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!