Neal Goldstein
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Neal Goldstein was born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He lives with his wife in Haverford, a twenty minute train ride from Center City Philly, one of the locales of his novels. He is a graduate of Central High School, Temple University and Temple University School of Law, and currently practices law in Philadelphia representing labor unions and employee benefit plans.
He is the author of two novels, ‘Murder and Mayhem in Manayunk,’ and ‘The Pa-la-ti-shan,’ and is currently working on ‘Fishtown,’ the sequel to the Manayunk mystery.
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Murder and Mayhem in Manayunk
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Murder/Mystery
The story begins with a meeting between a mysterious stranger and the local Taliban in a mountain village somewhere in the middle-east and shifts 7000 miles away to a million dollar condo in Manayunk, a tony neighborhood in Philadelphia, where Megan Larson, a young woman who was scheduled to appear the next day as a witness in a grand jury probe of municipal corruption is murdered. Is there a connection between these two seemingly unrelated events? Veteran Homicide Detective Isadore Ichowitz and Assistant District Attorney Jack Regan set out to solve the crime. Their investigation of the Larson murder leads them to a trail of suspects, many of whom are ‘players’ connected to Regan’s probe of municipal corruption. As the investigation proceeds, Regan and Ichowitz encounter multiple homicides, a plot to assassinate the Vice President and Secretary of State, and other crimes with international implications. The identity of Larson’s killer and the connection between these events, however, continues to elude the detective and the young Assistant D.A. Along the way Regan becomes romantically involved with Kate O’Malley, the new chef at The Grape Tavern in Manayunk. O’Malley recently emigrated from Ireland to keep her son safe from his Northern Irish father’s family and their wide ranging criminal enterprises. Follow Regan and Ichowitz as their investigation takes them across the iconic neighborhoods of historic Philadelphia from the lofty Main Line and Rittenhouse Square to North Philly’s Strawberry Mansion at the opposite end of the economic spectrum and always leading back to Manayunk, as they try to solve the murder in this fast paced thriller.
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The PA-LA-TI-'SHAN
Political Mystery
POLITICIAN noun /pa-la-ti-‘shan/
Definition: a person experienced in the art or science of government; especially: one actively engaged in conducting the business of government.
Alternative Definition: People that should never, ever be trusted under any circumstances.
Working as a constituent services representative for the governor of Pennsylvania was the perfect job for Bernie Green. It afforded him a comfort zone, a place where he could avoid thinking about either his future or his past. He couldn’t believe that an entire year had passed so quickly since he had returned from his second tour of duty in Iraq.
Green’s halcyon days were not, however, destined to continue. His boss, the Honorable Ernest P. Slattery, had plans for him. “Kid, I don’t know a lot, but I do know a thing or two about politics and pussy.” Before Green knew it, he was a candidate to fill his district’s vacant seat in the State House of Representatives, and he was going out on a date with Nichole Miller, the governor’s secretary, the spectacularly beautiful woman he had fantasized about from the first day he interviewed for the job.
Despite Green’s distaste for the questionable ethics and the outrageous antics of the governor and other politicians with whom he had worked, most notably his state senator Anthony A. Cinaglia, even before he actually assumed office he felt the seductive pull of power and celebrity of political life. It wasn’t very long until reality shattered the myth. Everyone, Nicky Miller, the governor, senator Cinaglia, and Green himself, had a secret, something in their past they would just as soon not see splashed across the media.
Unfortunately for Green, the gossip columnist at one of the local newspapers has taken a special interest in his political career. In fact, it seemed to Green that the columnist knew more about him and his future than Green did. “How does he find out this stuff?” Green asked Jack Collins, his friend and mentor who worked as a political operative for the governor, before Collins mysteriously vanishes without a trace, leaving his telephone number to a Korean dry-cleaner. “He’s a gossip columnist, people leak information to him!”
As Green tries to avoid the pitfalls of the peculiar manner in which politics is practiced in the City of Philadelphia, he encounters a cast of fascinating characters, uncovers a scam concocted by corrupt judges and powerful insiders, becomes embroiled in political conspiracies with dangerous consequences, and much, much more.
POLITICIAN noun /pa-la-ti-‘shan/
Definition: a person experienced in the art or science of government; especially: one actively engaged in conducting the business of government.
Alternative Definition: People that should never, ever be trusted under any circumstances.
Working as a constituent services representative for the governor of Pennsylvania was the perfect job for Bernie Green. It afforded him a comfort zone, a place where he could avoid thinking about either his future or his past. He couldn’t believe that an entire year had passed so quickly since he had returned from his second tour of duty in Iraq.
Green’s halcyon days were not, however, destined to continue. His boss, the Honorable Ernest P. Slattery, had plans for him. “Kid, I don’t know a lot, but I do know a thing or two about politics and pussy.” Before Green knew it, he was a candidate to fill his district’s vacant seat in the State House of Representatives, and he was going out on a date with Nichole Miller, the governor’s secretary, the spectacularly beautiful woman he had fantasized about from the first day he interviewed for the job.
Despite Green’s distaste for the questionable ethics and the outrageous antics of the governor and other politicians with whom he had worked, most notably his state senator Anthony A. Cinaglia, even before he actually assumed office he felt the seductive pull of power and celebrity of political life. It wasn’t very long until reality shattered the myth. Everyone, Nicky Miller, the governor, senator Cinaglia, and Green himself, had a secret, something in their past they would just as soon not see splashed across the media.
Unfortunately for Green, the gossip columnist at one of the local newspapers has taken a special interest in his political career. In fact, it seemed to Green that the columnist knew more about him and his future than Green did. “How does he find out this stuff?” Green asked Jack Collins, his friend and mentor who worked as a political operative for the governor, before Collins mysteriously vanishes without a trace, leaving his telephone number to a Korean dry-cleaner. “He’s a gossip columnist, people leak information to him!”
As Green tries to avoid the pitfalls of the peculiar manner in which politics is practiced in the City of Philadelphia, he encounters a cast of fascinating characters, uncovers a scam concocted by corrupt judges and powerful insiders, becomes embroiled in political conspiracies with dangerous consequences, and much, much more.
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