31 Bond Street

By Ellen Horan

Book Overview

"The skill with which Ellen Horan has braided true crime with thoughtful novelizing is pure pleasure. . . . Caleb Carr meets Scott Turow. What could possibly be better?" -- Beverly Swerling, author of City of God

"An impressive blend of imagination and history as it vividly brings to life one of New York's City's most notorious crimes. -- Ron Rash, New York Times bestselling author of Serena

At once a gripping mystery and a richly detailed excavation of a lost age, 31 Bond Street is a spellbinding tale of murder, sex, greed, and politics in 1857 New York. Author Ellen Horan interweaves fact and fiction--reimagining the sensational nineteenth-century brutal murder that rocked the city a few short years before the Civil War ripped through the fabric of the nation, while transporting readers back to a time that eerily echoes our own.

Though there are no clues to the slaying of wealthy Dr. Harvey Burdell, suspicion quickly falls on Emma Cunningham, the refined, pale-skinned widow who managed his house and servants. An ambitious district attorney seeks a swift conviction, but defense attorney Henry Clinton is a formidable obstacle--a man firmly committed to justice and the law, and to the cause of a frightened, vulnerable woman desperately trying to save herself from the gallows.

Fans of Caleb Carr's The Alienist, Edith Wharton's The House of Myrth, and John Berendt's Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil will love the stunning prose and beautiful imagery of this riveting novel.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0061773972
• ISBN13: 9780061773976
• Release Date: March 2011
• Publisher: Harper Perennial
• Length: 384 Pages
• Weight: 1.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.4" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

A powerful story.

This book is by far one of the best ones I have read. The history is fascinating to me, and every character has an important part in this wonderful story. She describes the clothing as if it was in a movie. ( I love that era of clothing.) I thought the legal aspects were as interesting as everything else. I hope someone reads this and turns it into a movie. People will love it. I'm ready to read another of her books. An excellent book.