CIA officer Grady Dawson secretly enlists the aid of a wealthy New Yorker and asks him to start a foundation to support artists. Six years later, the nightmare begins. Three internationally renowned artists have been murdered in the heart of Manhattan in as many weeks. The police are baffled because there are no motives, and the killer leaves no clues. Homicide detective Barney Wolfe takes over the case and together with Dawson, they search for the killer. Driven and relentless, they soon discover the killer's identity. But will they be able to find and stop him in a city of eight million people before he kills again? After they learn who's next on the killer's list, Dawson and Wolfe use him as bait to bring the killer out into the open. A sound strategy or a fatal tactical blunder? But as the case unravels, and the two men unearth the motives behind the murders, they are suddenly confronted by an international Cold War crisis with catastrophic consequences. New York 1956 will keep you on the edge of the precipice where the dividing line between justice and revenge is blurred and the threshold leading to redemption is only a faint hope.