The Gangster

02/01/2016 Set in 1906, bestseller Cussler’s thrilling ninth Isaac Bell adventure (after 2015’s The Assassin, also coauthored with Scott) pits Bell, an operative in the Van Dorn Detective Agency, against Antonio Branco, who’s outwardly a respectable New York City businessman but is in fact a ruthless crime boss. Branco is willing to bribe and murder to enhance his profits, and he does both to land a contract to “provision the biggest construction job in America.” Bell has his hands full working to thwart the Black Hand in New York City, a gang that exploits poor Italians and rich alike, and which benefits from the inadequate resources of the NYPD. But he gets even busier when he learns that a member of a “secret tycoon club,” who fears Teddy Roosevelt will learn that he illegally profited from the Panama Canal Treaty, wants the president dead. The fascinating and suspenseful plot compensates for thin characterizations. Agent: Peter Lampack, Peter Lampack Agency. (Mar.)