cover image Black and White and Dead All Over

Black and White and Dead All Over

John Darnton, . . Knopf, $24.95 (351pp) ISBN 978-0-307-26752-8

William Randolph Hearst meets Agatha Christie in this entertaining crime novel from Pulitzer Prize–winner Darnton (The Darwin Conspiracy ). When assistant managing editor Theodore S. Ratnoff is found murdered in the offices of the New York Globe , a major newspaper struggling to stay afloat amid ever-decreasing readership, circulation and stock value, the killer could be any number of Globe employees who've been humiliated by the tyrannical Ratnoff over the years. Aided by enigmatic NYPD Det. Priscilla Bollingsworth, the Globe 's investigative reporter Jude Hurley begins the daunting task of exonerating a laundry list of suspects, who include rogue cops, a reporter suspected of plagiarism and a disgraced executive editor. When the Globe 's gossip columnist and food critic turn up dead, the case suddenly becomes much more complicated—and dangerous. Loaded with subtle social commentary and wry humor (a teen's Web journal, teenage.snivel.com, gets “close to 1.5 million hits a day”), this highly intelligent whodunit will keep readers guessing. (July)