Former Timesman John Darnton’s spritely mystery “Black and White and Dead All Over” is not about the death of a newspaper, even in these trying times for the publishing industry.
Rather it’ s an amusing roman a clef that has corpses turning up all over the place at New York’s newspaper of record, here called the New York Globe. And, yes, things are looking dicey for the Globe, with slipping circulation, falling advertising and an extremely dim publisher in command even before an assistant managing editor is found dead with an editor’s spike embedded in his chest.
That’s just the start of the mayhem. Before long a gossip columnist is dispatched by means of a bundler, the machine once used to bundle newspapers together with wire, and a food critic, famous for disguising herself with wigs when she reviews restaurants, is poisoned by her own chocolate soufflé. Yet even with such standard characters to unravel the mystery as a bright young reporter assigned to cover the crime story and an attractive female cop with whom he teams up, this is less a “whodunit” than a “who is it.”
Almost every well known Times editor and reporter of the past few decades makes an appearance and their disguises are paper thin.
For example, the first murder victim, a martinet who daily criticized reporters’ copy bares a striking resemblance to the real-life Allan Siegal, the New York Times’ former standards editor. The character in the book pens his critical notes in purple ink. Siegal preferred green for his notorious daily “greenies” (Siegal has said he found the book “riotously funny.”)
Then there is the Washington-based Johnny Pomegranate, known for his foreign travels, love of food and generous expense allowance , the embittered always scheming ex-executive editor Max Schwartzbaum, kicked upstairs to write a column nobody reads called “Under My Thumb” and the red-headed, wildly ambitious star female reporter who makes use of her intimate relationships with the powerful men she interviews. Now who could they be?
There is also the New Zealand (not Australian) media tycoon, Lester Moloch, who owns a competitive New York tabloid and is interested in taking over the Globe, and an internet columnist named Nat Dreck. Yes, dear reader, it’s all that subtle.
Darnton , who as a foreign correspondent won a Pulitzer Prize in 1982 for his coverage of Poland under martial law, does effectively convey the highly competitive, very insecure atmosphere of today’s newspaper, where readership is always declining. (Even in this book, some of the biggest stories are broken on the newspaper’s Web site. )
And he understands reporters who wish it was the way it used to be when print was prime and who now uneasily combine idealism with cynicism about their work and concern about their long-term futures. He shares some of journalism’s funnier stories and sharpest witticisms, the ones that are still recalled in the bars and taverns where reporters and editors congregate to talk about the good old times. And his fondness for the paper on which he bases the Globe is clear. The book is dedicated to the memory of a dozen of his former colleagues, a couple of whom he also neatly satirizes.
So “Black and White and Dead All Over” may not be for the most demanding reader of mysteries but it is the “beach book” for those who check out Romenesko even before they stop at the coffee wagon.
Black and White and Dead All Over
by John Darnton
Knopf
THE PEN IS DEADLIER THAN …
Former New York Times reporter John Darnton’s mystery novel, based at the “Globe” newspaper is not based on any real publication, the writer claims. We know better. The cast of characters:
Theodore S. Ratnoff
The Globe’s much-feared assistant managing editor who “dispensed critical notes of Teutonic exactitude” and is the first murder victim.
Real-life model: Former “Standards editor” Allan Siegel
Edith Sawyer
“Fifty-two but still wore her red hair in a cutesy ponytail. She loved the idea of being on the inside and knew not only the power players at the Four Seasons but also the names of their wives, dogs, and divorce lawyers.” Her crime – she’s exposed as a plagiarist. Oh, and sleeps with her sources.
Real-life model: Weapons of mass destruction chasing reporter Judith Miller
Max Schwartzbaum
The ex-executive editor who is bounced upstairs “the Globe still echoed with stories about the “Max days.”
Real-life model: Deceased Times editor and “Pentagon Papers” publisher A.M. Rosenthal
Skeeter Diamond
The bewildered current executive editor, “still retained a bit of a swagger of a foreign correspondent”
Real-life model: Fast-and-loose current executive editor Bill Keller
Lester Moloch
“The New Zealand mogul who owns the tabloid newspaper, Graphic. His only crime manipulating the Globe’s stock.
Real-life model: Dashing mogul Rupert Murdoch
Dinah Outsalot
The food editor “When she reviewed restaurants she wore a long blond wig.” Another victim.
Real-life model: Ruth Reichel, former NYT restaurant reviewer famous for disguises
Hickory Bosch
“The worst executive editor of them all” kind of a suspect, but not really.
Real-life model: Howell Raines, former executive editor ousted in the wake of the Jayson Blair plagiarism scandal
Neville Dumpster
“The competition’s heavy hitter, imported by Moloch to ply the underhanded tricks of British tabloids.”
Real-life model: Legendary New York Post columnist Steve Dunleavy
Johnny Pomegranate
“A man of Faltaffian appetities and the self regard of Orson Welles. His expense account was bottomless.”
Real-life model: R.W. “Johnny” Apple, deceased Timesman of Orsonwellian size.