Midnight Band of Mercy

by Michael Blaine

“Engaging. . . . The 19th-century local color makes a good mystery even more enjoyable.”—Publishers Weekly

“A hell of a yarn that moves with the velocity of a newspaperman on a hot story.” —Michael Connelly

“Absorbing . . . puts modern-day urban scandals into perspective.”—The New York Times Book Review

“Fabulous.”—The Charlotte Observer

“A superb mystery.”—Mystery News

“Delightful. . . . This is the bawdy, seamy, ripe-for-reform Gotham City no reader would want to live in—The crooks! The corsets!—but any reader would enjoy visiting.”—Detroit Free Press

“A gritty and fascinating glimpse of New York in the late 19th century.”—San Francisco Chronicle

“Blaine is a wonderful tour guide of old New York.”—The Washington Post Book World

New York, 1893. Max Greengrass is an ex-pugilist turned space-rater for the New York Herald—he’s paid by the column inch. With no regular salary, Max must hustle for his stories. After a lucky night at the faro table, he nearly trips over his big scoop: four cats, killed and ritually arranged on a Greenwich Village sidewalk. Catricide! Max sells the story and pursues it, from low dives to posh mansions; from a proper, if eccentric, organization of respectable ladies, who are killing stray cats to “save” them; to a bizarre conspiracy of tenement landlords and insurance interests who are getting rich by exploiting the misery of the poorer elements of society.

At the heart of The Midnight Band of Mercy is a story too strange to be true, except most of it is. Based on actual events—actual crimes—that occurred in New York City in 1893, Michael Blaine’s brilliant historical novel re-creates an age when American belief in scientific progress led to the slaughter of innocents.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Mystery, Historical Mystery, Fiction

370 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 1, 2003

Reviews

[Norma · Rating 4 out of 5]

This novel is takes place in one of my favorite settings: old New York City. Many of the venues mentioned are familiar to me and I can see them in my mind's eye as they are now and compare them to the way the author describes them. I also have the love/ hate relationship with NYC that the protagonist describes so well. He is riding the "EL" in one scene and describes four or five unique culturally, ethically and racially different people around him. He feels elated by this diversity. I have had similar experiences all my life. Somehow in that city you feel part of history happening, the center of great swirling human energy, some for good, some for evil.
Some other positive points of this novel: the first time I have ever read a book with the work 'catricide' in it; the interesting parallels and comparisons with our own time in terms of the financial panic and trouble with the banks.
I recommend this novel.

[Sallee · Rating 3 out of 5]

A book that is dense with descriptive writing saturated with historical facts. The Midnight Band of Mercy which I can't describe as it would be a spoiler is the main thrust of this story. Blaine describes New York of the 1890s with great skill. It reminds me of what my father said about it when he was an immigrant as a child in New York. He said it was the cesspit of the world. The story follows Max Greengrass, a stringer for the New York Herald as he sets out to unravel this mystery. He is what we would call now an investigative reporter. However he faces many more risks than those of today. It took me awhile to get this book read as there was so much to take in. However, it was a worthwhile effort. This is not a book for the squeamish. Life was very hard and this book describes what it was like for the poor.

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ugh, I just couldn't do it with this one. The author uses a lot of 1800s slang that I don't understand, without footnotes to tell me what they're saying. I got tired of googling things. Not for me.

[Judith · Rating 4 out of 5]

What begins as a simple, lurid tale of Catricide soon develops into one of greed, Eugenics, and the slaughter of another group of Innocents.

Max Greengrass, a stringer for the NEW YORK HERALD, is paid by the column-inch..so everything has "story-potential" in his eyes....and his pocketbook. When he stumbles, literally, upon a tableau of dead cats, one drunken evening, he sees only the number of paragraphs to be eked out for a story...unbeknownst to him, however, is the fact that this Story could be the the Big One..to make his career or end his life....

1890s NYC..Tammany hall in its grand corruption...swank lawyers playing both sides of the courtroom. Clergyman Reformers having it both ways with Sin & Salvation, while the city's poorest pay the tab...The Hudson Dusters and their Gangland ilk provide "color".....a sexy radical Settlement House nurse and a dedicated, Bluestocking photographer provide the "love interest' in Max's life....when he's not being throttled by street Arabs..or The Herald's City Editor..

A vibrant cast of characters and a plot "ripped from the headlines" make this a fast-paced, enjoyable read....and you just might learn some History in the process.

**** (4 Stars)

[Diane · Rating 3 out of 5]

From the book cover: "...informed by actual events. It resurrects scandalous facts long since forgotten or conveniently-deliberately-buried about an outrageous crime that spawned ever greater onew which haunt us to this day." Sounds like it should be gipping read --- but for some reason I just couuldn't get connected with the characters. I kept reading because of the different views of life in NYC in the late 1800's. Once again I was shown how the history we are taughht in school doesn't come close to showing what society was really like.

[Carolyn Rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed the setting (NYC, 1893) and the characters, and watching the investigation unfold. The ending, as it concerned Max's personal life, seemed too abrupt. And I could have lived without the occasional brief point of view shifts.

[Rogue Reader · Rating 4 out of 5]

Victorian era New York, a filthy dirty city filled with ugly motivations, corruption and greed disguised as good. Blaine's book has it all and I couldn't put it down. If this is the last book of the year, then, I'm quite happy!

[Shardis · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was written in a turn of of the century style. Original story, believable characters and setting, you have to get used to the style of writing before you can really get into this book.

[Flowerdreaming · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing book. Historical Fiction about an esoteric and unbelievable group of people! So well written.

[V · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good

[Stefanie Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

""