October 2026
Michael McGarrity
Night in the City
October 18, 2026
October 11, 2026
Character List for Night in the City
The Protagonist and Associates
Sam Monroe—the narrator, a junior lawyer in the New York District Attorney’s office (though not for long); he seems to have been a favorite in a long line of Laura Neilson’s boyfriends
Marilyn Feinstein—Monroe’s supervisor in the Criminal Prosecution Division of the DA’s office
Mike Dalton—an investigator for the DA’s office who may or may not be a friend of Monroe’s
Alfonso—the bartender at Monroe’s favorite bar, Stamms
Abe Silverstein—Monroe’s landlord
George Lemond—Monroe’s boss in security at a department store, a job he had before becoming a lawyer with the DA’s office
Timothy Baldwin—the nephew of a retired private investigator (Everett Scott Baldwin) in Neilson’s address book; he happens to have his uncle’s case files in his basement and lets Monroe go through them
Walt Seaver—a bored graduate student who works as an investigator for Ryan and Monroe
Nicholas Reddy—a journalist for the Herald Tribune who was a former law school instructor of Monroe’s and also a friend of Stephen Key’s
The Victims and Associates
Laura Neilson—a troubled heiress from an old moneyed family; Monroe finds her strangled to death in her penthouse apartment (it turns out her trust owns the building) and becomes the prime suspect in her murder
Carl DeAngelo—the night doorman for Nielson’s building
Albert Guzman—the day doorman for Nielson’s building
Dennis Finch—the superintendent for Neilson’s building
Adella Diaz—Neilson’s housekeeper
Dirk and Elizabeth Neilson—Laura’s parents; wealthy, distant, and not fans of Monroe
Kurt Bell—seemingly the newest in a string of Neilson boyfriends; he met Neilson at a party to which an old college friend of his (Julia Anderson) had brought him
Deborah Jean “DJ” Ryan—a private investigator whose business card Monroe finds in Neilson’s address book; Neilson had hired Ryan to do a report on Monroe’s activities since he and Neilson broke up; also, Ryan’s and Neilson’s mothers were great friends in their 20s, and Laura and DJ went to school together as pre-teens
Delores Stedman—Ryan’s office manager and receptionist
Julia Anderson—an archeology professor and one of the tenants in Neilson’s building; she knew Neilson before moving into the building
Dr. Erika Birkenfield—a now-retired psychotherapist who lived and had offices in Neilson’s building; she was apparently Neilson’s therapist for some time
Jeremy Lancaster—an actor whom Neilson had hired to play her “new boyfriend” when she broke up with Monroe
Susan Cogan—a prostitute who’s being shaken down for protection money by the corrupt cop Johnnie Turner; Monroe convinces her to take part in a sting to take down Turner, but the sting goes wrong and Cogan is killed
The New York Police and Affiliates
Officer Johnnie Turner—a thug officer, the first one Monroe suspects of being corrupt; Monroe later learns that Turner’s family name was originally Tartaglione
Sergeant Patrick Hanrahan—a duty officer in cahoots with Turner
Lieutenant Jack Osborne—the supervisor at the Central Robbery Unit
US Deputy Marshall Eddie Snyder—an investigator with the US Marshalls Service who used to work with the New York police in the Central Robbery Unit
Stephen Watts Key—the new police commissioner who seems to want to weed out police corruption; he had been in Monroe’s law school class
Sergeant Jerome Aloysius “Jerry” O’Reilly—the Hoboken police officer who shows up to investigate the accident that Ryan and Monroe have on their way back to New York from New Jersey; he’s also Dalton’s brother-in-law and, like Dalton, once served in the NYPD Central Robbery Unit with Osborne
Possible Mob Affiliates
Salvatore “Sal” Silano—a one-armed pickpocket who seems to have inside information on mob figures and corrupt police
Richard “Sonny” Carlin—a playboy who’s part of the Carlucci mob family operating out of Hoboken, NJ; he’s also another of Neilson’s former boyfriends
Tony Carlucci—the head of the Carlucci mob family, who was also one of Neilson’s former boyfriends)
Connected with Laura’s New Jersey Past
Allen Quick—a popular high school athlete whom Laura and her friend Jeannie found dead in a remote stone quarry turned swimming hole on the Neilson’s Kittatinny Village Farms property (passed down through Elizabeth (Shafer) Neilson’s prominent family)
Sidney “Sid” Huizinga—the nephew of Lars and Lotte Huizinga, neighbors of Kittatinny Village Farms, who took in many foster children, including Laura’s friend Jeannie
Sofia Huizinga—Sidney’s cousin (Lars and Lotte’s daughter) who “has never been right in the head” but is now living somewhat independently in nearby Stanhope, NJ
Gideon Hollander—the publisher and editor of the Newton Town Crier in Newton, NJ, who fills Ryan and Monroe in on past events, including Quick’s death, and begins his own journalistic investigation into Neilson’s past as it might pertain to her murder
October 6, 2026
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