Literary Reference 1908 detective novel with a setting in Erie Basin

“Alice gazed about and presently recognized her surroundings. "Why, this is the Erie Basin!" she murmured. "How in the world did I ever come here?" Now, the Erie Basin has nothing whatever to do with the Erie Railroad, as some may imagine. It is a large, enclosed basin on Gowanus Bay, lying between Red Hook Point and the Gowanus section, of Brooklyn. Here, alongside of long rows of great storage warehouses, lie the steamers and ships out of commission and such as are waiting to go on the drydock or to be sold.” (p.22)

“Van Brunt street ends abruptly at a stringpiece, beyond which is Gowanus Bay. On the right as the Bradys stood at the stringpiece were the storehouses of the New York Warehousing Company; on the left the long line of the Beard Stores. The street was like a deserted canyon. Not a soul was to be seen.” (p.22)

They crossed the river on the Hamilton Ferry and took a Van Brunt Street car for Red Hook Point. Arrived at the Beard Street Stores, they were in the act of engaging a boatman to take them around inside the Basin when two boats came up the slip…” (p.26)