A Mysterious Review of Speakers of the Dead by J. Aaron Sanders. A Walt Whitman Mystery.
Review summary: This murder mystery is nicely structured, but it's the backdrop of mid-19th century New York City that really shines here. Having real-life poet and journalist Walt Whitman play the role of amateur sleuth seems especially inspired. Highly recommended to fans of historical mysteries. (Click here for text of full review.)
Our rating:
Speakers of the Dead
J. Aaron Sanders
A Walt Whitman Mystery
(March 2016)
Publisher synopsis: The year is 1843; the place: New York City. Aurora reporter Walt Whitman arrives at the Tombs prison yard where his friend Lena Stowe is scheduled to hang for the murder of her husband, Abraham. Walt intends to present evidence on Lena's behalf, but Sheriff Harris turns him away. Lena drops to her death, and Walt vows to posthumously exonerate her.
Walt's estranged boyfriend, Henry Saunders, returns to New York, and the two men uncover a link between body-snatching and Abraham's murder: a man named Samuel Clement. To get to Clement, Walt and Henry descend into a dangerous underworld where resurrection men steal the bodies of the recently deceased and sell them to medical colleges. With no legal means to acquire cadavers, medical students rely on these criminals, and Abraham's involvement with the Bone Bill — legislation that would put the resurrection men out of business — seems to have led to his and Lena's deaths.
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