A Black Sail

From an Independent Publishers Award–winner comes another "gritty and powerful crime novel" in the Coleridge Taylor series (Library Journal, starred review).

On the eve of the US Bicentennial, newsman Coleridge Taylor is covering Operation Sail. While he enjoys watching New York Harbor teem with tall ships from all over the world, Taylor would still prefer to cover real stories, not fluff, and New York City still has plenty of those in July of 1976.

Then one surfaces right in front of him. During the festivities, a housewife wearing bricks of heroin is fished out of the harbor. Convinced he's stumbled upon a drug war between the Italian Mafia and a Chinese tong, Taylor is on fire once more. But as he blazes forward, flanked by his new girlfriend, ex-cop Samantha Callahan, his precious story grows ever more twisted and deadly. In his reckless search for the truth, he rattles Manhattan's major drug cartels. Taylor must decide if uncovering the truth is worth the cost of being the next victim.

In the third of the Coleridge Taylor mysteries, "Zahradnik ratchets up the action, which quickens the pace and keeps readers engaged . . . A truly enjoyable read" (RT Book Reviews).