The murder of Judge Hugo Jackson is out of Detective Simon Ziele's jurisdiction in more ways than one. For one, it's high-profile enough to command the attention of the notorious new police commissioner, since Judge Jackson was presiding over the sensational trial of Al Drayson. Drayson, an anarchist, set off a bomb at a Carnegie family wedding, but instead of killing millionaires, it killed passersby, including a child. The dramatic trial has captured the full attention of 1906 New York City.
Furthermore, Simon's assigned precinct on Manhattan's West Side includes the gritty Tenderloin but not the tonier Gramercy Park, which is where the judge is found in his locked town house with his throat slashed on the night before the jury is set to deliberate. But his widow insists on calling her husband's old classmate criminologist, Alistair Sinclair, who in turn enlists Ziele's help. Together they must steer Sinclair's unorthodox methods past a police force that is so focused on rounding up Drayson's supporters that they've all but rejected any other possibilities.
Once again, Stefanie Pintoff's combination of vital characters and a fascinating case set amongst the sometimes brutal and sometimes glittering history of turn-of-the-century New York makes for totally compelling reading in Secret of the White Rose, the third novel in her Edgar Award–winning series.
"Mystery lovers might just have found the next Caleb Carr."
The Huffington Post on A Curtain Falls
"In her second novel, Stefanie Pintoff shows how the best in historical fiction not only unveils our past, but shows how our modern concerns evolved.... Her comparison to Caleb Carr is well earned, although Pintoff shows a wider range and deeper affinity for storytelling than the author of The Alienist. Pintoff's meticulous research captures the heart of the era, but her detailed characters and gripping plot about greed, jealousy, and obsession for fame set A Curtain Falls on a higher plane."
Oline Cogdill, South Florida Sun-Sentinel, on A Curtain Falls
"This worthy sequel to Pintoff's acclaimed Edgar Award-nominated debut, In the Shadow of Gotham, brings to life New York's theater world at the turn of the twentieth century and the fledgling science of criminology."
Library Journal (starred review) on A Curtain Falls
