Walking the line between literary fiction and enticing mystery may be harder than passing a field sobriety test on New Year's Eve, but Matt Burgess does it with such ease that you hardly notice how daring he must be. Janice Itwaru, an undercover narcotics cop with a few undercover personal problems of her own, has us cheering for her even as she makes many unnecessary – and hilarious – bad decisions. Her lives at the precinct and in her family's Queens immigrant community keep intersecting, keeping both the reader and Janice on their toes. The result is an insightful character study and an invigorating police procedural, a double dose of delightful writing that will make you think you got two books for the price of one.