- Hardcover: 384 pages
- Publisher: Soho Press (Sep 1 2004)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1569473714
- ISBN-13: 978-1569473719
- Product Dimensions: 16 x 3.4 x 23.6 cm
- Shipping Weight: 658 g
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
Max Greengrass, the hero of this engaging mystery by Blaine (The Desperate Season), has much in common with David Liss's hero Benjamin Weaver. Both are Jews in a world of gentiles: for Weaver, it's 18th-century London, for Greengrass, the sidewalks and saloons of lower Manhattan in 1893. Both are ex-prize fighters, as well as amateur detectives, whose murder investigations take place against a background of real and imagined events and uncover plots surprisingly sinister and far-reaching. Max is a young freelance reporter ("a space-rater") at the New York Herald, and his future hangs on getting a good story. When he finds four dead cats arranged in a row on a Greenwich Village sidewalk, and soon learns of more murdered felines, he's got a good scoop. After the Herald publishes his catricide story, Greengrass continues to nose around. When his most promising lead turns up dead, as does a witness to that murder, Greengrass's widening investigations introduce the reporter—and the reader—to a colorful mix of real and fictional politicians, religious figures, reformers, journalists and power brokers. Blaine's portrait of Manhattan in 1893 is striking both for what doesn't exist yet (sanitation, most graphically) and what does: Pete's Tavern on Irving Place, expensive dinners at the Waldorf, the Staten Island Ferry, Bellevue Hospital. The 19th-century local color makes a good mystery even more enjoyable.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Booklist
Max Greengrass is a scrappy freelance reporter in New York City in the year 1893. Continually on the lookout for promising material, he lucks out when he trips over four dead cats laid out in a row. This strange clue leads him to an investigation that turns up scandalous material on the Catholic Church. Not only is the church a slum landlord but it also seems to be involved in a shady insurance scam that preys upon poor mothers and their sickly infants. Max also experiences a tumultuous personal life when he is simultaneously smitten with two women--one a beautiful photographer, the other a nurse who works in the slums--both of whom room at the boarding house where he lives. Although certain aspects of the novel's convoluted plot remain murky, the atmosphere of 1890s New York is made vivid through finely rendered detail, including song snippets and articles of clothing as well as the skillful use of arcane dialect. In particular, Blaine's re-creation of a city newsroom, complete with an all-powerful, always crabby metro editor, is a delight. Joanne Wilkinson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
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Customer Reviews
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
4.3 out of 5 stars (15 customer reviews)
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A great 1890's period mystery, Nov 3 2004
By Eric S. Zizelman - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: The Midnight Band of Mercy (Hardcover)
The Midnight Band of Mercy is an exceptional historical mystery based in New York City at the end of the nineteenth century. A self-righteous group of women has taken it upon themselves to put an end to the cat over-population problem in the city which makes good headlines for a Jewish reporter named Greengrass. But the murder of a source leads Greengrass to a far reaching conspiracy involving politicians, power brokers, and the Catholic Church. Life in the big city is meticulously detailed to the point of including musical lyrics, language nuances, and overall succeeds in creating a gritty, realistic portrait of the metropolis. But the most noteworthy feature of the novel is the characters and the lives they lead. It is a well-researched and entertaining novel, one that is well worth the read.
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Midnight Band of Mercy is a wonderful historical novel., Aug 18 2004
By Marsha Garter - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: The Midnight Band of Mercy (Hardcover)
The Midnight Band of Mercy is a wonderful historical novel. Michael Blaine has done deep research into the mind set of the time, not just the manners and clothes, though he gets those details just right, too. His hero, the streetwise Max Greengrass, is admirable, just a little corrupt, smart and capable of self-decpetion when it suits him. In short, a complex human being. When he picks up the thread of his story, four cats killed in cold blood, right on the first page, the writer has you hooked. There is nothing simplistic here. You find yourself admiring some of the more evil characters and loathing some of the most high-minded. There are too many colorful characters to list here, but a few include the old reporter, Biddle, the cantankerous editor, Parnell, the larger than life lawyer, Howe, as well as Max's sister, the vaudevillian, Faye, who is addicted to Mrs. Winslow's Soothing Syrup, some kind of narcotic. This novel is fun and frightening and funny all at the same time. It's definitely for anybody who loves fine historical novels.
8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
My opinion, Aug 18 2004
By Jay Christmas - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: The Midnight Band of Mercy (Hardcover)
If you're looking for a good read that doesn't insult your intelligence, and you like great historical fiction, The Midnight Band of Mercy will fill the bill. I was really immersed in this book. The research is great. You feel as if you're really living in New York in 1893. And the story just carries you along. I found myself identifying with the young reporter, Max Greengrass, who is literally writing for his life. When he gets on the trail of a hot story, some weird upper class ladies are killing cats, you're right there with him. The thing I liked the most was that the characters aren't stick figures, they're like living, breathing human beings, warts and all. The inside view of a nineteenth century newspaper was fascinating. There's a great fire scene and the action really builds up by the end. After I put this book down, I kept thinking about it. You won't forget it.
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