Dancer in the Flames

By Stephen Solomita

The murder of a police officer reveals a world of corruption in this contemporary noir thriller set in New York. When Detective Boots Littlewood’s regular bookie, Drago, reveals that the shooting of police officer Captain Christopher Palmer was no random killing but an organized hit in exchange for a lighter sentence, Boots is assigned to a task force to investigate with a new partner, Jill Kelly, and soon uncovers a trail of corruption that someone will do anything to protect . . .

• Language: English
• Publisher: Severn House Digital
• Release date: Feb 1, 2013
• ISBN: 9781780103587

Stephen Solomita

Stephen Solomita, a former New York taxi driver, is the creator of the popular cop-turned-private-eye Stanley Moodrow, He lives in New York City.

Reviews for Dancer in the Flames

[mikedraper · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is as much a family drama as a murder mystery and thriller. The main focus of the story is New York detective Boots Littlewood. He's a people person, skilled in using his resources to find suspects and people he needs to interview. He also has a good relationship with his father who is planning to remarry, and with his son, a college student, skilled in computer knowledge.The author is a former cab driver in New York and his descriptions of New York and surrounding suburbs is right on.There have been a number of murders of NYC police officers. One was on the job investigating the Lipstick Murderer. Another was a captain who thought he was invincible.Boots investigates these murders and when one of his snitches is arrested for one of the murders, he knows there is a coverup and so will have to prove his man wasn't guilty.He's assigned a partner, Jill Kelly, who is the daughter of one of the slain cops and the niece of the chief of detectives.An interesting side is Boots is a small time gambler, mostly in Yankee baseball games. It's fun to see his reactions to the Yankee games on TV or the radio.I read this over two days and enjoyed every minute.