The Velvet Badge

<p>Elevated by a satisfying blend of hard-boiled suspense and subtle hints of satire Bob Mantel's The Velvet Badge: A New York Noir is a stunning debut from a must-read author. - IndieReader<br /><br />A horrific crime catalyzes desperate New Yorkers in this arresting neo-noir ensemble tale. In his striking first novel [Bob] Mantel creates a dark world where everyone has a secret that could lead to destruction. . . Mantel's terrific use of language [is] an homage to classic noir fiction but always fresh in its own way. . . The mood lasts long after the reader has finished. - BookLife Publishers Weekly<br /><br />. . .this debut literary novel [is} stylish evoking hard-boiled crime novels through Pynchon-esque prose. An entertaining...murder tale. - Kirkus Reviews</p><p><strong>Lesbian disco-era careerists fall afoul of a New York City revenge murder in this hard-edged neo-noir.</strong></p><p><br />A tasteless night club run by a failed JFK assassination co-conspirator brings out the worst in 1970s New York.<br /><br /></p><p>Songbird Sadasia Trayne runs into a disco-era buzz saw of wine women and murder when she hooks up with the Brooklyn-based creator of a notorious TV sitcom.<br /><br /></p><p>Her frantic SOS to a long-lost love the Big Apple's closeted lesbian Chief of Police Detectives drives this tale of memory and regret compromise and topiary politics and a corrupt press Kris Kringle and twisted acts of love.<br /><br /></p><p>Will the headline-grabbing sex crime she sets out to solve max out the Chief's investigative skills or deep-six her career?<br /><br /></p><p><em>The Velvet Badge</em> combines edge-of-your-seat storytelling with stone-cold hilarity and just a touch of holiday ho-ho-ho.<br /><br /></p>