In this second book in the 'Timothy Wilde' series, Tim is one of New York City's first police officers - on the trail of corrupt slave catchers. The book can be read as a standalone.
*****
In the mid-1800s, New York City had hundreds of thousands of residents living in rotting wooden tenements amid abysmal sanitary conditions. Moreover, the population increased every day as immigrants - especially Irish fleeing from the 'Great Famine' - flowed into the city. Overcrowding and unemployment led to soaring crimes rates, so the NYPD was created to patrol the city's streets.
The Five Points in lower Manhattan was considered the most dangerous area for the first NYPD officers to patrol.
The early recruits - non-uniformed men who wore copper badges shaped like stars - were commonly called 'Copper Stars.'
Twenty-eight-year-old former bartender Timothy Wilde has been a Copper Star for six months. Like other Copper Stars Tim started out patrolling the city streets for 16 hours a day, but is now a detective - with a small office in The Tombs (the building housing the courts, jails, and police). Tim is 5'4" tall with a fire-scarred face and a yearning for his lost love, Mercy Underhill, who now lives in England.
The Tombs
Tim is thinking about his successful retrieval of a stolen painting when a beautiful black woman named Lucy Adams frantically rushes into his office, crying that her sister and son have been stolen.
It turns out that Lucy's sister Delia and son Jonas were taken by 'slave catchers' - bounty hunters who track down escaped slaves for a hefty fee. Lucy's family are free blacks from Albany, but slave catchers aren't above kidnapping free blacks and claiming they're runaway slaves.
Tim, who's sympathetic to the abolitionist cause, knows he has to work fast - or Delia and Jonas will be on a ship heading South. The Copper Star rounds up a few friends and his brother, Valentine Wilde - a tough Police Captain who's a big shot in the Democratic Party. Tim's posse storms the slave-catchers' lair, violence ensues, and Delia and Jonas are rescued.
The slave hunters, one of whom sustained a broken arm, are furious about their lost 'catch' and out for revenge. Moreover, the slave catchers have the support of the Democratic Party, which controls everything in New York City, including the police. The Party doesn't look kindly on anyone who helps blacks, which puts Valentine Wilde in a tricky position. Nevertheless, the Police Captain elects to surreptitiously aid Lucy and her relatives.
I don't want to give away spoilers, so I'll just say that an upcoming New York City election drive's the book's plot. Certain members of the Democratic Party have things to hide, and this leads to murder and disppearances in the black community.
As a result, Copper Star Tim Wilde - who's determined to find free black abductees - REALLY pisses off the Democratic elite. Thus Tim is repeatedly attacked, his office is vandalized, and his walls are defaced with vile language.
Nothing will stop the police officer however, until he figures out exactly what's going on.....and why.
The book portrays the horrific treatment of captured slaves, who are shackled to a wall in a cold, empty room - without even a bucket to pee in. The unfortunate blacks may also be beaten and raped, their white captors having no compunction about abusing them.
There's a glimmer of hope for runaways helped by the 'Underground Railroad' - a network that leads escaped slaves to Canada - but this is a very dangerous business.
The Underground Railroad
Slave owners in the South are depicted as well, men who SELL THEIR OWN CHILDREN - born to female slaves - when they need money for a new geegaw. Stories about vile slaveholders certainly aren't new, but they never cease to shock me.
In the course of the story, Tim navigates the ugly world of slave catching rings as he searches for the culprits responsible for murder and abduction.
Additional characters in the book include:
- Silkie Marsh - a glamorous brothel owner and Democratic benefactor who hates Tim.....and pines for his brother Valentine.
- George Washington Matsell - the Police Chief, who respects Tim but is frustrated by his defiance of the Democratic Party.
- Julius Carpenter - an educated black man who belongs to the Committee of Vigilance, which looks out for the black community.
- Mrs. Boehm - a widowed baker and Tim's landlady, who has a soft spot for her tenant.
- Bird - a kindchen (child) who was rescued from a life of prostitution.
Lyndsay Faye does a masterful job portraying the ambiance of mid-19th century New York, with its crowded streets filled with poor, starving vagrants. The authentic feel of the city is also enhanced by the characters' use of 'flash language' - a type of slang made up by criminals in London that became popular among the working classes.
The crowded city
The book, which has a well-wrought plot and shocking denouement, presents a dark picture of the racist, xenophobic atmosphere of the times. Nevertheless it's a good story, recommended to fans of historical mysteries.
Rating: 3.5 stars
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