A nice take on reporting before it got respectable.
Following a trail of evidence that begins with dead cats and winds through seamy cellars into the poshest Protestant parlors, a Jewish reporter lays bare some of the worst horrors of 19th-century New York.
It’s 1893, and Max Greengrass, born in Europe but as new-world and big-city as they come, writes freelance for the Herald, hoping desperately to go on salary as a regular reporter. And he may have the story (the novel’s based on an actual case) that will help him make the leap. Someone has been doing in the feral cats of Manhattan, leaving their bodies in neat rows on the stoops of the wild city’s many bawdy houses. Liberally laying on the spectacularly grubby details of life in the streets, second-novelist Blaine (The Desperate Season, 1999) situates his hard-drinking and nervy young hero in a boardinghouse between two beautiful young ladies, lovely leftist Belle Rose and zaftig photographer Gretta Sealy, both of whose charms will soften the black moments that follow Max’s discovery of a brutally slain young insurance magnate and the dismembered pieces of the supposedly deaf-and-dumb witness to that murder. The murders are related to the feline foul play that Max has been watching unfold as seemingly respectable society matrons walk the streets at night, dosing stray kitties with chloroform and then snapping their necks. Teaming up with free-loading senior reporter Nicholas Biddle, Max learns that the ladies are involved with something called the Midnight Band of Mercy, with ties to one of the most fashionable churches in town—a church that holds title to some of the most horrifying tenements anywhere, so that the cats are just the tip of the iceberg. The ladies are also involved with far greater evil, crimes that will endanger Max’s much-loved infant nephew, who is entrusted by his careless mother, Max’s show-biz sister Faye, to the most frightening day-care imaginable: a baby farm in one of those church-owned dumps.
A nice take on reporting before it got respectable.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2004
ISBN: 1-56947-371-4
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Soho
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2004
BOOK REVIEW
Rabbit-obsessed readers (hands, please? anyone?) will love the dedication to all things bunny. Others may find themselves...
A bunny-loving farmer hopes that her telepathic connection to her pet rabbit can help her solve another murder.
Jules Bridge has dedicated her life to the care of rabbits. Not only does she own and operate Fur Bridge Farm, a venue dedicated to bunnies, but she has a number of rescue rabbits, an onsite vet, rabbit fur spinning classes, and even a few pet rabbits of her own. Sharing her love of the species is Jules’ calling, and it’s all in a day’s work when she celebrates young Adrian Richland’s birthday party with some rabbit show and tell. Jules is so focused on all things rabbit that it’s a shock to the system when the party erupts in human drama. Not only does Jules hear Adrian’s mother, Carina, arguing with guest Evelyn Montgomery, but later in the party, Evelyn is murdered, leaving Carina as the prime suspect. Carina approaches Jules about looking into who offed Evelyn, not only to save her own hide, but also because Jules has dipped her toe into investigating in the past (Left Fur Dead, 2019) and struck up a friendship with Sheriff Jack Carver to boot. Carina doesn’t know that Jules has a furry assistant who’s sure to make her investigation a success. Bun, the black-and-white rabbit who’s Jules’ favorite pet, communicates with her telepathically, and he quickly lets Jules know that he’s eager to help her dig into Evelyn’s murder. The investigation the duo launch into Evelyn’s dealings with a local rabbit show reveal that the dead woman was a mean, nasty person with too many enemies to count. Which candidates finally summoned the gall to end Evelyn’s life?
Rabbit-obsessed readers (hands, please? anyone?) will love the dedication to all things bunny. Others may find themselves out in the cold.Pub Date: Feb. 25, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-4967-2058-0
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Kensington
Review Posted Online: Nov. 24, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
This superb series (The Dark Angel, 2018, etc.) never disappoints. Its patented combination of mysterious circumstances,...
An anonymous letter brings DCI Harry Nelson memories of past sorrows and present dangers.
The letter mentions a stone circle that harks back to the 20-year-old case of a missing child. Ten years later, another missing child introduced Harry to archaeologist Ruth Galloway when he asked her to examine some bones. That case began a working relationship that turned out to be equally productive in personal terms: A short-lived affair between the two produced a child, Kate, though Harry is married and has two grown daughters. His wife, Michelle, who accepts Kate in their lives, is about to give birth to a baby who may or may not be Harry’s. A new archaeological team working near the site of the original henge finds a stone coffin containing bones. The head of the dig is Leif Anderssen, whose father, Erik, was Ruth’s mentor all those years ago. As Harry continues to receive cryptic messages, the bones of what Ruth thinks is a young girl are found near the new dig, opening up yet another old case. The police think the body is that of Margaret Lacey, who vanished from a street party in 1981. The focus at the time was on her parents; her older siblings, Annie and Luke; and John Mostyn, a neighbor and odd duck who collected stones. But nothing was ever proven, and Margaret’s body was never found. The birth of George, Michelle’s son, puts more pressure on Harry, who loves his wife and Ruth in different ways, to stay in his marriage. Nelson’s team and some friends of Ruth’s use their own areas of expertise to search for clues from the past, but when the child of Annie’s daughter, Star, is kidnapped, the present-day crisis takes center stage.
This superb series (The Dark Angel, 2018, etc.) never disappoints. Its patented combination of mysterious circumstances, police procedure, and agonizing relationship problems will keep you reading, and feeling, all night.Pub Date: May 7, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-328-97464-8
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Review Posted Online: Feb. 17, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2019
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