Wilde about this original New York cop!

The Gods of Gotham by Lyndsay Faye
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Excellent gothic historical detective noir. Love this genre, and I think this will be the next big book in it. Faye did a wonderful job of research, setting and character, and her " flash" language is incredible, but made easy for the reader. Also, the audible version was just outstanding, so I have a new fab author and narrator to add to my list. I even enjoyed the video on the author's website and information on her background that shows you why this book feels so period right.
Even the names evoke the characters, in a Dicksonesque way. You know what you are going to get when in New York during the Irish potato famine, you have a small disfigured detective named Timothy Wilde whose brother is named Valentine Wilde, Mercy Underhill is the girl of Timothy's dreams, and Bird Daly is the little girl who has run from the scene of the crime. (And that's just the short list of perfect names). With all of that detail taken care of, the reader can just sit back and enjoy.
Here is an example of what makes Wilde so likeable, even before he starts figuring out how to solve a murder:
"Escorting Mercy down a block, depending on her mood, you might not be there for all the attention she pays you. And I'm not exactly Sunday, so to speak. I've never been a special occasion. I'm all the other days in a work week, and there are plenty of us streaming by without notice. But I could fix that, or I thought I could."
Faye also did a great job of giving the sense of the racial and prejudicial turmoil of the times without being trite or judgmental, and in outlining the true grit of the first police force in New York. If any of this appeals to you, go get your copy today!
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