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Hot Time
For fans of The Knick , The Alienist , and The Last Days of Night , an entertaining, atmospheric crime thriller set in the Gilded Age.
New York, August 1896. A “hot wave” has settled on the city with no end in sight, leaving tempers short and the streets littered with dead horses felled by the heat. In this presidential election year, the gulf between rich and poor has political passions flaring, while anti-immigrant sentiment has turned virulent. At Police Headquarters, the gruff, politically ambitious commissioner Theodore Roosevelt has been struggling to reform his notoriously corrupt department. Meanwhile, the yellow press is ready to pounce on the peccadilloes of the Four Hundred, the city’s social elite—the better to sell papers with lurid stories and gossip or perhaps profit from a little blackmail on the side. When the body of Town Topics publisher William d’Alton Mann is found at the foot of the Brooklyn Bridge, any number of his ink-spattered victims may have a motive.
Hot Time is an immensely entertaining, deeply researched, and richly textured historical novel set in a period that reflects our own, with cameos by figures ranging from financier J. P. Morgan to muckraking journalist Jacob Riis. Our guides through New York's torrid, bustling streets are Otto “Rafe” Raphael from the Lower East Side, one of the first Jewish officers in the heavily Irish force, who finds as many enemies within the department as outside it; Minnie Kelly, the department's first female stenographer; Theodore Roosevelt himself; and the plucky orphan Dutch, one of the city's thousands of newsboys, who may have seen too much.
New York, August 1896. A “hot wave” has settled on the city with no end in sight, leaving tempers short and the streets littered with dead horses felled by the heat. In this presidential election year, the gulf between rich and poor has political passions flaring, while anti-immigrant sentiment has turned virulent. At Police Headquarters, the gruff, politically ambitious commissioner Theodore Roosevelt has been struggling to reform his notoriously corrupt department. Meanwhile, the yellow press is ready to pounce on the peccadilloes of the Four Hundred, the city’s social elite—the better to sell papers with lurid stories and gossip or perhaps profit from a little blackmail on the side. When the body of Town Topics publisher William d’Alton Mann is found at the foot of the Brooklyn Bridge, any number of his ink-spattered victims may have a motive.
Hot Time is an immensely entertaining, deeply researched, and richly textured historical novel set in a period that reflects our own, with cameos by figures ranging from financier J. P. Morgan to muckraking journalist Jacob Riis. Our guides through New York's torrid, bustling streets are Otto “Rafe” Raphael from the Lower East Side, one of the first Jewish officers in the heavily Irish force, who finds as many enemies within the department as outside it; Minnie Kelly, the department's first female stenographer; Theodore Roosevelt himself; and the plucky orphan Dutch, one of the city's thousands of newsboys, who may have seen too much.
288 pages, Hardcover
First published April 5, 2022
34 people are currently reading
188 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews
May 11, 2022
3.5 stars. Weaving real historical figures in with his own, W.H. Flint tells of several days of terrible heat in New York City, and of the many people who died of heat prostration because of it, and adds a murder investigation to the misery of these days.
The murdered man was a publisher, but was actually a blackmailer, who made plenty off the wealthy robber barons and other business leaders of the city. Teddy Roosevelt was police commissioner of the time, and knew the blackmailed men. Actual Jewish patrolman Otto "Rafe" Rafael is given a promotion by author Flint as Roosevelt’s assistant. Rafe begins investigating on his own after reading the sketchy details in the coroner's report on the murdered man.
Flint rounds out his cast with a young woman who was the first female secretary in the New York Police department, and a young orphaned newsboy who saw something he shouldn't have, as well as anarchist plots against the wealthy of the city,
Rafe’s portrayal is based on Otto Rafael, the first Jewish police officer in New York City. The force was notoriously corrupt, though the author does not imply the real man was. Character Rafe slogs back and forth across the city in the crippling heat, tracking down people and clues, despite Roosevelt’s express orders to cease, as the questions get a little too close to the privileged rich men of the city.
The mystery was interesting, though the baddie was a little too obvious. I still liked this fictional interpretation of this period, and some of the stresses in the city due to immigration, outrageous wealth, bitter poverty, and corruption.
Rafe was determined and principled, and though the other characters were a little simply characterized. I still found this book enjoyable.
Thank you to Netgalley and to Skyhorse Publishing for this ARC in exchange for my review.
The murdered man was a publisher, but was actually a blackmailer, who made plenty off the wealthy robber barons and other business leaders of the city. Teddy Roosevelt was police commissioner of the time, and knew the blackmailed men. Actual Jewish patrolman Otto "Rafe" Rafael is given a promotion by author Flint as Roosevelt’s assistant. Rafe begins investigating on his own after reading the sketchy details in the coroner's report on the murdered man.
Flint rounds out his cast with a young woman who was the first female secretary in the New York Police department, and a young orphaned newsboy who saw something he shouldn't have, as well as anarchist plots against the wealthy of the city,
Rafe’s portrayal is based on Otto Rafael, the first Jewish police officer in New York City. The force was notoriously corrupt, though the author does not imply the real man was. Character Rafe slogs back and forth across the city in the crippling heat, tracking down people and clues, despite Roosevelt’s express orders to cease, as the questions get a little too close to the privileged rich men of the city.
The mystery was interesting, though the baddie was a little too obvious. I still liked this fictional interpretation of this period, and some of the stresses in the city due to immigration, outrageous wealth, bitter poverty, and corruption.
Rafe was determined and principled, and though the other characters were a little simply characterized. I still found this book enjoyable.
Thank you to Netgalley and to Skyhorse Publishing for this ARC in exchange for my review.
March 10, 2022
It’s August 1896, and New York is experiencing the hottest summer in history. The ‘hot time’ has tempers flaring and people dying at record rates. It’s an election year and the divide between rich and poor has never been wider and anti-immigrant attitudes never more virulent creating fears of radical responses.
Police Commissioner Theodore Roosevelt has been trying to deal with the rampant corruption in the police force while appeasing the 400, the city’s elites. Among his aids in this endeavour is Otto “Raph’ Raphael, the first Jewish officer on the force.
When a wealthy newspaper owner is murdered, Raph sees it as a chance to move up to the rank of detective. However, when he tries to discuss the murder with Roosevelt, the commissioner not only seems uninterested, he warns Raph off. But Raph refuses to back off and soon finds himself entangled in a case involving blackmail, murder, and a possible plot to kill the Democratic candidate for President.
Hot Time by author W.H. Flint is an interesting historical fiction with a compelling plot steeped in the history of the time and showing that ‘law’ and ‘justice’ are not always the same thing.The story moves back and forth between different points of view but the main two are Raph and Dutch, a ten-year-old newsboy, who was in the wrong place at the wrong time and may have seen too much. These different points of view all come together satisfactorily at the end. A high recommendation for fans of historical fiction.
Thanks to Edelweiss + and the publishers for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review
Police Commissioner Theodore Roosevelt has been trying to deal with the rampant corruption in the police force while appeasing the 400, the city’s elites. Among his aids in this endeavour is Otto “Raph’ Raphael, the first Jewish officer on the force.
When a wealthy newspaper owner is murdered, Raph sees it as a chance to move up to the rank of detective. However, when he tries to discuss the murder with Roosevelt, the commissioner not only seems uninterested, he warns Raph off. But Raph refuses to back off and soon finds himself entangled in a case involving blackmail, murder, and a possible plot to kill the Democratic candidate for President.
Hot Time by author W.H. Flint is an interesting historical fiction with a compelling plot steeped in the history of the time and showing that ‘law’ and ‘justice’ are not always the same thing.The story moves back and forth between different points of view but the main two are Raph and Dutch, a ten-year-old newsboy, who was in the wrong place at the wrong time and may have seen too much. These different points of view all come together satisfactorily at the end. A high recommendation for fans of historical fiction.
Thanks to Edelweiss + and the publishers for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review
March 28, 2022
This suspenseful work of historical mystery is hard to put down, a must-read for fans of The Alienist and The Last Days of Night. Written under the pen name W.H. Flint, Hot Time is the first work of fiction for Gerard Helferich, author of An Unlikely Trust: Theodore Roosevelt, J.P. Morgan, and the Improbable Partnership That Remade American Business and four other acclaimed works of non-fiction.
Set in New York City in 1896, an ambitious police commissioner, Theodore Roosevelt, is reforming a police department that doesn’t have much use for his new ways of doing things. With the help of his assistant and a sketchy journalist, Roosevelt works to solve a string of murders while juggling bodies, corruption, and politics, all while keeping the ever-important social elite of the city happy and navigating the challenges of a record-breaking (and historically accurate) “hot wave” that has settled on the city.
The sights, sounds, and smells of the day transport the reader to a place that can only be created by someone with in-depth knowledge of the period. Hot Time is a most entertaining read.
I want to thank Edelweiss+ and Arcade Crimewise/ Simon & Schuster for the DRC in exchange for an independent review.
Set in New York City in 1896, an ambitious police commissioner, Theodore Roosevelt, is reforming a police department that doesn’t have much use for his new ways of doing things. With the help of his assistant and a sketchy journalist, Roosevelt works to solve a string of murders while juggling bodies, corruption, and politics, all while keeping the ever-important social elite of the city happy and navigating the challenges of a record-breaking (and historically accurate) “hot wave” that has settled on the city.
The sights, sounds, and smells of the day transport the reader to a place that can only be created by someone with in-depth knowledge of the period. Hot Time is a most entertaining read.
I want to thank Edelweiss+ and Arcade Crimewise/ Simon & Schuster for the DRC in exchange for an independent review.
March 30, 2022
Disappointing.
Has neither the precision of a crime novel nor the pizzazz of a noir piece to work. Every character is a stock creation with little nuance to them, and what little of that is there in the novel, Flint insists on spelling out just in case the reader happens to be a thickhead. More than anything, though, it's just dull. New York's troubles don't come alive, nor do Rafe's or Dutch's. Bland writing is just a criminal waste of a premise such as "Hot Time"'s.
Has neither the precision of a crime novel nor the pizzazz of a noir piece to work. Every character is a stock creation with little nuance to them, and what little of that is there in the novel, Flint insists on spelling out just in case the reader happens to be a thickhead. More than anything, though, it's just dull. New York's troubles don't come alive, nor do Rafe's or Dutch's. Bland writing is just a criminal waste of a premise such as "Hot Time"'s.
June 11, 2024
A GILDED AGE NOVEL OF BLACKMAIL, MURDER, AND CORRUPT COPS
Revolutionaries have rarely risen to positions of power in the United States, but Teddy Roosevelt was an exception. Everywhere he went, and every job he took, from the US Civil Service Commission to the New York Police Department to the Navy Department and the White House, he shook the walls to the rafters. The pattern was well set by 1895. Then, he assumed the presidency of the New York Police Commission at the age of thirty-four. Within weeks, Roosevelt had instituted radical reforms in the face of the sloth and corruption that had prevailed in the force. He served in the office for less than a year. Tammany Hall resumed control when he left. But the place was never the same. And W. H. Flint’s engaging Gilded Age mystery novel, Hot Time, dramatizes that pivotal time in a tale of blackmail and murder during the heat wave of 1896.
A POLICE COMMISSIONER WITHOUT FRIENDS ON THE FORCE
In Flint’s telling, Roosevelt broke new ground at the NYPD from the moment he named his staff. As his assistant, Otto “Rafe” Raphael, a Jew, a son of the Lower East Side. And as his secretary, Minnie Kelly, the department’s first female stenographer. But Roosevelt’s conduct in office was even more shocking. He instituted physical fitness requirements. Closed down opportunities for graft. And even roamed the streets at night to check on whether officers were really walking their beats. For the old-timers, it was scandalous and deeply threatening. And when a prominent magazine publisher is murdered and Rafe sets out to investigate, he quickly discovers how much it matters that the Commissioner has no friends on the force.
BLACKMAIL AND MURDER AS A PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION DRAWS NEAR
In fact, that murder raises a passel of questions. The publisher, William d’Alton Mann, had run a gossip column in his magazine that he used as a vehicle to blackmail the city’s rich and famous. (History tells us he actually did that, though he was never murdered.) But when he took a step too far and attempted to blackmail J. P. Morgan, the banker summoned Commissioner Roosevelt to demand action. However, when the Commissioner then confronts Mann, the blackmailer threatens him.
Mann promises to publish embarrassing information about Roosevelt’s late brother’s suicide. A $5,000 “investment” in Mann’s magazine will prevent that. It’s the same he’d proposed to Morgan. Which leads Roosevelt and Morgan into what looks all too much like a conspiracy to murder the publisher. They’re fearful that a scandal might turn the tide against the Republicans in the approaching election. And Rafe is terrified his boss may prove to share responsibility for the man’s death.
A COLORFUL TALE OF NEWSBOYS, CORRUPT COPS, AND NEW YORK’S WEALTHY ELITE
Hot Time is a colorful story, peopled by newsboys, corrupt cops, the city’s wealthy elite, and immigrants living in squalor. Some of the city’s most prominent figures, including muckraking reporter Jacob Riis and Republican kingmaker Mark Hanna as well as Morgan and Roosevelt, enliven the novel’s pages. The story is set in the early spring of 1896, as the presidential election draws near. Democratic Congressman William Jennings Bryan is facing off against former governor William McKinley—and Bryan has scheduled a massive rally at Madison Square Garden as Rafe’s investigation approaches its conclusion. All told, Flint paints a convincing picture of New York City at the peak of the Gilded Age, vibrant with the sights and sounds of an island bursting at the seams with a constant infusion of destitute immigrants.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
W. H. Flint is the pen name of popular historian Gerard Helferich. Although Hot Time is his first novel, he has written extensively about Theodore Roosevelt and the relationship between Roosevelt and J.P. Morgan, which is central to the plot in this novel.
Revolutionaries have rarely risen to positions of power in the United States, but Teddy Roosevelt was an exception. Everywhere he went, and every job he took, from the US Civil Service Commission to the New York Police Department to the Navy Department and the White House, he shook the walls to the rafters. The pattern was well set by 1895. Then, he assumed the presidency of the New York Police Commission at the age of thirty-four. Within weeks, Roosevelt had instituted radical reforms in the face of the sloth and corruption that had prevailed in the force. He served in the office for less than a year. Tammany Hall resumed control when he left. But the place was never the same. And W. H. Flint’s engaging Gilded Age mystery novel, Hot Time, dramatizes that pivotal time in a tale of blackmail and murder during the heat wave of 1896.
A POLICE COMMISSIONER WITHOUT FRIENDS ON THE FORCE
In Flint’s telling, Roosevelt broke new ground at the NYPD from the moment he named his staff. As his assistant, Otto “Rafe” Raphael, a Jew, a son of the Lower East Side. And as his secretary, Minnie Kelly, the department’s first female stenographer. But Roosevelt’s conduct in office was even more shocking. He instituted physical fitness requirements. Closed down opportunities for graft. And even roamed the streets at night to check on whether officers were really walking their beats. For the old-timers, it was scandalous and deeply threatening. And when a prominent magazine publisher is murdered and Rafe sets out to investigate, he quickly discovers how much it matters that the Commissioner has no friends on the force.
BLACKMAIL AND MURDER AS A PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION DRAWS NEAR
In fact, that murder raises a passel of questions. The publisher, William d’Alton Mann, had run a gossip column in his magazine that he used as a vehicle to blackmail the city’s rich and famous. (History tells us he actually did that, though he was never murdered.) But when he took a step too far and attempted to blackmail J. P. Morgan, the banker summoned Commissioner Roosevelt to demand action. However, when the Commissioner then confronts Mann, the blackmailer threatens him.
Mann promises to publish embarrassing information about Roosevelt’s late brother’s suicide. A $5,000 “investment” in Mann’s magazine will prevent that. It’s the same he’d proposed to Morgan. Which leads Roosevelt and Morgan into what looks all too much like a conspiracy to murder the publisher. They’re fearful that a scandal might turn the tide against the Republicans in the approaching election. And Rafe is terrified his boss may prove to share responsibility for the man’s death.
A COLORFUL TALE OF NEWSBOYS, CORRUPT COPS, AND NEW YORK’S WEALTHY ELITE
Hot Time is a colorful story, peopled by newsboys, corrupt cops, the city’s wealthy elite, and immigrants living in squalor. Some of the city’s most prominent figures, including muckraking reporter Jacob Riis and Republican kingmaker Mark Hanna as well as Morgan and Roosevelt, enliven the novel’s pages. The story is set in the early spring of 1896, as the presidential election draws near. Democratic Congressman William Jennings Bryan is facing off against former governor William McKinley—and Bryan has scheduled a massive rally at Madison Square Garden as Rafe’s investigation approaches its conclusion. All told, Flint paints a convincing picture of New York City at the peak of the Gilded Age, vibrant with the sights and sounds of an island bursting at the seams with a constant infusion of destitute immigrants.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
W. H. Flint is the pen name of popular historian Gerard Helferich. Although Hot Time is his first novel, he has written extensively about Theodore Roosevelt and the relationship between Roosevelt and J.P. Morgan, which is central to the plot in this novel.
November 1, 2023
While W. H. Flint is best known for his critically acclaimed nonfiction histories, he has hit it out of the park with this his first foray into historical fiction. "Hot Time" chronicles surreptitious events that took place in New York City leading up to the Presidential Election of 1896 between William McKinley and William Jennings Bryan. The story revolves around the unauthorized investigations by a young police officer Otto "Rafe" Raphael into the suspicious death of William d’Alton Mann, the publisher of the high society scandal sheet "Town Topics". Before his death, it had been widely suspected but legally unproven that Mann had been in the side business of blackmailing wealthy and prominent figures in exchange for keeping their affairs out his newspaper. There is reason to believe that he might even have had damning personal information on such notables as banking magnate J.P. Morgan, current police commissioner Theodore Roosevelt, and possibly even the Republican candidate himself, William McKinley. Could one or more of them be somehow responsible for his death? Or is something else entirely really going on? Rafe (one of the first Jewish policeman on a primarily Irish Catholic force and Theodore Roosevelt's personal assistant) along with the help of Minnie Kelly (the department's first female stenographer) and Dutch (a resourceful orphaned newsboy who may have seen too much) race against time to find the killer before a political powder keg is ignited and it is too late...
December 4, 2022
It's Summer 1896 and while the Presidential campaign is in full swing NYC is being flattened by an unbearable heatwave.The violent murder of a newspaper owner and notorious blackmailer puts the city's Police Commissoner (Theodore Rososevelt) in a tight post because of the victim's connections with various big shots in the city (especially Wall Street) who are determined to sweep the crime under the rug.
Asked to drop the inquest, Roosevelt orders his assistant Otto "Rafe" Rafael to stop investigating. But Raphael refuses to let it get out of his sight and decides to launch his own investigation of the murder...
A captivating and highly entertaining whodunit and a very impressive portrait of NYC during its Gilded Age era. Corruption, greed, ambition, antisemitism, anarchy and political shenanigans are some of the ingredients that the reader will find in this adrenaline-fueled novel full of twists and turns, sparkling historical details and blessed with a cast of exquisitely drawn characters.
Historical fiction at its best and a wonderful slice of late 19th century American political and social life that deserves to be enjoyed without any moderation whatsoever!
Many thanks to Arcade/Skyhorse and Netgalley for this terrific ARC
Asked to drop the inquest, Roosevelt orders his assistant Otto "Rafe" Rafael to stop investigating. But Raphael refuses to let it get out of his sight and decides to launch his own investigation of the murder...
A captivating and highly entertaining whodunit and a very impressive portrait of NYC during its Gilded Age era. Corruption, greed, ambition, antisemitism, anarchy and political shenanigans are some of the ingredients that the reader will find in this adrenaline-fueled novel full of twists and turns, sparkling historical details and blessed with a cast of exquisitely drawn characters.
Historical fiction at its best and a wonderful slice of late 19th century American political and social life that deserves to be enjoyed without any moderation whatsoever!
Many thanks to Arcade/Skyhorse and Netgalley for this terrific ARC
April 2, 2022
The murder of newspaper publisher William Mann during the election year of 1896 sets in motion an interesting hunt for his killer by Otto "Rafe" Raphael, the first Jewish detective on the NYPD. Rafe is working as an aide to Commissioner Teddy Roosevelt who seems, at least initially, to be less gripped by the crime than expected. Mann antagonized many over the years and threatened an equal number with revelation of their peccadillos but who killed him? A young orphan knows- or at least he knows more than he should because he saw it. Don't miss the author's notes which identify the real people who make cameos or play roles. Thanks to the publisher for the ARC. This is good, albeit light, historical fiction.
June 20, 2022
Writing a novel that includes actual historical figures is tricky. You get some characters fully limned, but you need to bring them alive in your story so that they seem more than points to hang a plot on. E. L Doctorow did this beautifully in “Ragtime”, but W. H. Flint does not succeed in making Teddy Roosevelt or J. P. Morgan seem any more vibrant than they appear in their Wikipedial bios. Lots of telling us about what is happening in NYC in the 1890’s, not enough showing.
“Hot Time” was well-reviewed in the WSJ, so I picked it up, interested as it takes place during the same time period as the novel I am currently writing, and I hoped to immerse myself in the period. I read the first chapter (which includes TR and JPM), but couldn’t summon the urge to keep going.
“Hot Time” was well-reviewed in the WSJ, so I picked it up, interested as it takes place during the same time period as the novel I am currently writing, and I hoped to immerse myself in the period. I read the first chapter (which includes TR and JPM), but couldn’t summon the urge to keep going.
May 13, 2022
Not awful, but not great. The plot is during the time of Teddy Roosevelt’s time as the police commissioner of New York City. The main character is a Jewish police man who is working as Teddy’s assistant. The plot concerns blackmail, and politics. Characters are fairly well developed and I have no quibble with the history, it just didn’t really grab me.
Read
July 13, 2022So apparently “W.H. Flint” is the pen name for a non-fiction author who has written works on Theodore Roosevelt, J.P. Morgan and the Gilded Age. This book is the best possible combination of exquisitely accurate historical detail and suspenseful, intriguing mystery. I love to feel like I’m learning while I’m being entertained. Highly recommend!
September 7, 2022
This was a short book, and the plot never really grew much. That being said, the situations the characters find themselves in are strung together very well. You are able to ascertain who the murderer is pretty quickly, but you don’t have all the details. By the second half of the book, it was hard to put down.
April 18, 2022
I liked this overall. It didn't have the polish of other similar stories, but it's certainly a respectable entry. I stayed mostly engaged and enjoyed most of the characters.
Thanks very much for the free ARC for review!!
Thanks very much for the free ARC for review!!
May 20, 2022
Generally I love a mystery with historical figures randomly featured, so this book was my particular Thing. But I felt like the characters were a bit thin and that wasn't helped by the narrator changing every chapter.
April 7, 2022
Brilliantly researched, compelling murder mystery set in NYC during the 1896 heat wave. A fascinating blend of fact and fiction!
April 26, 2022
Strong and likeable character make for a very enjoyable mystery set in NY during the time Roosevelt was police commissioner.
Want to read
May 15, 2022Read 28% of the book. Not fabulous. I might come back to it but I've got other books to read first.
June 27, 2022
A good old dime novel with lots of historical accuracy, written by a historian.
A fun, quick read.
A fun, quick read.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 21, 2022
An excellent, fast paced mystery. The author's first foray into fiction is a success and I hope he will write more about these characters.
September 24, 2022
fun historical fiction! fast page turner. hate kid characters on principle but … i lived. learned a lot ab the period and love a good corruption expose
October 16, 2022
I always enjoyed Historical Fiction. I can always relate to it, and imagine it.
August 19, 2024
4.25 stars
Historical mystery with the focus on the history, which is how I like it. Generally speaking, I'm not a fan of the "historical personages solve mysteries" subgenre, but I mean, Theodore Roosevelt WAS the NYC Police Commissioner, plus he's not the main character or the one solving the mystery here. I enjoyed this.
Historical mystery with the focus on the history, which is how I like it. Generally speaking, I'm not a fan of the "historical personages solve mysteries" subgenre, but I mean, Theodore Roosevelt WAS the NYC Police Commissioner, plus he's not the main character or the one solving the mystery here. I enjoyed this.
August 13, 2025
I greatly enjoy this period of history, and the details kept it interesting. The plot, the rush to get it all together at the end, not so much.
November 12, 2022
A suspenseful mystery and fascinating history
Hot Time is a first fictional novel by an author of nonfictional history books about the Golden Age, so it is not surprising that what grabbed me first was the beautifully drawn setting. It portrays New York City in 1896 in all its splendor and squalor, from J. P. Morgan to the homeless paperboys and reminded me, in a very good way, of Dickens. The details are impressively accurate; even the heat wave that so strongly affected all ranks of society in 1896 is a real one. Also real in the era were the prejudice against Jews and other immigrant groups and a turbulent activism that seems eerily evocative of our own times.
The story of Hot Time is, of course, fiction, but there are many actual people and events portrayed in it. As in all the best historical fiction, there is an Author’s Note letting readers know which events and people are real and which are purely fictional. Readers will recognize Teddy Roosevelt, Jacob Riis, J. P. Morgan and many of the other well-known characters, but it was fun to learn that Minnie Kelly really was the first woman stenographer in the NYPD . Times certainly have changed! Even more interesting was that protagonist Rafe was, indeed, one of the first Jewish officers in the NYPD, who got the job just as described in the book. Even the murder victim was a historic person, although he did not meet his end as the book describes.
But enough of the background. How was the story? For quite a while the story took a back seat to the vivid social setting, the history, and the interesting people, but when it took off, the events and the pace captured me completely. I cannot remember the last time I gasped aloud or said, “Oh, no!” at a surprise in a book, but I did both in Hot Time. The climax was done well also, with a delightful cameo role played by NYPD’s first woman stenographer!
There is no indication that this book is the start of a series, although it certainly has material for a good one, but I definitely hope that it will not be the last fiction we see from author W. H. Flint.
I received an advance review copy of this book from Edelweiss and the publisher.
Hot Time is a first fictional novel by an author of nonfictional history books about the Golden Age, so it is not surprising that what grabbed me first was the beautifully drawn setting. It portrays New York City in 1896 in all its splendor and squalor, from J. P. Morgan to the homeless paperboys and reminded me, in a very good way, of Dickens. The details are impressively accurate; even the heat wave that so strongly affected all ranks of society in 1896 is a real one. Also real in the era were the prejudice against Jews and other immigrant groups and a turbulent activism that seems eerily evocative of our own times.
The story of Hot Time is, of course, fiction, but there are many actual people and events portrayed in it. As in all the best historical fiction, there is an Author’s Note letting readers know which events and people are real and which are purely fictional. Readers will recognize Teddy Roosevelt, Jacob Riis, J. P. Morgan and many of the other well-known characters, but it was fun to learn that Minnie Kelly really was the first woman stenographer in the NYPD . Times certainly have changed! Even more interesting was that protagonist Rafe was, indeed, one of the first Jewish officers in the NYPD, who got the job just as described in the book. Even the murder victim was a historic person, although he did not meet his end as the book describes.
But enough of the background. How was the story? For quite a while the story took a back seat to the vivid social setting, the history, and the interesting people, but when it took off, the events and the pace captured me completely. I cannot remember the last time I gasped aloud or said, “Oh, no!” at a surprise in a book, but I did both in Hot Time. The climax was done well also, with a delightful cameo role played by NYPD’s first woman stenographer!
There is no indication that this book is the start of a series, although it certainly has material for a good one, but I definitely hope that it will not be the last fiction we see from author W. H. Flint.
I received an advance review copy of this book from Edelweiss and the publisher.
May 26, 2022
I enjoyed this book and it was the first work of the author, I have read. I think I will be finding more books by this author. The book is very well written, the plot is easily followed, and the main characters are both fascinating and interesting. I definitely recommend this book.
April 25, 2023
well-written
moved quickly
moved quickly
Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews