What kind of woman comes to the United States from India in the 1890s, gets married, and starts to work as a reporter in New York City? That would be me, Archana Morley, writing for The New York Observer. And now in the spring of 1907, I’m onto the story of a lifetime: the story of Mock Duck, Chinatown’s most infamous gangster. Here I am, speaking to Mock’s rival, the dapper gang boss, Tom Lee, at Lee’s tobacco shop on Mott Street. (Excerpt from No. 10 Doyers Street, © Radha Vatsal, Level Best Books)
[Tom Lee] spat a fleck of tobacco from his tongue. “So, what’s your name anyhow? They told me Mrs. Morley.”
“That’s correct.”
“You a gal”—he peered at me—“in trousers? Why?”
“It helps me move about freely.”
“And Mr. Morley, he don’t object?”
“We have an understanding.” It had taken a while for him to see my side of things, but he slowly came around.
“If my Minnie Rose ran about town like that…” Lee picked up a framed photograph, rubbed the glass with his sleeve, and held it up so I could take a closer look. A buxom white woman posed in the center while two boys in sailor suits gazed up at her adoringly.
“That’s Minnie with little Frank and Tom. They’re both grown men now. Frank’s on his way to China to convert the natives,” he said with pride. “And Tom Junior, he aims to be a mechanic.” He returned the photograph to the shelf. “You got any kids?”
“I’m afraid not.”
“’Course you don’t. If you did, you wouldn’t be here. You’d be home with them.… Where you from? Lemme guess. Istanbul? Persia?”
The cigar burned in the ashtray. I’d barely touched it. “Bombay.”
No. 10 Doyers Street
Genre: Historical Mystery
Release: March 2025
Format: Print, Digital
Purchase Link
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.
About the author
Radha Vatsal is the author of No. 10 Doyers Street (March 2025) and the acclaimed Kitty Weeks mystery novels set in World War I-era New York. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Atlantic, the Los Angeles Review of Books, CrimeReads and elsewhere.