Last Words
Rich Zahradnik
(Author)
Description
In March of 1975, as New York City hurtles toward bankruptcy and the Bronx burns, newsman Coleridge Taylor roams police precincts and ERs. He is looking for the story that will deliver him from obits, his place of exile at the Messenger-Telegram. Ever since he was demoted from the police beat for inventing sources, the 34-year-old has been a lost soul. A break comes at Bellevue, where Taylor views the body of a homeless teen picked up in the Meatpacking District. Taylor smells a rat: 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 teen was a spoiled society kid up to no good, the son of a city official. Taylor's efforts to protect Voichek put him on the hit list of three goons who are willing to kill any number of street people to cover tracks that just might lead to City Hall. Taylor has only one ally in the newsroom, young and lovely reporter Laura Wheeler. Time is not on his side. If he doesn't wrap this story up soon, he'll be back on the obits page-as a headline, not a byline. Last Words is the first book in the Coleridge Taylor mystery series.
Product Details
Price
$15.95
$14.83
Publisher
Camel Press
Publish Date
October 01, 2014
Pages
248
Dimensions
5.0 X 8.0 X 0.63 inches | 0.5 pounds
Language
English
Type
Paperback
EAN/UPC
9781603812078
BISAC Categories:
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About the Author
Rich Zahradnik has been a journalist for more than thirty years, working as a reporter and editor in all major news media, including online, newspaper, broadcast, magazine, and wire services. He lives with his wife and son in Pelham, New York, where he teaches elementary school kids how to publish online and print newspapers.
Reviews
"A wonderful novel by Rich Zahradnik. He gives readers great visuals of New York City in the 1970s: how the Vietnam War changed social and economic conditions in the United States... The story is captivating, and it is obvious from his writing that Rich Zahradnik is familiar with the setting he describes so well." --Michelle Stanley for Readers' Favorite
"Set in the 1970s, it is a fun return to the past and good crime fiction, you'll enjoy Last Words. RECOMMENDED." --Vikki Walton, I love a Mystery
"Zahradnik develops characters of all types and sizes in this novel. He gives readers a real sense of New York in the 70s via his cast, and the way that they view things. Top this off with an amazingly well developed and very interesting main character and you have a winner." --Pure Jonel, Confessions of a Bibliophile
"I didn't realize how much I missed seedy gritty corrupt crime-ridden New York City of the 1970s till I read Zahradnik's debut thriller. Last Words captures the palms-out politicians, the bully cops, the not-so-hapless homeless, the back-stabbing reporters of a city on the brink. The pace speeds up; the whispers and clues and leads all come together for a big empty-the-revolver and fling-the-vodka bottle finale." --Richard Zacks, author of Island of Vice and Pirate Hunter
"Last Words has both beguiling landscape and revealing portraits and is a picture worth all its thousands of words: Rich in intrigue." --Jeff Clark-Meads, author of The Plowman and Tungol
"Like any great crime thriller, Last Words keeps the pace frenetic, dangerous, and surprising at every turn.... A visual, visceral debut from both the author and his lead crime reporter." --Diane Becker, Producer, FishBowl Films
"Despite his literary name, Coleridge Taylor is the 'Columbo' of beat reporters, suffering no fools and pursuing the facts at all costs. Set in 1975, the discovery of a deceased kid, presumed homeless, sets in motion Taylor's chilling odyssey."
--Claire Atkinson, senior media reporter, the New York Post
"Set in the 1970s, it is a fun return to the past and good crime fiction, you'll enjoy Last Words. RECOMMENDED." --Vikki Walton, I love a Mystery
"Zahradnik develops characters of all types and sizes in this novel. He gives readers a real sense of New York in the 70s via his cast, and the way that they view things. Top this off with an amazingly well developed and very interesting main character and you have a winner." --Pure Jonel, Confessions of a Bibliophile
"I didn't realize how much I missed seedy gritty corrupt crime-ridden New York City of the 1970s till I read Zahradnik's debut thriller. Last Words captures the palms-out politicians, the bully cops, the not-so-hapless homeless, the back-stabbing reporters of a city on the brink. The pace speeds up; the whispers and clues and leads all come together for a big empty-the-revolver and fling-the-vodka bottle finale." --Richard Zacks, author of Island of Vice and Pirate Hunter
"Last Words has both beguiling landscape and revealing portraits and is a picture worth all its thousands of words: Rich in intrigue." --Jeff Clark-Meads, author of The Plowman and Tungol
"Like any great crime thriller, Last Words keeps the pace frenetic, dangerous, and surprising at every turn.... A visual, visceral debut from both the author and his lead crime reporter." --Diane Becker, Producer, FishBowl Films
"Despite his literary name, Coleridge Taylor is the 'Columbo' of beat reporters, suffering no fools and pursuing the facts at all costs. Set in 1975, the discovery of a deceased kid, presumed homeless, sets in motion Taylor's chilling odyssey."
--Claire Atkinson, senior media reporter, the New York Post
