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  • Location: New York City

Angel of Darkness

Angel of Darkness

Why a Booktrail?

1890s: The daughter of a Spanish diplomat is kidnapped

  • ISBN: 978-0751547276
  • Genre: Gothic, Historical, Suspense

What you need to know before your trail

A year after the events narrated in The Alienist, the cast of characters from that novel are again brought together to investigate a crime committed in the heady days of New York in the 1890s, but this time narrated by the orphan Stevie Taggert. A young child, the daughter of Spanish diplomats, disappears. It seems she has been abducted but no ransom note is received and the detectives Isaacson quickly discover that a nurse, Elspeth Hunter, is probably the kidnapper. They also discover that Hunter has been a little too closely connected with the death of three other infants. But what are her motives? She married a fortune, and although she is connected to some fairly rough villains this crime does not fit their modus operandi. Is it something as ‘simple’ as psychological disturbance due to her own inability to bear children, or something more sinister unguessed at?

Travel Guide

Travel BookTrail style to New York 1700s

This is a great way of seeing New York in its finery of the time, but also the city at its worst. The Alienist is at work once again, looking into the kidnapping of a young child. This child is the son of  a Spanish diplomat. The

The city at its finest is well evoked and with style: Delmonico’s still serves up wondrous meals and the evening parlours are still full of colourful characters. This is Stevie’s New York however, seen through his eyes, so it is even more detailed and dark in many ways. Stevie’s New York is a place where poor street children turn to crime and drugs. He knows this world and can see both sides of the sorry story.

The Spanish situation

At the time the book is set, the US an dSpain were on the brink of war, and so the kidnap of a Spanish Diplomat’s child in New York (bad enough its own right) could have many far reaching consequences politically.

Many characters in the novel are taken from real life such as the suffragist Elizabeth Cady Stanton; painter Albert Pinkham Ryder. Clarence Darrow, is the frighting man who works in court during a trial where the sanctity of American motherhood itself is put on trial.

Saratoga

There’s even time for a visit to the elegant gambling parlors of Saratoga but this is no holiday. Clues on the trail are to be found here.

 

Streetview Maps

A) USA - NYC - East 17th Street - Kreizler's House
A) USA - NYC - 808 Broadway - Kreizler's Offices

BookTrail Boarding Pass: The Angel of Darkness

Destination: New York City  Author/guide: Caleb Carr  Departure Time: 1987

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