Collecting: Colin Harrison is mad about maps. So is his latest character.

THE NEW YORK TIMES
Show Us Your Walls
By Kathryn Shattuck

The author and editor Colin Harrison is fascinated with old maps of New York City, and about 45 of them line the walls of his brownstone in Park Slope, Brooklyn. Credit Tony Cenicola/The New York Times

NEW YORK---It would be tempting to confuse the writer Colin Harrison with Paul Reeves, the protagonist in his new crime thriller, “You Belong to Me.” Like Reeves, Mr. Harrison is a map obsessive with a passion for New York City and a longing for things lost, or soon to be. Unlike Reeves, whose imaginary Manhattan apartment boasts a large display gallery, Mr. Harrison’s collection lines four stories of his 1890s brownstone in Park Slope, Brooklyn. How did he start his collection? "Probably about 20 years ago I walked into a frame shop and there was a map of Manhattan, and I bought it. And that was the beginning of the end." [More]