Night Life

by David C. Taylor

First published 2016

Detective Michael Cassidy stands over the tortured body of Alexander Ingram, a Broadway chorus dancer found dead in his Hell's Kitchen apartment. The year is 1954, and McCarthy's communist witch hunts grip America while the CIA and FBI wage their own turf war. Cassidy brings unusual credentials to police work. His father produces Broadway shows, his godfather runs a Mafia family, and he experiences prophetic dreams. The Ingram murder draws attention from federal agencies and organized crime alike. As more young men turn up dead, Cassidy discovers the dancer may have possessed compromising photographs of a powerful figure. The pictures could provide devastating leverage in Washington's power corridors. A mysterious woman named Dylan McCue moves into Cassidy's building just as the investigation intensifies. He finds himself falling for her even as he suspects she harbors dangerous secrets. Meanwhile, his dreams show his own murder approaching. Cassidy must navigate between federal agents, mob bosses, and a growing body count to solve the case before his prophetic nightmares become reality.

Genres: historical-fiction, mystery, crime, thriller, detective

Vibes: dark, fast-paced, suspenseful

Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, prophetic-dreams, unreliable-narrator

Setting: Hell's Kitchen, Washington

Period: 1954

352 pages · Paperback · Forge Books

Content warnings: violence

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