Book 1
The Car Bomb
Detroit’s top TV newsman Frank DeFauw hunts down the story of a judge who may be corrupt—and is one of his best friends. Booze, drugs, womanizing and a passion for the news are all part of what makes brilliant, erratic Frank a major player in this deeply troubled city. Plagued by his own dark pleasures and followed by a deadly assassin, Frank is finally forced to decide if digging out the truth about a bribe to his pal the judge is worth risking his career, his family and his life. With supple prose, brilliant dialogue, complex characters and a twisting plot, this opening salvo of The detroit im dyin Trilogy is a fast-paced urban crime thriller, a classic noir story of corruption, betrayal and murder. “A compelling and wonderfully written piece of urban crime fiction…LoCicero has produced a gripping tale of corruption and redemption in Detroit.”--Victoria Best, Tales from the Reading Room “a brilliantly composed and complex thriller… fast moving and gripping”--Christoph Fischer, author of The Luck of the Weissensteiners “TV anchor Frank DeFauw is a wonderful mixture of cynicism, vanity, self-doubt, weariness and wit. A kind of local princeling, his boozy, womanizing path illuminates everyone he encounters in this tight and vibrant thriller, as well as the dark city in which it is set.”--Patrick, Amazon Reviewer
Book 2
Admission of Guilt
A 12-year-old girl is the desperate focus of three men—John, a dedicated young teacher searching for vigilante justice, Charlie, a small-time private detective with a checkered past, and Steven, a top mafia narcotics importer.
Their paths cross when John makes a shocking, vengeful move to save his eighth-grade students from Detroit’s vicious drug wars, Steven’s young daughter goes missing, and Charlie, hired to find her, confronts a moral dilemma that will change all their lives.
Tightly plotted and action packed, this second book of The detroit im dyin Trilogy can be read as a standalone and is a powerful urban crime thiller laced with noir secrets and murder. Its furious final chapters spin a kidnapping scheme so bizarre that it just might work.
“If you like Elmore Leonard, you’ll love these books.”—Victoria Best, Tales from the Reading Room
“LoCicero's knowledge of his city and the people that live there are remarkable. The dying city in Michigan is alive on the pages of his evolving trilogy.”—Patrick, Amazon Reviewer
“This is a powerful read that handles sensitive and important issues very well without letting down those readers who came for a good crime story. I am eagerly awaiting the next book in the series.”—Christoph Fischer, author of The Luck of the Weissensteiners
Book 3
Babytrick
Camie at 14 is a wild Detroit street girl on the run from an abusive suburban home. In the underbelly parlance of Motown, she is a babytrick and ready to do anything to survive.
Ella is a beautiful black attorney and former cop, who finds herself accused of the murder of a wealthy businessman she used to date. What do these two very different female protagonists have in common in this fast-moving noir tale? More than you might ever imagine.
When they meet through Mark, a Rolling Stone free-lancer in town to write about Coleman Young's final term as Detroit's first black mayor, all three become the target of a vicious ghetto hitman and his brother. Ingeniously plotted and written with verve and dash, this third dark urban crime thiller in The detroit im dying Trilogy can be read as a standalone and will keep you guessing until its final line.
What reviewers are saying about T.V. LoCicero's Detroit novels...
"If you like Elmore Leonard, you'll love these books."--Victoria Best, Tales from the Reading Room
"I have never met this author, have not given birth to him or any of his children. This is a solid and true fangirl review of a truly fabulous work."--Tammy Dewhirst, Rabidreaders.com
"LoCicero's bio says he's been writing across five decades, and you know what? It shows. It really does. The style is impeccable."--Bridget Kulakauskas, Illiterary.com
Book 4
Book 5
Book 6
Book 7
Book 8
Book 9
Book 10
Book 11
Book 12
Book 13
Book 14
Book 15
Book 16
Book 17
Book 18
Book 19
Book 20
T. V. LoCicero
At one time or another I’ve found work as an industrial spy; a producer of concert videos for Rolling Stone’s greatest singer of all time; a rare male contributor to Gloria Steinem’s Ms. Magazine; a writer of an appellate brief for those convicted in one of Detroit’s most sensational drug trials; the author of a true crime book that garnered a bigger advance than an all-time top-ten best-selling American novel; a project coordinator/fundraiser for a humanities council; a small business owner; the writer/producer/director of numerous long-form documentaries; a golf course clerk; a college instructor who taught courses in advanced composition, music and poetry appreciation, introduction to philosophy, remedial English, and American Literature—all in the same term; a ghostwriter; a maker of corporate/industrial videos; a member of a highway surveying crew; a speechwriter for auto executives; a TV producer of live event specials; an editorial writer; the creator of 15-second corporate promos for the PBS series Nature; and a novelist.
There is a sense in which that last occupation was the reason for all the others. Almost anyone who’s ever tried to make ends meet as a novelist knows what I’m talking about.
Now the more conventional bio…
I was born in Grosse Pointe, Michigan, and grew up there after my first dozen years in Detroit. I attended Notre Dame and graduated with a B.A. and M.A from the University of Michigan. I’ve worked in both print and electronic journalism, as a writer of both fiction and non-fiction and as a producer of documentaries as well as entertainment and cultural specials. I’m the author of the true crime books Murder in the Synagogue (Prentice-Hall), on the assassination of Rabbi Morris Adler, and Squelched: The Suppression of Murder in the Synagogue. My novels include the coming-of-age story Sicilian Quilt, The romance When A Pretty Woman Smiles, and the crime thrillers The Car Bomb, Admission of Guilt, and Babytrick (The detroit im dyin Trilogy, and The Obsession and The Disappearance, the first two in the Truth Beauty Trilogy. Fourteen of my shorter works are available in the collection called Coming Up Short. These include the stories and essays I have published in various periodicals such as Commentary,, Ms. and The University Review, and the hard-cover collections Best Magazine Articles, The Norton Reader and The Third Coast.
I’ve operated my own TV and video production company and written, produced and directed more than 50 long-form documentaries, 75 shorter features and 30 live event programs. My syndicated documentary special “Hoffa: The True Story” appeared on 150 stations in this country and throughout Europe, and my work has been recognized with 22 Emmys from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, a Gold Medal from the International Film and TV Festival of New York and numerous awards from the Associated Press and United Press International.