No. 10 Doyers Street - by Radha Vatsal (Hardcover)

About the Book

"Archana Morley knows what it's like to be an outsider. As a woman journalist from India making her way through the cutthroat world of tabloid newspapers, she's always on the lookout for untold stories. In the aftermath of a bloody shooting in Chinatown, Archana finds her most challenging subject-the dreaded gangster Mock Duck. But she realizes that things are not as they seem when the mayor declares Chinatown must be demolished, and the authorities raid Mock's home and tear apart his family. She embarks on a quest for the truth that leads her from gritty alleys to the back-room politics of City Hall and beyond."--Publisher description.

Book Synopsis

New York City, 1907.

Archana Morley knows what it's like to be an outsider. As a woman journalist from India making her way through the cutthroat world of tabloid newspapers, she's always on the lookout for untold stories.

In the aftermath of a bloody shooting in Chinatown, Archana finds her most challenging subject-the dreaded gangster Mock Duck. But she realizes that things are not as they seem when the mayor declares Chinatown must be demolished, and the authorities raid Mock's home and tear apart his family. She embarks on a quest for the truth that leads her from gritty alleys to the back-room politics of City Hall and beyond.

Inspired by real events, No. 10 Doyers Street is a gripping novel of New York City on the cusp of modernity, as seen through a unique immigrant perspective.

Review Quotes

"[A]n immersive historical novel in which social constructions of race impact politics on a grand scale." - Foreword Reviews

"This page-turning caper explores the political, cultural, and economic forces that shaped Progressive Era New York." - Kirkus Reviews

"[A] descriptive, engaging thriller set in the dark alleys of New York's Chinatown more than a hundred years ago." - Asian Review of Books

"Radha Vatsal has impressed me with her precise and astute observations and rich detail for some time, and her upcoming book shows Vatsal at the top of her game." - CrimeReads

"[A]n engrossing read about the erasure of people and their homes and culture in the name of so-called progress." - Historical Novel Society

"This book begins with heartbreak and ends up being an extremely deft portrait of the way politics work... Archie and the story of a bursting New York City is indelible." - Aunt Agatha's

"[A]n absolutely fascinating story, richly told with vivid descriptions." - Kings River Life Magazine

"[A] crackerjack mystery ... Trailblazing journalist Archana Morley has both the strength and sensitivity to cut to the truth in this fast-paced tale that illuminates the history of Asian immigrants in Chinatown." - Sujata Massey, internationally bestselling author of The Widows of Malabar Hill

"Radha Vatsal's skill as not only a historian, but a crafter of gripping and character-driven mysteries, are in full effect in the pages of No. 10 Doyers Street - as readers are guided through the streets of a lost New York from the perspective of an Indian journalist embroiled in a real-world underworld caper. Pitch perfectly accurate and enthralling, I was rapt until the last page." - Alex Segura, bestselling and acclaimed author of Secret Identity and Alter Ego

"Gripping and vibrantly original. Radha Vatsal has a gift for unearthing those seemingly small moments that change the course of history. Both a brilliant tale of the plot to destroy New York City's Chinatown and a heartbreaking courtroom drama, No. 10 Doyers Street is a fresh, unforgettable look at 1900s New York." - Mariah Fredericks, author of The Wharton Plot

"Vatsal has wonderfully captured 1900s Chinatown, breathing life into the complicated character of gangster Mock Duck ... Gentrification, mixed-race identity and discrimination against immigrants are all evergreen issues that come to light through Vatsal's protagonist, a South Asian female journalist. No. 10 Doyers Street reflects a new stage of reality-based fiction-a pan-Asian exploration of American history." - Naomi Hirahara, Edgar and Mary Higgins Clark award-winning author of the Mas Arai mysteries and the best-selling Japantown mysteries