Last Words

A tenacious reporter seeks redemption in this "fast-paced, deeply entertaining and engrossing novel" set in gritty 1970s Manhattan (ForeWordReviews).

In March of 1975, as New York City hurtles toward bankruptcy and the Bronx burns, newsman Coleridge Taylor roams police precincts and ERs looking for the story that will deliver him from the obits department. Since he was demoted from the police beat for inventing sources, Taylor's place of exile at the Messenger-Telegram has left him beaten down and desperate for a break.

When he checks in on a body of a homeless teen picked up in the Meatpacking District, Taylor smells something fishy: the dead boy looks too clean, and he's wearing a distinctive Army field jacket. A little digging reveals that the jacket belonged to a hobo named Mark Voichek and that the kid wearing it was in fact the son of a city official.

As Taylor follows the thread of corruption straight to City Hall, he lands himself on the hit list of three goons paid to keep certain secrets under wraps. He's got one ally in the newsroom, young and lovely reporter Laura Wheeler, and one chance to nail this story before he's back on the obits page—this time, as a headline.

The first book in the Coleridge Taylor mystery series, Last Words is "a fun return to the past and good crime fiction" (I Love a Mystery Newsletter).