«Blaze» by Bob Leuci

Captain Nora Riter is a cop with a future, assuming her deadbeat husband doesn't mess it up first. He's hocked her jewelry, stolen her gun, and had cocaine delivered to their home. Their marriage is a toxic mess that could end her career — unless Blaze Longo ends it first. On the streets of Red Hook, Blaze is a legend: a merciless loan shark who wields a cleaver like a scalpel and wears a pouch around his neck carrying the severed ears of clients stupid enough not to pay up. Now the ice-cold psychopath has planned a kidnapping scheme that will catapult him into the big time, and it's up to Nora to put him in his place. With the help of fast-talking conman Nicky Ossman, Nora dives into the murky underworld of the Brooklyn docks. If she succeeds, she'll be a hero. If she fails, she'll lose more than an ear.