It’s New York’s hellacious summer of ’77. Rampant crime, a city-wide blackout and the Son of Sam murders have knocked Gotham on its ass. When Lucien Lowe, a young poet on the downtown scene, is found dead in his East Village tenement with a heroin needle in his arm, overworked cops rule it an accidental overdose. But Ike’s wealthy girlfriend Julie Baroda suspects murder and urges Ike’s best friend, the artist and punk rock fashion designer Finn Burdon, to investigate.

 

Despite Finn’s own issues with heroin, he shows an uncanny talent for detective work. As Julie, Finn and police detective Benny Cherin dig deeper, their investigation ultimately encompasses some of the most famous names of 1970s New York, including William S. Burroughs, Jean-Michel Basquiat, CBGB owner Hilly Kristal, Allen Ginsberg, Lou Reed, Truman Capote, Roy Cohn, Fat Tony Salerno, Holly Woodlawn, Steve Rubell, Andrew Crispo, Bella Abzug, Leonard Cohen and many others. In the process, they begin to glimpse the outlines of a violent plot to sabotage the opening night of Hilly Kristal’s highly anticipated new venue, The CBGB 2nd Avenue Theater, when Patti Smith is playing and it's packed with thousands.

 

Set during the glory days of New York’s downtown music, art, literary and fashion scenes, The CBGB Conspiracy mixes fiction with a host of real events and historical figures. Behind them all looms a character just as visceral and ultimately doomed: the crumbling New York of 1977.

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PRAISE FOR THE CBGB CONSPIRACY

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“Satisfying crime fiction, entertaining and heartfelt. That’s because Rotello anchors his story so well in a momentous time and place for which he has a clear-eyed, bone-deep, and persuasive affection…Rotello captures it all with abandon.”  THE IRISH TIMES

 

“The story unfolds with such a cinematic mystique and punk rock joie de vivre, it feels like you’re experiencing the new-age Mean Streets movie it is surely destined to become.”

—CHERRY VANILLA, author of Lick Me: How I Became Cherry Vanilla

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“For veterans and voyeurs of Downtown New York, this historical novel of 1977 is fun, fun, fun. Rotello’s recall of period detail is uncanny, historically accurate, and emotionally on point.”

—SARAH SCHULMAN, author of The Fantasy and Necessity of Solidarity and Rat Bohemia

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“Gabriel Rotello’s novel satisfies like a fabulous downtown Italian meal, both as a sexy, emotionally heart-tugging thriller and important social history.”

—CHARLES BUSCH, playwright, The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife and Die, Mommy, Die!

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“Gritty, glittering, and charged with downtown electricity, this book is a hard-boiled time machine to the mythic era of New York culture and collapse—you can almost feel the Bowery under your feet.”

—JEREMIAH MOSS, author of Vanishing New York and Feral City

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"A riveting journey through a grimy, tumultuous, and ultimately exhilarating period in New York City history. Gabriel Rotello brings to life the glam downtown scene of the 1970s while also diving into the dark and dirty side, serving it up with all the drama, suspense, and wit of a great storyteller."

—MICHELANGELO SIGNORILE, SiriusXM radio host and author of Queer in America

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"The CBGB Conspiracy's heartbeat is its fabulous cast of characters, its engine, a murder mystery fueled by memoir and historical detail. It's the New York you miss or the New York you missed.”

—PENNY ARCADE, author of Bad Reputation and Longing Lasts Longer

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"A great detective story sensually awash in atmosphere, menace, and meaning. Rotello not only has an ear for dialogue but a warm-hearted take on the cold, cold world. I kept thinking of CBGB: cool as fuck. Beautifully written, grippingly told. Buy this book."

—KEVIN SESSUMS, author of Mississippi Sissy

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“The blurred edges of fiction and truth create a backdrop that allows for a slightly deranged cast of characters to have fun, find trouble, and dive in headfirst. Read it for yourself—and believe it, or not.”

—RICHARD BOCH, author of The Mudd Club,GrandLife.com columnist

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“The CBGB Conspiracy transported me back to New York City 1977. I had forgotten what a hot summer it was . . . How we lived in crumbling tenements, loving the grit and finding glamour in the decay. And how we dreamed of fame and fortune. Gabriel Rotello brings all this to life with vivid and detailed accuracy. His genius is in mixing the historical and the fictional. Part memoir and part murder mystery, these strange bedfellows coexist perfectly under Gabriel’s skillful and sensitive eye.”

—TONY ZANETTA, author of Stardust: The David Bowie Story

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"With celebs and larger-than-life characters, twisted music, gritty streets, crumbling buildings, and graffiti galore, 1977 may not have been NYC's best year, or even 'the coolest year in hell,' but it was indelible, and Gabriel Rotello's page-turner mystery brings it

vividly, entertainingly to life in all its downtown decay and vitality. A total fun read."

—EVAN WOLFSON, author of Why Marriage Matters

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“Rotello seamlessly interweaves fact and fiction to take us back to a moment in time teeming with artistic creativity, drugs, cockroaches, murder, sex, and an edgy, colorful cast of real and imagined characters. After reading The CBGB Conspiracy, you’ll wish you were there. I certainly did.”

—ALFREDO BOTELLO, author of 180 Days

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“The ride through this city of urban decay is garish, greasy, and thoroughly irresistible. The swirling plot remains captivating, the characters flamboyant, and its effects linger even when the music is shut off.”

—JOHN DOLL, author of St. James Park

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“Amid punk clubs, Manhattan blackouts, post-Warhol celebrities, gun-toting writers, stoner painters, and the cognoscenti of the East Village demimonde, two young New Yorkers must constantly look over their shoulders after the mysterious death of their friend that just might be a murder. 1970s downtown culture comes alive in a beguiling tale told by an author who lived there.”

—JIM PROVENZANO, author of PINS, Finding Tulsa, and other novels

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“Gabriel Rotello’s debut novel, The CBGB Conspiracy, is genius. Blending historical events from 1977 and infusing them with fictional finesse is a rare accomplishment, and traveling back to Manhattan’s downtown scene in 1977 is a trip well worth taking. A real page-turner, its elegant writing, unexpected twists and colorful characters kept me hanging on until the surprising end. A genuine triumph.”

—BRIAN BELOVITCH, author of Trans Figured: My Journey from Boy to Girl to Woman to Man

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