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2022 Nero Award
Shamus Award–winning author Michael Sears brings Queens, New York, to literary life in this crime series debut featuring a somewhat seedy lawyer with a heart of gold (or at least gold plate).
Queens, New York—the most diverse place on earth. Native son Ted Molloy knows these streets like the back of his hand. Ted was once a high-powered Manhattan lawyer, but after a spectacular fall from grace, he has found himself back on his home turf, scraping by as a foreclosure profiteer. It’s a grubby business, but a safe one—until Ted’s case sourcer, a mostly reformed small-time conman named Richie Rubiano, turns up murdered shortly after tipping Ted off to an improbably lucrative lead.
With Richie’s widow on his back and shadows of the past popping up at every turn, Ted realizes he’s gotten himself embroiled in a murder investigation. His quest for the truth will take him all over Queens, plunging him into the machinations of greedy developers, mobsters, enraged activists, old litigator foes and old-school New York City operators.
Genre: Mystery
Queens, New York—the most diverse place on earth. Native son Ted Molloy knows these streets like the back of his hand. Ted was once a high-powered Manhattan lawyer, but after a spectacular fall from grace, he has found himself back on his home turf, scraping by as a foreclosure profiteer. It’s a grubby business, but a safe one—until Ted’s case sourcer, a mostly reformed small-time conman named Richie Rubiano, turns up murdered shortly after tipping Ted off to an improbably lucrative lead.
With Richie’s widow on his back and shadows of the past popping up at every turn, Ted realizes he’s gotten himself embroiled in a murder investigation. His quest for the truth will take him all over Queens, plunging him into the machinations of greedy developers, mobsters, enraged activists, old litigator foes and old-school New York City operators.
Genre: Mystery
Praise for this book
"Sears's Tower of Babel is a fascinating bit of alchemy brewed of real estate, money, murder and betrayal." - Reed Farrel Coleman
"Michael Sears is a born storyteller, whose sardonic wit, documentarian's eye for detail, and unflagging sense of empathy I've long admired. Tower of Babel is another crackerjack entry into his catalogue, an intricate, original, and more-than-a-little-seedy underdog story that kept me up long past my bedtime, my palms sweaty and my every nerve on edge as I raced through the pages toward the climactic--and wholly satisfying--throwdown. Sears is a master at creating tension; once this book sinks its hooks into you, it won't let you go." - Owen Laukkanen
"Tower of Babel is so full of New York characters and locations that you'd swear it was written on asphalt. It has no potholes, though, just a fast-moving and, because it involves corrupt politicians and shady real estate developers, completely believable plot. If you live here, you'll love it. If you don't, read it to see what makes us the way we are." - S J Rozan
"A contemporary Philip Marlowe comes to Queens in this wonderfully engaging caper . . . Sears absolutely nails the voice of his endearingly vulnerable tarnished-lawyer turned sleuth--Tower of Babel is a terrific book." - Hank Phillippi Ryan
"Michael Sears is a born storyteller, whose sardonic wit, documentarian's eye for detail, and unflagging sense of empathy I've long admired. Tower of Babel is another crackerjack entry into his catalogue, an intricate, original, and more-than-a-little-seedy underdog story that kept me up long past my bedtime, my palms sweaty and my every nerve on edge as I raced through the pages toward the climactic--and wholly satisfying--throwdown. Sears is a master at creating tension; once this book sinks its hooks into you, it won't let you go." - Owen Laukkanen
"Tower of Babel is so full of New York characters and locations that you'd swear it was written on asphalt. It has no potholes, though, just a fast-moving and, because it involves corrupt politicians and shady real estate developers, completely believable plot. If you live here, you'll love it. If you don't, read it to see what makes us the way we are." - S J Rozan
"A contemporary Philip Marlowe comes to Queens in this wonderfully engaging caper . . . Sears absolutely nails the voice of his endearingly vulnerable tarnished-lawyer turned sleuth--Tower of Babel is a terrific book." - Hank Phillippi Ryan
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