More mayhem in old New York

I have another addition to my post about murder mysteries set in old New York.  I started a series in the middle. Seven for a Secret by Lindsay Faye is the second in her series.  The first is The Gods of Gotham which I must pick up this week. 


By now, we have all read or seen Solomon Northup's moving account in Twelve Years a Slave.  Sadly, Mr. Northup's experience was not an isolated incident.  In 1846, slave catching was not a crime, it was law enforcement.  In the years before the Civil War, slave catchers made it a practice to capture black citizens in New York City.  The only defense for these unfortunate victims was Freedom Papers which could be lost, forged,  or ignored. Free black people in New York formed secret Committees of Vigilance to protect themselves.


The New York City Police Department was founded in 1845.  At the time, the newly minted police officers were greeted with  disdain and hostility from the public.


Into this scene, steps Timothy Wilde a new "copper star" or police detective who tries to protect those who cannot protect themselves. As a man with abolitionist sentiment, he is requested to locate the missing family of an African-American woman posing as a white woman. Timothy is hampered in his investigation by social and political events such as police corruption, political corruption, Tammany Hall, the arrival of Irish following the potato famine, prostitution, the sex trade, racial tension, and his irascible brother Valentine.


Adding to the book's interest is the inclusion of George Matsell's Flash Terminology or the language of the streets some of which has become part of our language.


I hope  you enjoy this one!

Murder, Mystery and Mayhem in old New York

There are three fabulous new historical novels about old New York,  When I say old, I mean old as in New Amsterdam in the 1600's.


First in order of history.


The Orphanmaster by Jean Zimmerman (2013)


The year is 1663. The Dutch are barely eking out an existence at the tip of Manhattan Island.  The British are set to invade and the Indians are not always friendly. Into this precarious world, Blandine  von Couvering a young female trader makes her living.  Surprisingly, Dutch women at this time had many more rights than their British counterparts.  But Bandine is faced with more challenges than making a living.  She realizes that orphans are disappearing and she suspects foul play.  Aided by dashing English spy Edward Drummond, Blandine sets about discovering the fate of the missing orphans and in doing so uncovers a very early serial killer.




Americans have always loved sensational trials.  Before OJ, there was Levi Weeks. Of course you never heard of Levi Weeks.  But  you have heard of Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton. Paul Collins'  Duel with the Devil takes us back to the year 1800 when Americans were wrapped up in the trail of Levi Weeks accused of murdering a young Quaker woman Elma Sands whose body was discovered in a well.  Levi Weeks's defending attorneys were no less than Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr. Collins takes us back to 1800 to a Hamilton and Burr we never learned about in school.  The two men were loyal patriots, brilliant attorneys, passionate politicians and flat broke.  Indeed the well in which the body was found was part of Burr's get rich quick schemes.  Tragically, the two defense attorney met in a duel a short time later.  Great courtroom drama and insightful history.


Caleb Carr's The Alienist (2006) is an oldie, but goody.  The year is 1896 and New York is plagued by a grisly murder. Police chief Theodore Roosevelt enlists the aid of New York Times reporter  and Dr. Laszlo Kreizler a psychologist or alienist as he was called in his time.  The two men create a profile of the murderer and take us through New York's  underbelly of crime, prostitution and drugs.




Alice Hoffmann is a prolific writer of historical novels with a touch of the supernatural.  Her novels such as The Probable Future, The Red Garden, Here on Earth and the Dovekeepers have earned rave reviews.  Her latest novel The Museum of Extraordinary Things is set in New York in 1911. It is the year of the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire and the fire at Coney Island.  It is the ending of an era when the sturgeon still ran in the Hudson River and there were still wild areas in the northern part of Manhattan.  Eddie Cohen is a photography who is running from the grinding poverty of his youth as well as the Orthodox Judaism of his father. Coralie Sardie is a young woman swimmer whose magician father has a Svengali-like hold on her. The two meet in this lovely novel of mystery, tragedy, murder and finally love and forgiveness.  It is truly a gem.

A Classic

I recently had the pleasure of participating in a book discussion on one of my favorite classics, Rebecca by Daphne duMaurier.  If you read the book in  high school, it is definitely worth a second read.  Du Mauieir's characters,  Rebecca, Max deWinter and the evil Mrs. Danvers could put Downton Abbey to shame.  In how many novels, does the narrator remain nameless?  The opening sentence alone grabs you on the first page. The overshadowing of disaster and evil is worthy of Hitchcock.  He did make a movie.  Mrs. Danvers is one of the most consummately evil characters in literature.  Rebecca is a classic romance/mystery/suspense novel.   If you have not read it, the ending is a complete surprise. Some participants in our discussion group thought the author put in too much description.  However, I think you really got a picture of the estate and the English countryside. One of our participants was a law enforcement officer with a refreshing insight on guilt and motive. If your book group is looking for a classic, try Rebecca. It is an excellent choice for a contemporary discussion.