Black and White and Dead All Over

by: John Darnton

Published by: Anchor Books

Reviewed by Julie Failla Earhart

As a writer, there are many times I have wanted to kill my editor. And as an editor, I’m sure my staff had wanted to put a spike through my heart as well. Every writer’s fantasy comes true when John Darnton opens his new novel, Black & White & Dead All Over, with the killing of Theodore S. Ratnoff, the New York Globe’s “much feared assistant managing editor.”

Ratnoff is found by his administrative assistant with an editor’s spike stuck deep into his chest with a brief note penned in purple ink. Was the spike the same one Ratnoff used to kill stories? Purple ink was Ratnoff’s signature color. The note, “Nice. Who?” was Ratnoff’s signature compliment to whoever wrote a great headline or turned a nice phrase.

The Globe’s reporters–of whom there are many–don’t know whether to be glad or sad. Ultimately, they seem to vacillate between the two emotions. A young female detective is assigned the case, and a young male reporter is assigned to cover the story for the Globe.

The detective and the reporter, both with the assignments of lifetimes have little if anything to go on. The pace moves slowly but steadily. The police are sure that the murder is an inside job until other members of the newspaper’s staff starts turning up dead in a number of gruesome manners.

I got a little confused with all the characters; a list of characters would have been nice. There are so still so many reporters that the crowded newsroom gave the story a 1950’s feel, which worked well in my opinion. Or maybe I only miss the hustle and bustle of deadline.

Darnton is a Pulitzer Prize-winning author for The New York Times with more than forty years of experience. The blend of the old and the new (Internet, Web columns, etc.) made Black & White & Dead All Over an enjoyable read for this old hack.

Armchair Interviews agrees.

Author’s Web site: http://www.JohnDarnton.com