A boy's corpse in a makeshift coffin washes ashore in Brooklyn's Red Hook, the letters "G.I." written in marker on his forehead, and Jack Leightner, a detective with the Brooklyn South Homicide Task Force, back at work after recovering from an injury sustained in the line of duty, is assigned to the case in The Graving Dock by Gabriel Cohen.

This is Red Hook, a neighborhood that was cut off from the rest of Brooklyn by the construction of freeways and thereby deteriorating into gritty inner-city (read: impoverished, abandoned) noir charm that appeals to the imagination of people who don't live there. Cohen weaves the two main threads -- the mystery of the murdered boy and the challenge and surprises of new loves -- seamlessly through Det. Leightner, a character who, with Cohen's careful and deft hand, transcends the usual two-dimensional detective of crime novels and is believable as a human being with a tough job and the same kinds of internal conflicts as most folks.

The last paragraph, the last sentence, easily could have erred on the side of sentimentality and cliché; instead, it is perfect.

The Graving Dock is Cohen's second novel featuring Det. Jack Leightner. His first, Red Hook, was nominated for the Edgar Award for Best First Novel.