My name is Clare Carlson, and I’m the news director of Channel 10 News in New York City. Running a big city newsroom is a pretty cool job. But I’m really just a journalist at heart. A reporter first and foremost. Always have been. Always will be. There’s nothing I love better than a big story.

And today I’m working on a real juicy exclusive for my station.

It got dropped right into my lap when my best friend Janet Wood visited me at Channel 10 this morning.

“Do you know who Laurie Bateman is?” Janet asked me.

“I do. I also know who Lady Gaga is. And Angelina Jolie. And Ivanka Trump. I’m in the media, remember? That’s what we do in the media, we cover famous people. It’s a dirty job, but somebody’s gotta do it.”

“Laurie Bateman hired me.”

“As an attorney?”

“Yes, as an attorney. That’s what I do, Clare.”

Laurie Bateman was one of those celebrities who seemed to be famous only for being famous – sort of like Kim Kardashian or Paris Hilton. She was married to billionaire businessman Charles Hollister, who was more than 30 years older than her. Despite the age difference, they’d projected the persona of a happily married couple in the media since their wedding. But now – as I was about to find out – their marriage wasn’t so happy.

“Why does Laurie Bateman need you as an attorney?”

“She wants me to represent her in divorce proceedings with Charles Hollister.”

“Wow!”

“I thought you’d like that. It gets even better, Clare. She wants to reveal the news in an exclusive interview with you on the air. She’ll talk to you about everything. The divorce, Hollister cheating on her with a mistress, his physical and emotional abuse of her. Laurie Bateman wants you to get her whole story out there.”

“Why me? Why not Gayle King? Or Savannah Guthrie? Or Barbara Walters or Katie Couric or Diane Sawyer or another big media name. Someone who’s really famous. . .”

“You’re famous too, Clare.”

Janet was right about that. I am famous. I’ve broken some big stories recently that got me national media attention. And now I was going to be a star all over again when I broke this Laurie Bateman divorce exclusive. This was going to be easy. Really easy. Almost too easy. But that’s okay, I need something easy in my life right now.

Running a big city TV newsroom can be pretty stressful, especially the job of juggling a lot of high-priced egos. For instance, I’ve got a husband-and-wife anchor team who take out their domestic frustrations with each other sometimes on the evening news show; an ambitious woman weather reporter who’s more interested in telling jokes like Al Roker or Willard Scott than reporting the weather; and a bunch of other on-air people who were hired more for their good looks than their talent.

My personal life, as usual, isn’t very happy either. I’ve been married – and divorced – three times. There’ve been a lot of other men and a lot of other bad decisions for me too in the romantic department. Right now, I’m on a hiatus from men and sex. Not exactly my choice, but it seems to have worked out that way.

At the same time, I’m learning for the first time how to be a mother. I reunited recently with a daughter I hadn’t seen since I gave birth to her in college. I found out later that I have a granddaughter too. We’ve been trying to make up for all the lost time between us, my daughter and me. But this motherhood thing isn’t always easy for me to figure out.

Which is why I’m so glad to get this Laurie Bateman exclusive interview.

It’s going to be a big story for me.

A big story that will help me forget about all the other worries and problems in my life.

A big story always makes everything better for me.

Beyond the Headlines, A Clare Carlson Mystery #4
Genre: Traditional
Release: May 2021
Purchase Link

She was a mega-celebrity—he was a billionaire businessman—now he’s dead—she’s in jail

Laurie Bateman was living the American dream. Since her arrival as an infant in the U.S. after the fall of Saigon, the pretty Vietnamese girl had gone on to become a supermodel, a successful actress, and, finally, the wife of one of the country’s top corporate dealmakers. That dream has now turned into a nightmare when she is arrested for the murder of her wealthy husband.

New York City TV journalist Clare Carlson does an emotional jailhouse interview in which Bateman proclaims her innocence—and becomes a cause celebre for women’s rights groups around the country.

At first sympathetic, then increasingly suspicious of Laurie Bateman and her story, Clare delves into a baffling mystery which has roots extending back nearly fifty years to the height of the Vietnam War.

Soon, there are more murders, more victims, and more questions as Clare struggles against dire evil forces to break the biggest story of her life.

Beyond the Headlines is perfect for fans of Robert Crais and Harlan Coben

About the Author
R.G. Belsky is an award-winning author of crime fiction and a journalist in New York City. His newest mystery, Beyond the Headlines, is being published in May by Oceanview. It is the fourth in a series featuring Clare Carlson, the news director for a New York City TV station. The first book, Yesterday’s News, was named Best Mystery of 2018 at Deadly Ink. The second, Below the Fold, won the Foreward INDIES award for Best Mystery of 2019. The third Clare Carlson mystery, The Last Scoop, came out in May 2020. Belsky has published 14 novels—all set in the New York city media world where he has had a long career as a top editor at the New York Post, New York Daily News, Star magazine and NBC News. He also writes thrillers under the name Dana Perry. And he is a contributing editor for The Big Thrill magazine.

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