CLUB DEAD [A Lt. Jake Neuman Mystery, Book 2] by Jerry Oster

Oster writes "First-rate police procedurals with realistic city texture, well developed characters, and interesting villains, and suspense maintained right up to the dynamite ending." —Library Journal

February in New York: There are two feet of snow on the ground and another in the forecast; crime and crime fighting go on. Frances McAlistair, New York's ambitious, beautiful, and controversial federal prosecutor, has a scheme to nail some elusive underworld figures and grab some invaluable headlines as well. Unknown to her, one of her staff is on the payroll of a gangster who wants to eliminate some rivals by staging a rubout at McAlistair's roundup. But she has an even bigger problem—Charles Ives, a reporter who has been investigating her past for a series of articles, is found dead outside her Park Avenue apartment.

Enter Lt. Jake Neuman, one of the scruffiest and most successful police detectives in the city, paired by a new NYPD computer program with his long-time nemesis, flashy, smooth-talking Lt. Dave Milner. They discover that McAlistair has as many enemies among the lawful as among the lawless, and that a number of them (including Ives' publisher) would love to see her indicted for murder. As Neuman and Milner trace the reporter's path through McAlistair's past, they unearth a terrible secret—one that someone might kill to hide.

In this wow of a suspense novel, Jerry Oster brings back his most popular hero, Jake Neuman, and treats us to more of what we have come to expect from this acclaimed author—strikingly vivid contemporary settings, slick dialogue, pungent wit and memorable characters.

"Oster tells his jolting stories mainly through dialogue so real one can almost hear the distinctly different New York City characters.... swift, shocking, and surprisingly moving."
—Publishers Weekly