Lights Out Summer (Coleridge Taylor Mystery) - Softcover

Rich Zahradnik

Softcover

ISBN 10: 160381213X ISBN 13: 9781603812139

Publisher: Camel Press, 2017

Synopsis

Winner of the 2018 Shamus Award for Best Paperback Private Eye Novel!!
In March 1977, ballistics link murders going back six months to the same Charter Arms Bulldog .44. A serial killer, Son of Sam, is on the loose. But Coleridge Taylor can't compete with the armies of reporters fighting New York's tabloid war--only rewrite what they get. Constantly on the lookout for victims who need their stories told, he uncovers other killings being ignored because of the media circus. He goes after one, the story of a young Black woman gunned down in her apartment building the same night Son of Sam struck elsewhere in Queens.
The story entangles Taylor with a wealthy Park Avenue family at war with itself. Just as he's closing in on the killer and his scoop, the July 13-14 blackout sends New York into a 24-hour orgy of looting and destruction. Taylor and his PI girlfriend Samantha Callahan head out into the darkness, where a steamy night of mob violence awaits them.
In the midst of the chaos, a suspect in Taylor's story goes missing. Desperate, he races to a confrontation that will either break the story--or Taylor.

Book 4 in the Coleridge Taylor Mystery series.

About this title

About the Author:

Rich Zahradnik is the award-winning author of the critically acclaimed Coleridge Taylor Mystery series (Last Words, Drop Dead Punk, A Black Sail, Lights Out Summer).

The first three books in the series were shortlisted or won awards in the three major competitions for books from independent publishers. A Black Sail was named best mystery in the 2017 Next Generation Indie Book Awards and a finalist in the 2016 Foreword Reviews Book of the Year Awards. Drop Dead Punk collected the gold medal for mystery ebook in the 2016 Independent Publisher Book Awards, while Last Words won the bronze medal for mystery ebook in the 2015 IPPYs and honorable mention for a mystery in the Foreword Reviews competition.

"Taylor, who lives for the big story, makes an appealingly single-minded hero," Publishers Weekly wrote of Drop Dead Punk.

Zahradnik was a journalist for 30-plus years, working as a reporter and editor in all major news media, including online, newspaper, broadcast, magazine and wire services. He held editorial positions at CNN, Bloomberg News, Fox Business Network, AOL and The Hollywood Reporter.

Zahradnik was born in Poughkeepsie, New York, in 1960 and received his B.A. in journalism and political science from George Washington University. He lives with his wife Sheri and son Patrick in Pelham, New York, where he writes fiction and teaches kids around the New York area how to write news stories and publish newspapers.

For more information, go to richzahradnik.com.

Review:

"Well-plotted...Zahradnik nails the period, with its pack journalism, racism overt and subtle, and the excesses of the wealthy at places like Studio 54, as he shows how one dogged reporter can make a difference."--Publishers Weekly

"The perfect visual and suspenseful mystery led by a believable and easy-to-like character."--Feathered Quill Book Reviews

"★★★★★ [A] fascinating and dramatic historical mystery novel. Taylor's character is a little gritty and brutally honest, but so relatable...The author's ability to weave his story in and out through so many social classes and so many different situations is refreshing."--Alyssa Elmore for Readers' Favorite

"★★★★★ LIGHTS OUT SUMMER is a gripping multiple-murder mystery overlaid with tremendous atmosphere and action. Here's hoping a fifth Coleridge Taylor adventure is in the works."--Rachel Jagareski for ForeWord Clarion Reviews

"An intricate piece, 'Lights Out Summer' is a mystery with multiple layers to be peeled back before the killer is revealed....Be ready to sit on the edge of the seat as the mystery unravels."--Belinda Wilson for InD'Tale Magazine

About this edition

• Publisher: Camel Press
• Publication date: 2017
• ISBN 10: 160381213X
• ISBN 13: 9781603812139
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 288