Night Life

December 22, 2014
On New Year’s Eve 1953, police detective Michael Cassidy, the hero of Taylor’s strong debut (and the first in a new historical crime series), has a run-in on a Manhattan street with Roy Cohn, Joseph McCarthy’s lawyer in the Wisconsin senator’s Communist-hunting subcommittee. “You’re going to hear from me,” Cohn says after getting Cassidy’s name. “Always a pleasure to hear from a citizen, Mr. Cohen,” Cassidy replies. Meanwhile, a Broadway dancer is found tortured to death in his Hell’s Kitchen apartment. The killer was apparently searching for something that, as Cassidy soon discovers, the FBI, the CIA, and mob boss Frank Costello all want. Cassidy concludes that it must be evidence that would incriminate a very powerful person. The suspense mounts with the body count. Readers will want to see more of the distinctive Cassidy, whose wealthy background as the son of a Broadway producer puts him at odds with his fellow cops. Agent: Lisa Gallagher, Sanford J. Greenburger Associates.

February 1, 2015
Life for NYPD detective Michael Cassidy is black and Red all over in this thriller set during the McCarthy era of the 1950s. Not only does he have a murder to solve, he's also got to rid himself of the curse of Commie-baiting superlawyer Roy Cohn.Cassidy, a war veteran, has an unusual background. His Russian-born father, Tom Cassidy, is a successful theater producer whose closest friend-and Michael's godfather-is a mob boss. Tom himself was involved in illegal liquor dealing. Michael's troubled mother died in a strange accident involving pills. The world of father and son come together when a show dancer is found dead in Michael's Hell's Kitchen apartment, having been tortured. He was searching for something that authorities all the way up to the CIA, not to mention Russian spies, want in the worst way. Cassidy can't trust anyone, least of all Dylan, the beautiful woman he's fallen for. After a run-in in which the hot-tempered Michael talks back to Cohn, the conniving lawyer gets even by dragging Tom Cassidy through the folly of a Senate investigatory hearing and having him arrested for deportation. Mixing fictional and reality-based characters (J. Edgar Hoover makes an appearance) and providing a wealth of period detail, Taylor works in what has become time-honored fashion since Ragtime. But he works exceptionally well within that convention, and that of noir fiction, illuminating his characters and the times they're living through in a lively, light-on-its-feet, agreeably no-nonsense fashion. Taylor, a seasoned writer for TV and film, makes a strong debut with the first in a series of novels featuring a hard-edged but properly vulnerable detective.

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March 1, 2015

Michael Cassidy is a World War II veteran from an affluent background who has an erratic ability to foretell the future in his dreams. Known throughout New York City for throwing a fellow police officer out of a window, he is not your typical detective. When Cassidy and his partner are hampered by FBI agents while investigating the gruesome murder of a male chorus dancer, the two wonder why the Feds would get involved. More deaths follow, and a narrative unfolds that ultimately leads Cassidy to question the veracity of those closest to him as he uncovers a devastating secret involving those in the highest of places. VERDICT Set against the backdrop of the Cold War and the rising power of Sen. Joseph McCarthy, this debut novel's atmosphere is suffused with paranoia and bitterness. With a strong opening and definite sense of place, Taylor has much to offer as a writer. Unfortunately, the novel is weighed down with too many competing story lines and Cassidy's prescient dreams feel out of place in this noir police procedural.--Amy Nolan, St. Joseph, MI

Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 15, 2015
It's hard to beat postwar New York for noir atmosphere with a touch of glamour behind the menace. Cigarettes, booze, lots of neon, jazz on 52nd Street, celebs at Toots Shor's, a spy or two, dead bodies turning up between drinks: even if you don't fancy living there (but why not?), at least you want to read about it. In Taylor's debut, cynical WWII-vet Michael Cassidy gives his Broadway-producer father the cold shoulder, turning down the chance to go into show business, and becomes an NYPD detective, the maverick kind who's willing to throw a fellow officer out a window if it feels right. But everything's feeling wrong for Michael at the moment: a dancer in his father's company is found dead, and the FBI, the CIA, and the Mafia all seem peculiarly interested. And what's with this gorgeous woman who has appeared in Michael's life? The real turtle soup or merely the mock? Taylor unspools the plot reel by reel, and if there's a little predictability to it, we don't really mind. This one's all about mood, and Taylor brings it.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)