"New York politics gets in the way of solving a murder"
Below the Fold
By: R.G. Belsky
Genres: Mystery
Posted: October 3, 2019
Clare Carlson works in a TV newsroom. New York City is no stranger to sudden death on the streets, but when a homeless woman named Dora Gayle is found murdered, this is hardly considered newsworthy. In newspaper parlance, BELOW THE FOLD or on the lower half of the folded page. Clare wishes more could be done to prevent women from becoming victims of violence. But only when Dora Gayle’s name is found on a list of rather influential people does anyone really start to investigate her life and demise.
Clare discovers that the list, found in the apartment of another murder victim, also contains the names of a former Congressman and the wealthy man who runs her TV station. Is she risking her job by searching out the story? Do these men have skeletons in their closets? And would the truth ever get broadcast anyway?
Author R.G. Belsky has a past career in journalism from NBC News and NY Daily News, among other titles. I’m sure he’s telling it like it is, or maybe like it used to be before much of the world took to Twitter news and interactive graphics. We prefer to turn on the television or look at the website for news about the rich and powerful, rather than about street sleepers. His thoughtful and complex narrative reminds us that our common humanity needs to know about the unfortunate, and that it doesn’t take much for anyone’s life to go badly awry.
While our protagonist Clare Carlson doesn’t share much of her personal life, she is not only well trained but determined and relatively unbiased. Her work leads her down long winding trails and into the company of police detectives with a lot to lose. I found her a strong female character who works well in a team or alone, and I would be interested in reading more about her exploits as she searches, not just for news, but for justice. The first book in the Clare Carlson series is called Yesterday’s News and BELOW THE FOLD will interest anyone who knows New York politics or wants to work in journalism, as well as those looking for a solid mystery.
Book Summary
When the murder of a “nobody” triggers an avalanche.
Every human life is supposed to be important. Everyone should matter. But that’s not the case in the cutthroat TV news-rating world where Clare Carlson works. Sex, money, and power sell. Only murder victims of the right social strata are considered worth covering. Not the murder of a “nobody.”
So, when the battered body of a homeless woman named Dora Gayle is found on the streets of New York City, her murder barely gets a mention in the media. But Clare—a TV news director who still has a reporter’s instincts—decides to dig deeper into the seemingly meaningless death. She uncovers mysterious links between Gayle and a number of wealthy and influential figures. There is a prominent female defense attorney; a scandal-ridden ex-congressman; a decorated NYPD detective; and—most shocking of all—a wealthy media mogul who owns the TV station where Clare works. Soon there are more murders, more victims, more questions. As the bodies pile up, Clare realizes that her job, her career, and maybe even her life are at stake as she chases after her biggest story ever.
Read an Excerpt
by: R.G. Belsky
Oceanview Publishing
May 1, 2019
On Sale: May 7, 2019
Featuring: Clare Carlson
320 pages
ISBN: 1608093247
EAN: 9781608093243
Kindle: B07NCB6QHH
Trade Size / e-Book