Readers of The Washington Post may recognize this as "Metro section" Washingtonnot the official business of the politicians, lawyers, lobbyists, and pundit-crats described in the "A" section of the newspaper, nor the glamorous people described in the "Style" section. Instead this is the blue-collar city of blacks, whites, Hispanics, and assorted immigrants doing jobs that could just as easily be located in Oakland or Detroit. What links the action to D. C. is the characters' ongoing resentment about being ruled by congressmen elected from other parts of the country, with no real attachment to the district. Nick Stefanos, a Pelecanos character who appears in several books, reads a newspaper story about local problems: