About the Author

Rich Zahradnik is the award-winning author of the critically acclaimed Coleridge Taylor Mystery series. He was a journalist for 30-plus years, working as a reporter and editor in all major news media, including online, newspaper, broadcast, magazine and wire services. He held editorial positions at CNN, Bloomberg News, Fox Business Network, AOL and The Hollywood Reporter. Zahradnik was born in Poughkeepsie, New York, in 1960 and received his B.A. in journalism and political science from George Washington University. He lives with his wife Sheri and son Patrick in Pelham, New York, where he writes fiction and teaches kids around the New York area how to write news stories and publish newspapers.

Reviews

"A wonderful novel by Rich Zahradnik. He gives readers great visuals of New York City in the 1970s: how the Vietnam War changed social and economic conditions in the United States... The story is captivating, and it is obvious from his writing that Rich Zahradnik is familiar with the setting he describes so well." --Michelle Stanley for Readers' Favorite
"Set in the 1970s, it is a fun return to the past and good crime fiction, you'll enjoy Last Words. RECOMMENDED." --Vikki Walton, I love a Mystery
"Zahradnik develops characters of all types and sizes in this novel. He gives readers a real sense of New York in the 70s via his cast, and the way that they view things. Top this off with an amazingly well developed and very interesting main character and you have a winner." --Pure Jonel, Confessions of a Bibliophile

"I didn't realize how much I missed seedy gritty corrupt crime-ridden New York City of the 1970s till I read Zahradnik's debut thriller. Last Words captures the palms-out politicians, the bully cops, the not-so-hapless homeless, the back-stabbing reporters of a city on the brink. The pace speeds up; the whispers and clues and leads all come together for a big empty-the-revolver and fling-the-vodka bottle finale." --Richard Zacks, author of Island of Vice and Pirate Hunter
"Last Words has both beguiling landscape and revealing portraits and is a picture worth all its thousands of words: Rich in intrigue." --Jeff Clark-Meads, author of The Plowman and Tungol
"Like any great crime thriller, Last Words keeps the pace frenetic, dangerous, and surprising at every turn.... A visual, visceral debut from both the author and his lead crime reporter." --Diane Becker, Producer, FishBowl Films
"Despite his literary name, Coleridge Taylor is the 'Columbo' of beat reporters, suffering no fools and pursuing the facts at all costs. Set in 1975, the discovery of a deceased kid, presumed homeless, sets in motion Taylor's chilling odyssey."
--Claire Atkinson, senior media reporter, the New York Post