THOMAS STREET HORROR

Rating:
Summary: Based on the True Crime, The Murder of Helen Jewett
Review: Raymond Paul, as far as I know, wrote three books. I have read two: The Tragedy at Tiverton and The Thomas Street Horror. Both are based on true crimes which took place in New York in the early/mid 19th century and both, unfortunately, are out of print though you should be able to find them in most libraries.

I recently reread The Thomas Street Horror because I had finally finished a book about the crime that this novel was based on: The Murder of Helen Jewett by Patricia Cohen. Helen Jewett (AKA Dorcas Doyen and many other pseudonyms) was a young popular prostitute working in New York City. Early on the morning of April 10, 1836 she was discovered murdered in her smouldering bed. Suspicion fell on one of her clients, a young clerk, who was eventually tried for the murder. Cohen's book deals not just with the crime and trial but also the attitudes toward prostitution, tabloid journalism (the murder became a nationwide sensation) and the criminal justice system. While the book is very interesting, it is also hard going at times because the author would pause the narrative to delve into the fine points of various aspects of life during the period-- for instance I learned a lot more about the state of Maine than I would normally be interested in. I actually put it down for several months before I finished it.

The Thomas Street Horror is a much livelier, if fictionalized, account of the murder. The veiwpoint character is a young reporter who has just arrived in New York City in November 1835 with a letter of introduction to the proprieter of the journal, the Sun, Benjamin Day. New York journalism at the time was not concerned as much with reporting the news as garnering readers by any method available including elaborate hoaxes and pandering to mob mentality. And the competition between the papers becomes red hot, as they choose up sides as to whether or not Helen Jewett was a wronged woman driven into her way of life or a degraded harpy who preyed on her young clients and was the young clerk accused of her murder guilty or not? David Cordor (the journalist) is caught up in the center of events, both reporting on and participating in what was happening. The fictional investigation into the events surrounding the murder is lead by Lon Quincannon, Paul's Irish attorney-detective who first made his appearance in The Tragedy at Tiverton. Quincannon finds himself not just defending his client against the state, whose minions have no qualms about manufacturing evidence to support their case, but also against public opinion.

If you enjoy 19th century mayhem then I would definitely urge you to try this book.

Rating:
Summary: Based on the True Crime, The Murder of Helen Jewett
Review: Raymond Paul, as far as I know, wrote three books. I have read two: The Tragedy at Tiverton and The Thomas Street Horror. Both are based on true crimes which took place in New York in the early/mid 19th century and both, unfortunately, are out of print though you should be able to find them in most libraries.

I recently reread The Thomas Street Horror because I had finally finished a book about the crime that this novel was based on: The Murder of Helen Jewett by Patricia Cohen. Helen Jewett (AKA Dorcas Doyen and many other pseudonyms) was a young popular prostitute working in New York City. Early on the morning of April 10, 1836 she was discovered murdered in her smouldering bed. Suspicion fell on one of her clients, a young clerk, who was eventually tried for the murder. Cohen's book deals not just with the crime and trial but also the attitudes toward prostitution, tabloid journalism (the murder became a nationwide sensation) and the criminal justice system. While the book is very interesting, it is also hard going at times because the author would pause the narrative to delve into the fine points of various aspects of life during the period-- for instance I learned a lot more about the state of Maine than I would normally be interested in. I actually put it down for several months before I finished it.

The Thomas Street Horror is a much livelier, if fictionalized, account of the murder. The veiwpoint character is a young reporter who has just arrived in New York City in November 1835 with a letter of introduction to the proprieter of the journal, the Sun, Benjamin Day. New York journalism at the time was not concerned as much with reporting the news as garnering readers by any method available including elaborate hoaxes and pandering to mob mentality. And the competition between the papers becomes red hot, as they choose up sides as to whether or not Helen Jewett was a wronged woman driven into her way of life or a degraded harpy who preyed on her young clients and was the young clerk accused of her murder guilty or not? David Cordor (the journalist) is caught up in the center of events, both reporting on and participating in what was happening. The fictional investigation into the events surrounding the murder is lead by Lon Quincannon, Paul's Irish attorney-detective who first made his appearance in The Tragedy at Tiverton. Quincannon finds himself not just defending his client against the state, whose minions have no qualms about manufacturing evidence to support their case, but also against public opinion.

If you enjoy 19th century mayhem then I would definitely urge you to try this book.