Take a step back into 1970s New York City in a hard-edged murder mystery sequel to Last Words featuring "an appealingly single-minded hero" (Publishers Weekly).

Intrepid reporter Coleridge Taylor is searching for his next scoop now that he's back on the Messenger-Telegram police beat. Both the city and Coleridge are on the edge of financial ruin, but he finally catches a break when a source sends him down to Alphabet City where the punk rock ruffians hang out.

There he finds two dead bodies after a mugging gone bad: one a punk, one a cop. But the story doesn't add up. The punk was actually a good kid. And the cop's female partner, Officer Samantha Callahan, is being blamed for his death. She insists she was called away, but the NYPD wants to throw her to the wolves. Immediately smitten, Coleridge decides to help the beauty in blue.

But the more he falls for Samantha, the more dangerously close he gets to his story. Because Officer Callahan has just become a target—and Coleridge is standing between her and some awfully big guns.