The Keys to the City: Tales of a New York City Locksmith

By Amanda Blythe Krotki

There are a million doors in the naked city and behind each of those doors there's a story just waiting to be told.

Joel Kostman learns this the hard way in his new book, "The Keys to the City: Tales of a New York City Locksmith" (Penguin Books, 135 pgs., $10.95).

Just when you thought it was safe to go into an honest profession, Mr. Kostman proves otherwise. It seems being a locksmith is as dangerous as being a firefighter or a police officer and just as journalistically intriguing as, say, covering the Hollywood beat or being a member of The White House press corps. Mr. Kostman does for locksmiths what his contemporary David Sedaris (author of "Naked") did for Macy's Santa Clauses.

In his line of duty, Mr. Kostman encounters the seamier side of Manhattan - naked octogenarians, firecracker dealers, and Bugsy (make that Benjamin) Siegel's former doctor. Each of Mr. Kostman's brushes with humanity -- described in 14 quick-read vignettes - offers a fresh, entertaining, and insightful glance into the city's diverse neighborhoods.

While the stories don't actually reach a level of hilarity, many will make the reader smile and certain escapades will provoke giggles. For instance, in "Chicken, Lobsters, Buicks," there's the woman who tricks Mr. Kostman into having his fortune read in exchange for proper payment. And in "Tarzan Finds a Mate", there's a Tarzan-like mad man in the distance as Mr. Kostman tries to help a damsel in distress break into her own sports car.

Although these instances are generally chuckle-worthy, most of the tales have a bittersweet quality that makes it clear there's a sad tale to tell behind almost every door. In "The Goods," Mr. Kostman encounters singer Eddie Cantor's 92-year-old cousin who lets Mr. Kostman try on one of Mr. Cantor's suits. In "True Friends," he discovers a Holocaust survivor who has written about her travails in a book of her own. The bittersweet tone may be due to Mr. Kostman's ability to observe the lives in which he intrudes just as he sees them unfold. Throughout "Keys to the City," Mr. Kostman narrates in an impressively honest manner. It's refreshing to discover that there are some stories that can still be told without the intrusion of excessive embellishment.

While the transitions between vignettes seem a bit choppy and it's often difficult to determine the chronology of the stories, Mr. Kostman competently presents his own inner growth. As he moves through the stranger's lives, he also describes his own life. In the beginning of the book, Mr. Kostman is a single man about town. By the last story, he's married with two daughters. The journey through Manhattan's cars and apartments, where he comes face-to-face with Alzheimer's, mental illness, domestic squabbles, immigrant struggles, and law-breaking activities, allows Mr. Kostman to learn a great deal about himself.

Perhaps the greatest aspect to "Keys to the City" is not the fly-on-the-wall curiosity it satiates, but the honest and touching manner in which Mr. Kostman unlocks - or discovers - good stories in the otherwise mundane.

Amanda Blythe Krotki is a writer from New York City.