Night Watch

by David C. Taylor

Overview

In 1950s New York, Detective Michael Cassidy investigates a number of bizarre deaths while trying to avoid being assassinated himself.

New York, 1956. A couple walking through Central Park on a fall evening are confronted by a hansom cab driver, only to kill him and casually walk away. Who are the couple and did they know the man?

A man commits suicide by throwing himself through a hotel window. His colleagues claim he was depressed - but is there more to it than that?

Before Detective Michael Cassidy even begins investigating these cases, he is threatened by an unknown man – the reasons for which are unclear.

Are all three incidents connected? If so, how, and will Cassidy live long enough to find out before his would-be assassin claims his life?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781847519924
Publisher:	Severn House
Publication date:	11/05/2019
Series:	A Michael Cassidy Thriller , #3
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	304
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Edgar finalist and Nero Award winner, David C. Taylor’s first novel in the Michael Cassidy thriller series, Night Life, was nominated for Best Novel at the Mystery Writers of America’s 2016 Edgar Awards. He is a born and raised New Yorker who has written for television and movies, and has had an Off-Broadway musical produced.

Editorial Reviews

'David Taylor's writing is simply superb, perfectly capturing the noir atmosphere of the times, and sweeping the reader through the storyline until the final page. The originators of the genre, Hammett and Chandler, would have been well pleased.'

Reviewing The Evidence Jim Napier

'A solidly constructed, satisfyingly old-school hard-boiled series, distinguished by its loving and vivid evocation of ’50s New York.'

Booklist

03/18/2019

Set in New York City in 1956, Taylor’s gripping third thriller featuring Det. Michael Cassidy of the NYPD (after 2016’s Night Work) opens with a cold-blooded murder. Late one night, a homeless person follows a married couple, Karl and Magda Brandt, into Central Park. After a heated confrontation, Magda coolly sticks a hat pin into the back of the man’s neck and watches him die before she and Karl walk away. At first, the authorities shrug off the death as a possible heart attack. When a chemist throws himself out his hotel room window, his death is pegged as a suicide. As Cassidy looks deeper into the two cases, however, he begins to see a disturbing connection. The relationship between the Brandts and their victim gradually emerges as Cassidy and his reporter friend, Rhonda Raskin, pursue a story at great personal risk that turns out to have its roots in the Cold War. Taylor does a fine job of summoning up a bygone New York with all its fascinating cultural and political shadings. Agent: Lisa Gallagher, DeFiore and Company. (May)

Publishers Weekly

'Fans of James R. Benn’s “Billy Boyle” novels will appreciate this fast-paced, intense story … The action-packed account of investigations into the controversial CIA experiments is suspenseful and frightening.' Library Journal STARRED REVIEW

From the Publisher

'David Taylor's writing is simply superb, perfectly capturing the noir atmosphere of the times, and sweeping the reader through the storyline until the final page. The originators of the genre, Hammett and Chandler, would have been well pleased.' Jim Napier, Reviewing The Evidence

Jim Napier

'A solidly constructed, satisfyingly old-school hard-boiled series, distinguished by its loving and vivid evocation of ’50s New York.'

Booklist

★ 05/01/2019

In 1956, New York City police detective Michael Cassidy handles a series of Cold War-related investigations while trying to discover who is attempting to kill him. Before he can even investigate the death of a driver of a hansom cab in Central Park, someone tries to push him in front of a subway train. When a biochemist throws himself through a window in the Astor Hotel, the stories told by several of the man's acquaintances don't add up. As Cassidy, along with a New York Post reporter, probes and asks questions, the same people seem to pop up—people with powerful ties to the CIA. What's the connection between a sniper shooting at Cassidy and his brother's disappearance? The police procedural/thriller is a grim story of the CIA's mind experiments with LSD and other drugs administered to unsuspecting subjects from 1953 through the 1960s. While Cassidy may uncover some killers, the government wipes away newspaper stories, and any relations to deaths or killers. VERDICT Fans of James R. Benn's "Billy Boyle" novels will appreciate this fast-paced, intense story by the Edgar Award-nominated author of Night Life and Night Work. The action-packed account of investigations into the controversial CIA experiments is suspenseful and frightening.—Lesa Holstine, Evansville Vanderburgh P.L., IN

Library Journal