“This is the kid who made my Mom and me laugh till our sides split with his outlandish, hand-written ‘Denis stories’ as a young kid,” writes Kathleen Hamill Fischetti, the only sister among six Hamill brothers.

So, what else could Denis do but continue to write stories. His novels celebrate New York, its eccentricities and its tough exterior along with the people who make it that way, many of whom would give you the shirts off their backs, while others were at the same time stealing those shirts.

For everyone who knows at least one New Yorker who could best be described as a “character”, Denis has created many more, and you’ll find them in his funny, sad, often outrageous, sometimes gruesome, other times seductive, novels of which there are now ten, and counting.