The Blackest Bird: A Novel of History and Murder

Sweltering New York City, summer of 1841, the beautiful ‘Segar Girl’ Mary Rogers is brutally murdered. Popular amongst the journalistic and publishing elite, the task of finding her killer falls to High Constable Jacob Hays.At the end of a long and distinguished career Old Hays’s investigation will ultimately span a decade, involving gang wars, grave robbing, and clues hidden in the poems of the hopeless romantic and minstrel of the night, Edgar Allan Poe.Superbly researched and compellingly readable, “The Blackest Bird” is both a richly textured and atmospheric portrait of the birth of New York, a city raging with bloodshed and duplicity, and a thrilling murder mystery.

Reviews of The Blackest Bird: A Novel of History and Murder

"Murder mystery, historical novel, portal to another time; The Blackest Bird is a masterpiece." – Anthony Bourdain "New York's answer to the Jack the Ripper murders… a thrilling new whodunit" – Independent On Sunday 'the fast-paced narrative is dense with clues, making the deciphering exhilarating. But this is also an engaging window onto the petty pilfering and brutal bloodshed of a young New York.' – Daily Telegraph 'Joel Rose cooks up a stew of vicious murders, arson, prison breaks, grave robbing, police corruption and internecine warfare between 19th – century New York gangs. With a playful nod to Poe's famous ratiocinative style. The Blackest Bird is a big, cantering tale from the same stable as Matthew Pearl's The Poe Shadow.' – Financial Times"