Local author Mary Durkin will come to discuss her new book, West of Ninth. West of Ninth is a gritty historical mystery set in 1970s Hell's Kitchen.

Summary of West of Ninth
On the gritty streets of 1970s Hell's Kitchen, where the notorious Westies gang rules through fear, deadly secrets shatter one family's world. When a brutal murder tears through the neighborhood's fragile fabric, it sets in motion a chain of events that will test the bonds of love, loyalty, and survival against the backdrop of one of Manhattan's most dangerous neighborhoods.

Caught between the competing forces of justice and vengeance, Kate must navigate a treacherous journey through her past, where the wrong choices cost her everyone she holds dear. As old wounds resurface and new alliances form, this haunting tale of love lost and hard-won redemption reveals that sometimes the path to recovery runs straight through the heart of darkness. In Hell's Kitchen, everyone has a price—but some debts can only be paid with blood.

About the Author

A marketing executive turned mystery writer, Mary Durkin has always been fascinated with the history and cultural mosaic of New York City. Much like the city she admires, her novels intertwine the story of today’s characters with an unbreakable connection to the city’s forebearers that built its great financial markets, ports, theatres, railroads, and skyscrapers. Influenced by her late father, an NYPD homicide detective, and her mother, a fervent reader of mystery thrillers, she was raised on a strict diet of mystery novelists from Arthur Conan Doyle and Agatha Christie, to Michael Connelly and Janelle Brown.

Residing in Tuckahoe, New York where she enjoys the company of friends and family, Mary is a professor at Fordham University, where she teaches courses related to communications and media studies.