The Fatal Flame

Starred review from March 30, 2015
A serial arsonist terrorizes New York City in Edgar-finalist Faye’s superior third historical featuring Timothy Wilde (after 2013’s Seven for a Secret). In the spring of 1848, Robert Symmes, a Tammany Hall politician, meets with Wilde, one of the city’s police officers known as copper stars, and Wilde’s police-captain brother, Valentine, at the Queen Mab, a Manhattan brothel. Symmes needs their help. An advocate for more humane treatment of the city’s female workers has thrown a note through the alderman’s window threatening that things will burn if conditions don’t improve. One of the slum buildings that Symmes owns is soon gutted by fire. Wilde’s investigation is complicated by the reappearance of a lost love and Valentine’s decision to oppose Symmes in an upcoming election. As in her previous books, Faye’s diligence in researching the period is manifest, and readers will feel transported back to mid-19th-century Manhattan. The whodunit aspect is compelling, but Faye is equally adept in incorporating the women’s rights movement of the time and attitudes toward the mentally ill into the story line. Agent: Erin Malone, William Morris Endeavor.

In New York City in 1848, the police--known as "copper stars"-- Tammany Hall politicians, and crime bosses rule the city with iron fists and greased palms. In the third installment of The Gods of Gotham series, Irish brogues, hard German consonants, contemporary slang called "flash," and English are just some of the accents that narrator Kirby Heyborne uses as he performs this gritty piece of historical fiction. Heyborne reads the narrative steadily in cultured tones as he recounts Timothy Wilde's convoluted investigation of arson fires. When Wilde's brother becomes embroiled in local politics, both their lives are endangered, and the tension escalates. Extensive description, old-fashioned diction, and a compelling backstory are interspersed with violence and politics, all of which Heyborne capably delivers. M.B.K. © AudioFile 2015, Portland, Maine