Night in the City

A lawyer tries to clear himself of the murder of a New York City socialite in this sleek noir from McGarrity (The Long Ago). In 1950s Manhattan, junior attorney Sam Monroe has his heart broken by it-girl Laura Nielson. Not long after their breakup, she calls and invites him to her penthouse. When Monroe arrives, he finds his Army dog tag wrapped around Laura’s lifeless body. Realizing he’s likely to be the prime suspect, Monroe resolves to locate the killer before the cops catch up with him, and searches Laura’s diary for clues. Meanwhile, he becomes the target of Johnnie Turner, a vengeful cop who lost a promotion after Monroe exposed his pattern of planting evidence during prosecutions. Turner’s smear campaign shreds Monroe’s professional reputation and forces him to resign from his post, so he enlists private investigator Debora Jean Ryan to help him track down Laura’s killer. EVENTUALLY, they discover that Laura’s dark past is tangled up with a well-known crime family and the death of a popular high school athlete. Fans of Dashiell Hammett’s The Thin Man will enjoy the echoes peppered throughout this twisty journey through the underbelly of mid-century New York. It’s a hardboiled good time. (May)