Alice and the Assassin

February 20, 2017
In this uneven series launch from Koreto (Death on the Sapphire), the assassination of William McKinley has elevated Theodore Roosevelt to the presidency and given his 17-year-old daughter, Alice, Secret Service protection provided by 30-year-old Joseph St. Clair, a former Rough Rider. In the winter of 1902, St. Clair allows the headstrong girl—still living in New York City under the nominal control of her aunt—to indulge her curiosity by visiting notorious anarchist Emma Goldman. Though the government’s investigation says otherwise, Goldman insists that Leon Czolgosz, recently executed as McKinley’s assassin, could not have acted without outside guidance. Afraid that the same shadowy adversaries might threaten the new president as well, Alice and St. Clair scour Manhattan from teeming Chinatown to the elite University Club in search of the truth. The plot can feel strained, and Koreto’s Alice is more often rude and entitled than enjoyably feisty. But the premise and the depictions of the turn-of-the-century Manhattan melting pot shine, heralding a promising series. Agent: Cynthia Zigmund, Second City Publishing Services.

March 1, 2017
Determined young Alice Roosevelt investigates the killing of her father Theodore's predecessor, William McKinley.Incoming U.S. President Teddy Roosevelt assigns wry Secret Service Agent Joseph St. Clair, a former Rough Rider, the task of protecting first daughter Alice. The two strike immediate humorous sparks: she scolds him for calling her "Princess" and gives him pause by rolling her own handmade cigarette. St. Clair, who narrates in a brash first-person, gives as well as he gets from the outspoken Alice. She's anxious to take in the snakes at the zoo and talk to the fiery revolutionary Emma Goldman, who she believes has information about Leon Czolgosz, the man who elevated Vice President Roosevelt to the White House by killing President William McKinley. Although she acknowledges that she's an anarchist like Czolgosz, Goldman assures Alice that she had no knowledge of his plans, but shares what she's heard about the assassination. The curiosity of the first daughter is piqued, and she undertakes her own idiosyncratic probe. With St. Clair running interference, she questions hard-drinking police captain Michael O'Hara, Chinese crime boss Mr. Zhao, and Mafioso Don Abruzzo. St. Clair is skeptical of the value of the possibly random information Alice gathers, but she fervently believes she's getting closer to the shadowy figure known as the Archangel, who may be at the center of a conspiracy that felled McKinley. The first daughter's lively personality, her chemistry with her Secret Service agent, and Koreto's (Death Among Rubies, 2016, etc.) detailed knowledge of turn-of-the century New York City make for an entertaining series debut.

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