The Other Murder

A young woman is discovered shot and killed in Washington Square Park. The body of a young male is found on a different side of the park on the same night. The deaths are connected, but the media and police handle them differently. The female victim, Angelica Monroe was a college student at NYU. The male victim, Javier Estrada was a promising basketball player who had turned his life around. Hannah Hawthorne works for American Cable News and gets the scoop on the Monroe murder and portrays the co-ed’s murder as a modern tragedy. The press coverage leads to public outrage, yet the Estrada murder is only covered by the intrepid journalist Paulo Richardson. Paulo senses there is more to Javier’s death and that Angelica’s death may not be as cut and dry as thought. 

The Other Murder is a provocative novel examining the worlds of journalism and law enforcement, where a layer of murkiness pervades the landscape. The action commences in the aftermath of the two deaths, where questions are ubiquitous as law enforcement investigates and the press plays up human tragedy. Paulo and Hannah are a study in contrasts, as Hannah wants to be first in coverage and Paulo would prefer accuracy in reporting. The pair of journalists are not the sole focus of the plot, as a pair of detectives probe leads and seek witnesses while a lieutenant in a drug ring deals with the consequences of a dead dealer. Author Kevin Chapman has written a dramatic mystery that skewers the often biased nature of crime reporting and investigation. This book has a broad appeal beyond just lovers of crime fiction. The writing is gorgeous, the narrative is filled with realism and mystery, and the action moves in unexpected directions.