Eastern New York, 1975. A murder investigation. An unexpected encounter with one of America’s most radical voices of conscience.
January 2026 - In The Detective and Dorothy Day, novelist and historian Robert C. Conner delivers a gripping fusion of detective noir and historical fiction that probes corruption, conscience, and the cost of justice in a morally compromised world.
Set in eastern New York state in 1975, the novel follows Manhattan private investigator Sy Johnson, hired by a labor union to investigate the murder of upstate chemical tycoon Jack Williams. The accused killer is a local union president, but as Sy digs deeper, the case spirals into a far-reaching web of environmental pollution, labor unrest, financial corruption, and escalating violence. What begins as a straightforward murder inquiry soon reveals connections between five deaths and a system poisoned by greed and moral compromise.
Sy’s investigation brings him to the Catholic Worker farm in Tivoli, New York, where he encounters seventy-seven-year-old Dorothy Day, the famed writer, pacifist, and co-founder of the Catholic Worker movement. There and elsewhere he forms relationships which complicate the case and his own life, drawing him into deeper questions than just solving a crime.
From barrooms to a ballroom, Brooklyn backstreets to quiet woodland waters, Sy confronts not only killers, but his own values. His growing bond with Dorothy Day challenges him to reconsider the meaning of justice, responsibility and redemption in a society fractured by violence and exploitation.
The Detective and Dorothy Day is Conner’s second novel and fourth book. He lived at the Catholic Worker farm in Tivoli in 1974 and 1975, where he met Dorothy Day. A former award-winning journalist and union leader, Conner draws on decades of reporting experience to ground the story in authenticity and urgency. His previous works include the novel The Last Circle of Ulysses Grant, and two acclaimed biographies of Gordon Granger and James Montgomery which were published by Casemate.
Both a fast-paced thriller and a thoughtful meditation on morality, The Detective and Dorothy Day will appeal to readers of detective, historical, and literary fiction, as well as those interested in Dorothy Day, labor history, environmental justice, war and peace, and the enduring struggle between conscience and power.