The Last Scoop

The Last Scoop is the seventh novel By R. G. Belsky that have been reviewed in this blog, which means that they guys at Men Reading Books really likes his writing. He’s kept up the great writing with this new novel, the third in his series about Clare Carlson, a former Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, now the news director of a television channel in New York. Except, despite having promised herself she would always be truthful, Clare finds herself compelled to tell lie on top of lie, which she knows is bound to catch up with her, starting with the very story that won her the Pulitzer. That story was about the disappearance of Lucy Devlin

Now there has been a new murder. A former colleague and Clare’s former editor, Marty Barlow, was an old and washed up reporter who was still hot after one last big story. But, he was brutally murdered before he could reveal the fruits of his research into the dirty world that touches both politics and New York real estate. Clare felt compelled to pursue Marty’s work with the scant clues that he left behind which suggested he had been pursuing a serial killer that no one else knew existed. Meanwhile, her interest was still caught on Lucy, and if her unscrupulous behavior in that case was ever discovered, then her career would be at an end. Carlson is a most curious character, one who stands for truth while covering up a trail of lies, one who is impulsively pulled into love affairs with the wrong guys, but one who is incredibly consistent at uncovering the secrets of others. She is very loose about some standards, but obsessive about others.

Carlson rides a line between the politically powerful and the wealthiest of real estate magnates. Belsky has crowded his way the power rotation of my 10 favorite authors. He’s rubbing elbows with Michael Connelly, Daniel Sylva, Louise Penny, and C.J. Box, James Lee Burke, John Grisham, Ken Bruen, Robert Crais and Greg Iles. That is high praise for Belsky. If you’re a fan of murder mysteries, then start this book which you won’t put down until the story is over.