“A page-turner” was how John Dunning, author of Booked to Die, described Robert A. Carter’s first Nicholas Barlow mystery. “Both literate and literary…a clever debut in what should be a sophisticated, satisfying series” was author Jeremiah Healy’s reaction. Perhaps, as they say in the business, Robert A. Carter knows where the bodies are buried…
Nicholas Barlow is the erudite, urbane, and flamboyant CEO of a small New York publishing company. But the corpse he finds in his Manhattan office is definitely nonfiction. The victim is Parker Foxcroft, editor extraordinaire, or should one say diabolique. So many authors has he cut to the quick, so many co-workers has he offended, and so many coveted prizes has he won, that Foxcroft could have earned a Lifetime Achievement Award for Most Enemies.
Nick wants to just close the book on the case. Instead, he leads the cops’ list of suspects. After all, didn’t he have a public shouting match with the victim at the annual booksellers convention? Didn’t he arrange to meet the victim at the office after hours? And isn’t he now being seen about town with Susan Markham, the drop-dead gorgeous young editor who was Parker Foxcroft’s lover? Nick stands, in his Savile Row suit, guilty as charged of everything except the crime. To move the plot along, he introduces another character: his brilliant though bedridden brother, Timothy. He also feels the need to start grilling suspects, including sweet Susan, which he proceeds to do at the Rainbow Room, Players Club, King Cole Room, and other favorite publishing watering holes.
What he discovers is a paper trail on Parker Foxcroft leading to a denouement that has scandal and death written all over it. Now Nicholas Barlow must quickly read between the lines and guess whodunit before the killer makes his final edit—and Nick becomes his final victim. Once again, Robert A. Carter has given us a deliciously wicked, gossipy, and revealing behind-the-scenes romp through the lives of those who make books.
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ROBERT A. CARTER, author and publishing veteran, has written widely on publishing topics and helped develop a publishing master’s program at Pace University. He won wide acclaim for his first Nicholas Barlow novel, Casual Slaughters, and now, in this second in the series, Carter shows that he can write the book on entertaining mystery fiction. A longtime resident of New York City and Connecticut, he now lives in Virginia.