Ex-boxer, hard drinker, in a business that trades mostly in cash and favors–Leonid McGill’s an old-school P.I. working a twenty-first-century Manhattan that’s gotten fancy all around him. Fancy or not, he has always managed to get by–keep a roof over the head of his wife and kids, and still manage a little fun on the side–mostly because he’s never been above taking a shady job for a quick buck, no questions asked. But like the city itself, McGill is turning over a new leaf, “decided to go from crooked to slightly bent.”As soon as The Long Fall begins, with McGill calling in old markers and greasing NYPD palms to unearth some seemingly harmless information for a high-paying client, he learns that even in this cleaned-up city, it’s clear that his commitment to the straight and narrow is going to be a tricky proposition.This is the perfect setup for a mystery master working at the top of his form. And in The Long Fall, Walter Mosley has created a new, contemporary hero who has the unmistakable feel of an instant classic.