Lights Out Summer

Set in gritty 1970s NYC, this 2018 Shamus Award Winner is a "gripping multiple-murder mystery overlaid with tremendous atmosphere and action" (Foreword Reviews).

In the spring of 1977, multiple murders are linked to a serial killer known as Son of Sam. But, writing for a newswire, Coleridge Taylor can't compete with the armies of reporters fighting New York's tabloid war. Seeking out out stories, he investigates the murder of a young African American woman gunned down in her apartment building the same night Son of Sam struck elsewhere in Queens.

The story behind Martha Gibson's senseless shooting takes Taylor from the fringes of the outer boroughs to the privilege of Park Avenue socialites. Just as he's closing in on the killer—and his scoop—a blackout sends New York into an orgy of looting and destruction. Taylor and his PI girlfriend Samantha Callahan head out into the darkness, where a steamy night of mob violence awaits them.

"Zahradnik nails the period, with its pack journalism, racism overt and subtle, and the excesses of the wealthy at places like Studio 54, as he shows how one dogged reporter can make a difference" (Publishers Weekly).