Book Talk: Steve Cavanagh, ‘Witness 8’

When I started this column on Sept. 15, 2021, I tried to find authors whose debut novels were published after the turn of the century. Naturally, as the months went by, I included many of my favorite authors, regardless of the copyright date on the verso of the title page. Then, on the one-year anniversary of the column, I decided to review my previous 52 columns and make a decision about who was the best of the new authors. At least in my opinion.

At that point, I had published only one review of Steve Cavanagh’s books, “Defense,” although I had read a couple of others. Like some authors of debut novels, Mr. Cavanagh had probably written several books before he was finally discovered by a publisher. So, that first year of my column, Cavanagh-written mysteries were coming out every couple of months. After I chose him as the best new author, I then published the other reviews that I had saved while I worked other new authors into my column. However, once those “saved” novels had been released, we fans had to wait nine months or so for each new title. His ninth murder/mystery/thriller was released a couple of weeks ago. It’s titled “Witness 8” (2025, 403 pages in hardback format).

Witness 8 is another Eddie Flynn novel, and Eddie is a former con man (Eddie Fly), turned lawyer, and he’s the central character. In this story, he and his team, are hired to defend Dr. John Jackson who is accused of murdering Maggs (Margaret Blakemore). And, he’s got his work cut out for him: The murder weapon is found hidden in Jackson’s home, his DNA is on the gun, and he has no alibi. But we readers know from the onset, that he didn’t do because the author reveals the fact that Ruby Johnson has witnessed the crime. But she’s not only concealing the killer’s identity to the police but also doing everything she can to further implicate Dr. Jackson, who employs her as his son’s nanny.