this, as I meandered my way through countless conversations that were about the same thing. I didn't really care for the main characters at all, and if felt like the main protagonist was a bit muddled and unprepared.
By the end, I don't know if I cared too much about who the killer was - I was just glad it ended.
Not an author I would read again.
By the end, I don't know if I cared too much about who the killer was - I was just glad it ended.
Not an author I would read again.
June 21, 2018
I really wanted to like this book, but the narrative lacked cohesion, and I found myself just wishing the detective would make up his mind about something ... ANYTHING! Plus my eddition had the wurst prof-reeder evere!
November 11, 2024
Set in 2008 Harlem, so filled with the buildings and stories of the past, two cultures finding conflict, fueling suspicion and death. Dual sound beds of jazz and the streets. Love Nadelson
June 13, 2011
PROTAGONIST: Artie Cohen, police detective
SETTING: New York City
SERIES: #9 of 9
RATING: 2.75
Barack Obama has just been elected, and policeman Artie Cohen manages to find the election party that his former significant other, Lily Hanes, is attending. It’s been a year since Lily put their relationship on hold, a hiatus that Artie is determined should end immediately. His hopes rise when shortly thereafter, Lily calls him and asks for his help after she discovers that her neighbor is dead. He meets her in her apartment in the Armstrong building in Harlem, an aging yet still glorious building. Because of a medication mix-up, Lily feels responsible for the death of her elderly Russian neighbor, Marianna Simonova. It looks like Lily and Artie will be spending a lot more time together since he feels that the death is suspicious and commits to investigating it, possibly more for personal than professional reasons. In spite of the fact that Lily has let Artie know that she is involved with someone else, a police detective named Virgil Radcliff, Artie continues a relentless pursuit of the woman he loves. And proving her innocent in the death of her neighbor would go a long way towards meeting his goal.
As it turns out, the powers that be assign Artie to work with Virgil on the case. Neither one of them follows the rules, which leads to some rather unorthodox approaches to the investigation. The prime suspect is the building manager, Carter Lennox, who appears to be trying to take possession of the apartments of the mostly elderly residents. There are other deaths that seem suspicious to Artie; of course, in an apartment complex with mostly senior citizens, the death rate does tend to be higher than average.
Artie and his family emigrated from Russia many years earlier. His familiarity with the Russian culture and language proves to be quite an asset as he investigates the situation with Simonova. He is able to read her journals and understand what kind of woman she really was and whether Lily actually had any responsibility for her death. Using good old-fashioned intuition, he is also able to determine how her next-door neighbor and possible lover died.
Frankly, I was very disappointed in this book. The protagonist is a cop who doesn't act anything like a cop - breaking and entering, warrantless searches, withholding evidence, destroying evidence - I got more and more ticked off as I read. He goes into crime scenes on his own and tries to collect evidence BEFORE the cops come. Well, hello, he is a cop!!! Why would he engage in such unprofessional behavior? On top of that, he needlessly lies to others who may be able to help him out. The other issue I had with the book had to do with his pursuit of Lily. To me, his behavior with Lily felt somewhat creepy and obsessive, especially since I didn’t feel any chemistry between them. Nadelson’s writing about this relationship was strangely lacking in eloquence. From the scene describing when they met:
That night, we smoked and waited. She’d pointed out the school across the street, where she’d gone when she was a little girl. There had been something about her—hair, eyes, voice—that made me want her bad right then.
BLOOD COUNT is the ninth book in the Artie Cohen series, and the first one that I have read. Based on my experience with this book, I wonder if the series will be one that I enjoy. Is BLOOD COUNT a fluke in an otherwise good series? I guess the only way to find out will be to check out the first book and see how it goes from there.
SETTING: New York City
SERIES: #9 of 9
RATING: 2.75
Barack Obama has just been elected, and policeman Artie Cohen manages to find the election party that his former significant other, Lily Hanes, is attending. It’s been a year since Lily put their relationship on hold, a hiatus that Artie is determined should end immediately. His hopes rise when shortly thereafter, Lily calls him and asks for his help after she discovers that her neighbor is dead. He meets her in her apartment in the Armstrong building in Harlem, an aging yet still glorious building. Because of a medication mix-up, Lily feels responsible for the death of her elderly Russian neighbor, Marianna Simonova. It looks like Lily and Artie will be spending a lot more time together since he feels that the death is suspicious and commits to investigating it, possibly more for personal than professional reasons. In spite of the fact that Lily has let Artie know that she is involved with someone else, a police detective named Virgil Radcliff, Artie continues a relentless pursuit of the woman he loves. And proving her innocent in the death of her neighbor would go a long way towards meeting his goal.
As it turns out, the powers that be assign Artie to work with Virgil on the case. Neither one of them follows the rules, which leads to some rather unorthodox approaches to the investigation. The prime suspect is the building manager, Carter Lennox, who appears to be trying to take possession of the apartments of the mostly elderly residents. There are other deaths that seem suspicious to Artie; of course, in an apartment complex with mostly senior citizens, the death rate does tend to be higher than average.
Artie and his family emigrated from Russia many years earlier. His familiarity with the Russian culture and language proves to be quite an asset as he investigates the situation with Simonova. He is able to read her journals and understand what kind of woman she really was and whether Lily actually had any responsibility for her death. Using good old-fashioned intuition, he is also able to determine how her next-door neighbor and possible lover died.
Frankly, I was very disappointed in this book. The protagonist is a cop who doesn't act anything like a cop - breaking and entering, warrantless searches, withholding evidence, destroying evidence - I got more and more ticked off as I read. He goes into crime scenes on his own and tries to collect evidence BEFORE the cops come. Well, hello, he is a cop!!! Why would he engage in such unprofessional behavior? On top of that, he needlessly lies to others who may be able to help him out. The other issue I had with the book had to do with his pursuit of Lily. To me, his behavior with Lily felt somewhat creepy and obsessive, especially since I didn’t feel any chemistry between them. Nadelson’s writing about this relationship was strangely lacking in eloquence. From the scene describing when they met:
That night, we smoked and waited. She’d pointed out the school across the street, where she’d gone when she was a little girl. There had been something about her—hair, eyes, voice—that made me want her bad right then.
BLOOD COUNT is the ninth book in the Artie Cohen series, and the first one that I have read. Based on my experience with this book, I wonder if the series will be one that I enjoy. Is BLOOD COUNT a fluke in an otherwise good series? I guess the only way to find out will be to check out the first book and see how it goes from there.
September 23, 2012
It's a mystery to me why there are so few ratings of Reggie Nadelson's Artie Cohen-series. This stuff is good, really good. Meet Artie Cohen: Russian-born New York detective, son of a KGB-agent, loyal friend, tender lover, righteous keeper of justice, prone to melancholy, forever trying to escape the complications of his past, failing.
I should add that I've had a huge crush on Artie for years. Lately, I've come to accept that us getting together may not be the best idea, me worrying about the dangers of his profession, him being a fictional character madly in love with another woman (though what he sees in Lily Hanes is beyond me). Don't get me wrong, I'm still pining for him, but now I'd settle for just being friends, hanging out with him and his best buddy Tolya Sverdloff (whom I also love, but more like a big brother), drinking vodka and listening to Duke Ellington.
And really, a long-term relationship with Artie might be kind of tough. First of all, awful things happen to the people he loves (and in Blood Count, a very awful thing befalls a black lab). Second, Artie's NYC isn't Woody Allen's NYC. We wouldn't be skipping through autumn leaves in Central Park with Tommy Dorsey providing the soundtrack to our witty banter. More likely we'd be skipping over dead and/or tortured bodies on Staten Island and dodging Russian mobsters in Brighton Beach. Instead of weekends spent antiques-shopping, we'd be attending funerals.He'd be working all the time. There'd be late night phone calls from strangers with Russian accents and I'd get all suspicious, and Artie being the good guy he is wouldn't dump me, so I'd be forced to end it myself and then I'd be miserable and he'd end up with that red-headed hussy Hanes anyway.
Yes, best to adjust one's expectations and just enjoy from a distance the genius that is Artyom.
I should add that I've had a huge crush on Artie for years. Lately, I've come to accept that us getting together may not be the best idea, me worrying about the dangers of his profession, him being a fictional character madly in love with another woman (though what he sees in Lily Hanes is beyond me). Don't get me wrong, I'm still pining for him, but now I'd settle for just being friends, hanging out with him and his best buddy Tolya Sverdloff (whom I also love, but more like a big brother), drinking vodka and listening to Duke Ellington.
And really, a long-term relationship with Artie might be kind of tough. First of all, awful things happen to the people he loves (and in Blood Count, a very awful thing befalls a black lab). Second, Artie's NYC isn't Woody Allen's NYC. We wouldn't be skipping through autumn leaves in Central Park with Tommy Dorsey providing the soundtrack to our witty banter. More likely we'd be skipping over dead and/or tortured bodies on Staten Island and dodging Russian mobsters in Brighton Beach. Instead of weekends spent antiques-shopping, we'd be attending funerals.He'd be working all the time. There'd be late night phone calls from strangers with Russian accents and I'd get all suspicious, and Artie being the good guy he is wouldn't dump me, so I'd be forced to end it myself and then I'd be miserable and he'd end up with that red-headed hussy Hanes anyway.
Yes, best to adjust one's expectations and just enjoy from a distance the genius that is Artyom.
August 10, 2011
This is a very difficult book to review, on the one hand I really enjoyed the characters and even the mystery. On the other hand, the book is terribly edited, it is full of errors and just an awkward read. Now I am trying to decide if I will read another, as this is the ninth in a series... I might try one of the earliest ones... maybe.
January 28, 2013
Wow, what a trip down memory lane for me! One of the big characters in this mystery is only a little older than me. And she is a 'true believer' in Soviet style socialism.
This story takes place entirely in NYC, so there is that familiarity for me as well.
Much fun to be taken into this world Ms. Nadelson creates so well--starting with the election of Barack Obama in 2008.
This story takes place entirely in NYC, so there is that familiarity for me as well.
Much fun to be taken into this world Ms. Nadelson creates so well--starting with the election of Barack Obama in 2008.
Read
July 31, 2011First book that I have read by this author, and very much enjoyed it--the plot ends up being a little too neatly tied together, and a little bit of Agatha Christies "and Then There Were None" in it's final moments, but I would read another one.
November 27, 2014
My first Artie Cohen book. An intriguing look into a community and setting totally foreign to me. Suspenseful and mysterious.
July 20, 2015
Enjoyed this very much. Blood Count is the title of Billy Strayhorn's last song. #jazz
April 6, 2016
Whilst I never quite believe the character of Artie Cohen, this was a perfectly readable book set in Harlem post the Obama election.
July 26, 2016
It was a really good read, draws you in, I only gave it 3 stars for some spotty editing. I'd recommend it if you're into cop/mystery type books, though.
December 17, 2010
Kind of irritating.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews