It is 1895, and the face of Manhattan is rapidly changing. From the electric lit homes of the elite to the stifling immigrant tenements, the city simmers in the summer heat. Graft is everywhere, especially at 300 Mulberry Street, Metropolitan Police Headquarter. Here, young police detective John “Dutch” Tonneman becomes embroiled in the struggle for reform. When Tonneman is called to a suspicious waterfront blaze and a union rally that turns violent, he arrives just in time to save photographer Esther Breslau, a young Jewish immigrant, who works for a crusading reporter. Then the reporter is murdered and Esther’s photographic plates are smashed. Whatever she saw through her camera lens is enough to get her killed. It’s up to Detective Tonneman and Esther to track a killer whose roots are in the sordid underbelly of Manhattan.
“So satisfyingly rich in lusty period detail and the idiomatic speech of New York …”
—Publishers Weekly
“… this fifth in a series is the best so far–carried along by a comprehensible plot and the vitality of its major characters.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“A fascinating historical tapestry.”
—The Advocate, Baton Rouge
