Book Review: Broadcast Blues by R.G. Belsky

Like many of the greats before him, journalist R.G. Belsky has taken his dogged pursuit of entertainment and enlightenment and made the transition from a career in facts to fiction as a crime novelist. Having formerly worked for media outlets including the New York Post, the New York Daily News, Star magazine, and NBC, he now writes full-time and has sixteen books to his credit. These include the Gil Malloy series, the pseudonymous Dana Perry offerings, and six titles featuring fearless news correspondent Clare Carlson, the most recent of which is January’s Broadcast Blues. 

As the book begins, we find Clare—Channel 10’s award-winning News Director and on-air reporter—professing her faith in the news gods to deliver a lead story before the evening edition. And, sure enough, word of a car bombing in Times Square soon comes through. The story is made all the more tantalizing by virtue of the victim’s identity: private investigator Wendy Kyle, who specialized in catching cheating husbands. Adding to the intrigue is the fact that she was formerly a promising NYPD officer who was let go from the force following a physical altercation with her superior. Needless to say, Clare’s antenna is up. 

But Channel 10 is up for sale, and Clare’s nemesis, executive producer Susan Endicott, proposes a temporary truce to their rivalry—even as she tries to keep Clare on a short leash to appease prospective buyers. Yet Clare will not be dissuaded from making waves when she suspects a rush to judgment in closing the Wendy Kyle case. In other news, Clare is on the verge of turning fifty—a scary prospect for any woman who makes her living on camera. Further, she’s frustratingly single following two divorces and a string of ill-fated love affairs; it’s a rocky history that Clare can’t help thinking may have played a role in her daughter’s own marital troubles. So…personal and professional stakes are at an all-time high as Clare risks both her reputation and her life to get the story, all the while reevaluating her past choices and priorities.

Per usual, Belsky excels at depicting the sometimes contentious, often exciting, and always unpredictable nature of the newsroom, where behind-the-scenes drama (ethical dilemmas, office politics, staffing shakeups, etc.) amplifies the suspense of the investigations themselves. Clare—who is bold and brash on the outside but insecure underneath all the bravado—continues to be sharp-mouthed and stubborn in the face of opposition; this plays particularly well here, as many of those personality traits were shared by Wendy Kyle, which gives Clare extra incentive to find justice for a kindred spirit. But doing so may just change her in ways she couldn’t have imagined.

Like the best lead-ins, Broadcast Blues hooks you from word one and doesn’t let go. Belsky knows his way around the newsroom and a good story, which ensures that colorful characters and compelling crimes abound. But the beauty of this series is that, while Clare continues to age and evolve from book to book, readers can jump in at any point and expect a clarity and conciseness of backstory that will enhance their reading experience rather than detract from it. It’s been said that fifty is the new forty (or thirty, maybe?)—and Clare’s got a lot of life left in her yet, as does this engaging series.