The Last Newspaperman

In The Last Newspaperman, Mark Di Ionno explores the roots of tabloid journalism and the rise of celebrity media culture. The Star-Ledger columnist's debut novel offers an absorbing and historically authentic account of four major 1930s news stories through the eyes of Fred Haines, an ambitious reporter who covered them all.

Haines is a spry old-timer who once worked the Jersey beat for the sensationalistic Daily Mirror, a New York City tabloid. When a young reporter seeks him out for a story, the old newspaperman reveals surprising details about the Lindbergh baby kidnapping and the media circus he helped to create. An exclusive interview with Bruno Hauptmann-convicted killer of Charles Lindbergh's only child-offers Fred Haines a choice between private redemption and newspaper immortality. Which will he choose?