NYPD RED 8 - The 11:59 Bomber

 

NYPD RED 8

The 11:59 Bomber

By Marshall Karp

Black Stone Publishing

335 pgs

Available Nov 25, 2025

 

We always had a fondness for solid police procedural thrillers. One of our favorite writers of all time was the late Ed McBain whose 87^th Precinct novels entertained us for decades. Thus, it was with some anxious expectations that we picked up this book hoping for the best. Happily, we were not disappointed in the slightest, as Karp delivers a solid, wonderfully paced tale with truly memorable characters; both good and bad. 

The two principles are detective partners Kylie McDonald and Zach Jordan. There are also two really well-defined plots. The primary concerns an obsessed bomber whose only wish is to bring the great city of New York to its knees, and he doesn’t care how many people he has to kill to achieve his goal. The secondary plot involves Kylie’s husband Spence. He had been missing for many months and upon his return attacks a popular new filmmaker claiming the fellow stole his story. Later that same night, the director is murdered and Spence is found standing over his body with a bloody knife in his hands. It seems an opening and shut case, but Kylie refuses to accept the damning facts. She convinces both Zach, and her captain, that they should investigate further. 

We are generally not fans of writers who switch from narrative viewpoints ala going from third person to first back and forth. Most of the time that ploy is crudely applied and results in our losing interest immediately. Not so with this particular book and that’s due to Karp’s intuitive sense of solid storytelling regardless of the perspective. Once caught up in the tale, we found it impossible to put it down and in the end were rewarded with a truly powerful, well-told crime drama. We think McBain would have given it thumbs up. We certainly do.

THE WANDERING MAN

 

THE WANDERING MAN

A Charlie Doherty Thriller

By Terrence McCauley

Woldpack Publishing

272 pgs

 

Charlie Doherty’s best pal growing up on the streets of New York was Andy Carmichael. Carmichael entered the police academy while Charlie enlisted in the army and went off to fight in the First World War. Upon his return to civilian, Carmichael had risen in the ranks of the NYPD and encouraged Charlie to sign up. Now it’s 1927 and Carmichael is not only the Chief of Police, but he’s helped Charlie climb through the ranks and made him a detective. That’s a stretch, because all Charlie really is the Chief’s “black hand,” the nickname of boss’ gopher who does his menial errands without asking questions. 

But when Charlie witnesses a fellow detective gunned down in public in downtown Manhattan, everything changes. As if failing to chase down the audacious killer wasn’t bad enough, Charlie later learns from Carmichael that the slain officer was hunting a twisted serial killer who, for the past twenty years, had been targeting young boys from the various boroughs; all reported missing by their parents and their bodies never found.  Carmichael and his top cops kept the case out of the public eye aware its discovery would severely damage the department and create panic among the city’s millions of residents. 

Sensing Charlie’s frustration at not having captured the brazen psycho, Carmichael assigns him the task of picking up the hunt where the slain cop had left off. Initially Charlie is confounded, well aware he has no real experience in crime solving; but as he begins to pour over the files collected by the dead detective, he begins to see threads left unpursued. While methodically, going over those old records and witness accounts, a pattern emerges and Detective Charlie Doherty becomes obsessed with catching the twisted figure known only as the Wandering Man. 

Terrence McCauley is one of the finest new crime writers in the business today. His narrative style is clean, straightforward and succinctly paced. There isn’t a dull moment in this entire, gripping tale of an average guy challenged to be more than average.

VAMP

 

VAMP

A Valentino Mystery

By Loren D. Estleman

Forge Books

230 pgs

 

Valentino is a film archivist who works for UCLA in Los Angeles and at times does a little detecting work on the side. The character and series are both well known by mystery fans and after reading this entry, we can easily understand why. Valentino and his supporting cast of characters, while at times eccentric, are wonderfully charming and fun to hang with.

 

In this particular outing, Valentino is approached by an old set designer friend who is being blackmailed. The fellow, a fugitive from a ages old crime in Nebraska, has been posing as a Russian émigré in his new Hollywood career. Alas, the past has supposedly caught up with him.   

At the same time all this is going down, Valentino is approached by a retired cop from the Midwest named Jasper Grote claiming to possess two reels from the lost  silent film Cleopatra starring Hollywood’s first femme fatale, the legendary Theda Bara. When the hayseed copper arrives and proves to be Nebraskan, the coincidence with Valentino’s threatened associate is far too implausible. So, what’s the connection between the two stories and is Grote really who he says he is? 

If you like old movies and stories about the people who made them, Vamp is an enjoyable romp of a tale told by a master storyteller.