Forgotten City
A Claire Codella Mystery
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- €12.99
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- €12.99
Publisher Description
NYPD Detective Claire Codella is chomping at the bit for a new case. Lieutenant McGowan is determined to keep her out of the news, but she's about to be back in the public eye in a big way.
Broadway legend Lucy Merchant has tragically succumbed to early onset Alzheimer's. At age fifty-six, she's tucked away in the dementia care unit of the ultra-exclusive Manhattan care facility Park Manor. When she falls asleep and doesn't wake up, her billionaire husband is ready for the funeral, but her daughter demands an investigation.
Only three months back on the job after cancer treatment, Codella finds herself at the center of a high profile case nearly everyone—especially her lieutenant—wants to shut down. But the forensic evidence raises alarming questions and Codella needs answers. To find them, she will have to crack the defenses of slippery administrators, frightened caregivers, and unobliging family members, all while unlocking some of her own dark memories.
Forgotten City, Carrie Smith's gripping follow-up to Silent City, pits the unrelenting detective against a cast of diverse New Yorkers driven by their desires and ambitions and haunted by their pasts. But can she piece together the truth before the murderer kills again?
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Smith's solid second Claire Codella mystery (after 2015's Silent City) opens with the death of 56-year-old Lucy Merchant, a famous musical theater actress turned choreographer suffering from early-onset Alzheimer's. The executive director of Lucy's ritzy residential care facility claims the Broadway legend died of natural causes, but her daughter, Julia, fears foul play and turns to Manhattan homicide detective Claire for help. Julia doesn't have enough proof to warrant an official investigation, but Claire, who's recovering from cancer and has spent the past few months sidelined by her lieutenant, decides to do some off-book digging in the hopes that it'll lead to a new assignment. What follows is a thoughtfully constructed if somewhat convoluted mystery that tackles such sensitive topics as alcoholism, rape, domestic violence, and bigotry. One secondary character stands out, Lucy's nighttime caregiver, Brandon; Smith writes with sensitivity and nuance about his experiences as a transgender man. Brandon's story elevates the rest of the book.
