Motherless Brooklyn

Lionel Essrog, an orphan whose Tourettic instincts compel him to bark, count, and tear apart our language in the most shocking and inventive ways, is Brooklyn's very own self-appointed Human Freakshow. He works for the limo business turned detective agency owned by small-time gangster Frank Minna, along with three other former St. Vincent's Home for Boys veterans. Who cares if the assignments Frank Minna, the charming King of Brooklyn, gives them are, well, not quite legal? Life would be unbearable without him. However, after Frank's deadly stabbing, one of Lionel's coworkers is put in prison, the other two compete for his job, and the victim's widow leaves town. Suddenly, everything is out of control in Lionel's world, and this misfit who struggles to speak at all tries to sort through the case's loose ends while attempting to keep his words straight in his mind. One of the most well-known authors of his time has created a stunningly unique tribute to the traditional detective fiction with Motherless Brooklyn.