Blood Alley

Blood Alley by Tom Coffey   280 pages

New York – Middle of November 1946…Cub reporter and rewrite man Patrick Grimes works the graveyard shift at “The New York Examiner,” one of those sleazy tabloids that sensationalism. Tonight Grimes is sent to help cover the finding of a dead woman’s body down by the East River.  That area is a hell-hole of breweries and tenements. 

He arrives as Finkel the photographer does what he does best: manipulate the body to get the most sensational photograph. Nearby stands the man who called in the tip, William Anderson.  Just as Finkel is wrapping up, the police arrive with lights and sirens blasting. 

Anderson is arrested because he is in possession of a twenty dollar bill and he’s African-American. When police learn the woman is socialite Amanda Price, Anderson is charged and beaten until he signs a confession.

Grimes doesn’t believe that Anderson is guilty and launches his own investigation that takes him from the beautiful homes and  society to the underbelly of the city. Along the way, he learns that there is more to Amanda Price and the Price family than meets the eye.

This book has been sitting on my bookshelf for more than a decade, and I could just kick myself that hadn’t read it before now. What a shame Humphrey Bogart is no longer with us to play Grimes in the movie that should be made; it’s noir at its finest.

The language is real, with the “N” word being used as much as I suspect it was back then. The stereotypes of the newsroom and the boozy city editor are dead on and give the story an authentic feel…or at least as authentic as I have been conditioned to believe.

“Bloody Alley” receives 6 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

The Marker

 The Marker by Diana Savastano   346 pages

Despite this book’s less-than-creative title, I was eager to read it. According to the back copy, it was about a marker from a Civil War soldier’s grave and his attempt to have his body moved to its proper burial site.

I was worried when I first opened it. The spacing between the paragraphs screamed self-published. And spacing between paragraphs also, usually, means poor writing.  I’m happy to report that most of the book is well done.

The book opens in 1863 at Port Gibson, Mississippi. Dr. Bradley Taylor, CSA, is killed and is buried in a makeshift grave. He’s exhumed in 1867 for a proper burial but is mistakenly misidentified. A marker denotes the place of his burial.

The story then shifts to present-day New York City. Reporter Jennifer Beasley is in desperate need of a vacation, but her editor, Sam, talks her into doing one more story before she gets two weeks of rest and relaxation. So Jen and a reporter head to Florida on assignment.

After their arrival in Fort Lauderdale, they have a free afternoon before headed to their interview. In an antique shop, Jen purchases a grave marker that had been taken from a Mississippi national cemetery in 1952. She doesn’t feel right about owning such an object. Before she decides what to do with it, she has an unusual encounter. When she holder the marker, she hears a voice, begging her to take him home.

After her assignment is complete, Jen starts to look into the marker’s history.  What follows is a highly readable story. I can’t give away any more than I already have. I truly enjoyed this book from the beginning until almost the end, about a fourth from the end, the story falls apart and seems rushed.  Therefore The Marker receives 4 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

Everyone Dies In The End

Everyone Dies In The End by Brian Katcher, 252 pages

Although I didn’t think this was quite as good as Katcher’s last two books, I enjoyed this story.  Sherman is determined to become a journalist.  He has a plan and is taking a course at Mizzou over the summer before his senior year.  His plan is to find a story that will make his professor take notice, so that he can get great recommendations for scholarships when he applies for schools.  Sherman finds his story, one that seems to involve murder and mysterious disappearances.  The only problems are that the story is decades old and there may be more to the story than he wants to know, especially after being assaulted and nearly killed, more than once.  Despite these clear warnings, Sherman decides to try and uncover the whole story.  He just hopes it doesn’t cost him his life.  This was a pretty good supernatural thriller for teens.