Unholy City: A Claire Codella Mystery

by Carrie Smith

Overview

Despite their rocky history, Detective Claire Codella and Precinct Detective Brian Haggerty come together when senior churchwarden Philip Graves’s bloody body is found lying in the herb garden of historic St. Paul’s Episcopal Church on Manhattan’s Upper West Side just two days before Good Friday. Upon first glance, it looks like a random act of big city violence, but it soon becomes clear churchwarden Philip’s death was the result of a meticulously calculated ploy by someone who knew him.

There are five vestry members and a choir director in addition to the ten homeless men asleep in the church basement. Any one of them could have done it, but what did Philip Graves do to warrant such a merciless death? Struggling to share the case and salvage their personal relationship, Claire, Brian and trusted Detective Eduardo Muñoz work around the clock to uncloak the desires, secrets, and resentments that find home through the iron gates and into the hidden beauty of one historic Romanesque church in Unholy City, the haunting third installment in Carrie Smith’s Claire Codella mysteries.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781683313304
Publisher:	CROOKED LANE BOOKS
Publication date:	11/07/2017
Series:	A Claire Codella Mystery , #3
Sold by:	Penguin Random House Publisher Services
Format:	eBook
Pages:	320
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

Carrie Smith is the Senior Vice President, Publisher of Benchmark Education Company. Her writing awards include three Hopwood Awards from the University of Michigan and a fellowship to the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown. She lives in Manhattan. This is her third Claire Codella mystery.

Editorial Reviews

09/18/2017
The bludgeoning murder of senior church warden Philip Grave, found in the garden of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, propels Smith’s carefully plotted third Claire Codella mystery (after 2016’s Forgotten City). When NYPD detectives Codella and Brian Haggerty arrive at the scene, just about everyone they talk to appears to be hiding something. The stakes rise with the subsequent discovery of the body of vestry secretary Emily Flounders in her car on the church grounds. The case soon spirals into a whirlwind of salacious secrets, and Codella and Haggerty are in the eye of the hurricane. Smith bolsters her seemingly straightforward procedural with well-developed characters: Codella is still recovering from a bout with cancer, and the case threatens her delicate relationship with Haggerty, with whom she’s romantically involved. In addition, Smith sensitively portrays the plight of an intersex doctor, who was born “biologically male but with anatomy that would never look male.” Readers will want to see more of the capable Codella. Agent: Kathy Green, Kathryn Green Literary Agency. (Nov.)

Publishers Weekly

Praise for Unholy City:
"A clever, twisted, and utterly gripping read. Carrie Smith has created a winner of a series, and this new chapter may be the most surprising one yet."
—Alison Gaylin, USA Today bestselling author What Remains of Me

"Smith’s first-rate police procedural provides plenty of likely suspects and a clever detective."
—Kirkus Reviews

“Smith bolsters her seemingly straightforward procedural with well-developed characters...Readers will want to see more of the capable Codella."
—Publishers Weekly

"Sharp [and] fast-moving...A sure bet for fans of police procedurals."
—Booklist

“Complicated...carefully executed.”
—RT Book Reviews

"Smith’s deft contrast of emotion and tone is one of the many strengths of this impressive work of crime fiction."
—Lambda Literary

Praise for Forgotten City:
WINNER OF THE 2017 KILLER NASHVILLE READERS’ CHOICE AWARD

“Timely, heartbreaking, and compelling—Forgotten City is unforgettable.”
—Hank Phillippi Ryan, Anthony, Agatha and Mary Higgins Clark Award-winning author of Say No More

" Solid...Smith writes with sensitivity and nuance."
—Publishers Weekly

"This well-crafted police procedural is recommended for admirers of Robin Burcell or Alafair Burke."
—Library Journal

“Steadfast police work is the key to success in Smith’s second...[A] superb plot.”
—RT Book Review, 4 Stars

“Quick-moving plot...Enjoyable.”
—Kirkus Reviews

“Claire Codella...is a terrific character with a rich, complex backstory. For readers who like police procedurals, this is a good one...A real page-turner. The writing is crisp and the story is solid.”
—Seattle Book Review

“Forgotten City is...tailor made for readers who enjoy their procedurals and detective-centred mysteries brisk and intelligent...Tightly plotted, thoroughly engaging.”
—Fab Book Reviews

From the Publisher

11/01/2017
Homicide detective Claire Codella takes over a complex case at St. Paul's Episcopal Church, where the senior warden has been found murdered in the church garden after a contentious vestry meeting. This sequel to Forgotten City is a compelling police procedural with a diverse cast. Fans of Julia Spencer-Fleming or David Carlson will appreciate the inside peek at church politics.—LH

Library Journal