In the popular 1968 action film, “Coogan’s Bluff,” Arizona cop Clint Eastwood traveled to New York City to capture a dangerous criminal. The movie proved so popular that it spawned a TV series variation, “McCloud.” Over 60 years later, we have a literary mirror image of that premise. Instead of sending a Western cop to the Big Apple, author Michael McGarrity, best known for a series featuring a modern-day New Mexico lawman, takes his literary pen to New York and attempts his version of a classic genre, the 50s noir mystery. The results are less successful than Eastwood’s 1968 foray. McGarrity’s novel, “Night in the City,” buries an enjoyable whodunit under a lot of inferior noir trappings.

The protagonist of “Night in the City” is Sam Monroe. As the book begins, he’s an assistant district attorney who gets a call to meet his ex-girlfriend, Laura Neilson, at a local bar. When she stands him up, he goes to her apartment and finds her strangled to death using his Korean War dog tags (a gift he’d given her when they were a couple). Sam realizes he will soon become the primary suspect in her murder, so he grabs her diary (convenient for him), leaves the dog tags around her neck (convenient for the cops), and flees the scene. He discovers that the diary contains a list of Laura’s ex-lovers. Sam is the next-to-last name on the list. He decides to track down the other names in the diary, hoping one of them is Laura’s killer.

Those familiar with the classic noir cinema of the 1940s and 50s will find some aspects of this synopsis very familiar. For starters, this book’s title, “Night in the City,” evokes the classic Richard Widmark movie, “Night and the City” (itself based on a 30s noir novel by Gerald Kersh). There’s an even closer connection between Sam’s deceased ex-girlfriend, Laura, and the title character of Otto Preminger’s “Laura” (based on a 40s noir novel by Vera Caspary). Both Lauras were women of mystery, leaving a trail of men behind them, and, in both works, the hero tries to find Laura’s murderer.

I can’t believe the similarities between “Night in the City” and these two noir classics are mere coincidences. It appears the author researched the trappings of noir fiction and incorporated much of what he found into “Night in the City.” I also think the extent of the author’s research may have been a night spent binge-watching Noir Alley on TCM. Further, although “Night in the City” is set in and around New York City, it has few geographical references besides the broadest mention of well-known neighborhoods like Spanish Harlem. Instead, the author provides generic dialogue that sounds like it was cobbled together from various phrases in better novels: “Traffic was loud and noisy, the sidewalks were jammed with hordes of rushing New Yorkers, and a stiff breeze off the harbor kicked newspaper litter into the air. Underneath was the ever-present hiss and rumble of the city; a living machine that was populated by seven million people. Some would not survive the night.” (Non-spoiler: the last sentence wasn’t foreshadowing. While some New Yorkers undoubtedly don’t survive any particular night, none of the book’s characters met their demise that evening.)

The novel’s central mystery surrounding the murder of Laura Neilson is quite good. Monroe soon learns that Laura had a troubled youth that led to her often wild adult behavior. The author has degrees in psychology and social work, and both serve him well as Monroe uncovers Laura’s past. I doubt a period novel or film would have explored Laura’s past to this degree, and “Night in the City” is a better novel for it. The ultimate reveal of Laura’s killer came as a surprise, but not an unfair one.

Unfortunately, Monroe’s investigation of Laura’s death gets buried beneath a subplot that winds up taking up more space despite being far less interesting. I can sum up the subplot in two words: crooked cops. Monroe had a history with some of those aforementioned crooked cops when he worked in the District Attorney’s office, and they came after him following Laura’s murder. Most of the police in the book are crooked, and they keep trying to beat Monroe up, kill him, or frame him for Laura’s murder. “Night in the City” is a short novel, and having Monroe spend most of his time dealing with police corruption leaves far too little space for a fully fleshed-out murder investigation.

If you remove the corrupt cop subplot, what’s left in “Night in the City” barely qualifies as a novella. It’s a good story of the sort that formed the basis for some of Raymond Chandler and Ross MacDonald’s better work. But while Philip Marlowe or Lew Archer would have gradually brought out every sordid detail of the backstory, Sam Monroe merely scratches the surface in his investigation before the author conveniently wraps up the story.

I also abhorred the author’s overreliance on tired genre tropes. Soon after Laura’s death, Monroe learns she had hired a female private investigator, DJ Ryan. What follows is a thoroughly predictable and ultimately ridiculous romance where she repeatedly falls for Monroe, gets upset with him over some triviality, and breaks up with him, then forgives him. Ryan’s capacity for unforgiving anger, followed by absolute forgiveness, is astonishing. Readers could create a good drinking game by downing a shot every time Ryan and Monroe break up and then make up. They could also create similar drinking games by imbibing every time Monroe has a gun stolen or confiscated (he keeps every fence in New York City busy) or every time he gets slapped around.

“Night and the City” is a short novel whose repetitious plot strands make it seem much longer. Those annoying, clichéd subplots take readers out of the far more interesting murder mystery for chapters at a time. It annoyed me that a talented writer, who knows how to create a good whodunit, let mediocre noir stereotypes repeatedly get in the way. Despite my enjoyment of the central storyline, I can’t recommend “Night in the City.”

NOTE: The publisher graciously provided me with a copy of this book through NetGalley. However, the decision to review the book and the contents of this review are entirely my own.

Solid noir thriller, where a Korean War veteran with PTSD investigates the death of an ex-girlfriend. It feels old school in an intentional way, the kind of book which could have been written in the 1950s when it was set. It doesn’t have that extra twist or super memorable prose to make it stand out, but it was a solid read.

Michael McGarrity, Night in the City, W.W. Norton & Co., May 2025

Thank you to NetGalley, Michael McGarritty and W.W. Norton & Co. for the ARC of this book.

Michael McGarritty brings the writing chops that made his Kevin Kearney series a pleasure to read to post Korean War Manhattan in this engaging and fast-paced novel. Sam Malone, an assistant district attorney with both a NY PI licence and a gun, shines in this 1950s Manhattan noir. Two years ago, Sam got dumped with no explanation by the love of his life, Laura Neilson. Tonight again wth no explanation, she has asked to meet with him for the first time since the breakup. Sam goes to the rendezvous point, but Laura never shows. Sam goes to her apartment, where he finds her dead, strangled by his dogtags to which is attached an ancient coin given to him by the men under his command during the war. Knowing that he will be the prime suspect when the police arrive, Sam quickly leaves the building telling the doorman to call the cops.

Sam is indeed the prime suspect in Laura Neilson's murder. What follows is an amazing tale of corrupt cops, daring PIs, romance, mystery, suspense and adventure. Night in the City pulls you in from the first word. It is impossible to put down this story that is sometimes convoluted, but which is never dull. I highly recommend Night in the City, and not just for those who love the noir novel. I am not a great fan of noir novels, but I am a fan of Mr. McGarritty's writing, and Night in the City doesn't disappoint. Five stars.

A Night in the City is often entertaining and Sam Monroe makes for an interesting lead character. To the extent that author Michael McGarrity sets the action in fifties New York City, I enjoyed the visit to the past. There just wasn't enough of it. As for the murder mystery, it seemed uneven in its unraveling. McGarrity made it complicated enough, especially casting an eye toward corrupt cops. Was New York really so corrupt in the fifties that robbery detectives would be doing some big time robbing themselves? Maybe, I just don't know.
There is romance in the novel as well. One PI, a woman going by her initials as DJ, comes across as flaky, making me wonder what her attraction was to Sam. Oh, well. It's fiction.
Thanks NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.