050. The Gods Of Gotham (2012).

The Gods Of Gotham by Lyndsay Faye (2012).

New York 1845.

Famine creates huge refugees from Europe, and New York is turning into a massive slum. 

The hugely charismatic politician George Washington Matsell creates the first police force out of desperation to take charge of chaos on the streets.

And the first major case faces the newly formed ragtag police force is a mass murder involving 19 children all cut into pieces.

This is an incredibly well written historic mystery with lots of interesting characters and couple of great twists at the end.

P

layers. – Timothy Wilde. After the great Manhattan fire destroys everything he has, he reluctantly joins the first ever police force in New York (Copper Star, they are called).

Before he receives a badge for a police star, he spends years bartending the famous oyster bar, Nick’s oyster cellar where he sharpens his skill of people watching. He can memorizes names and their occupations, and by watching their clothes/behaviors, he can deduce things like what they like and what kind of days they go through which off course affects his tips tremendously.  He can also talk to anyone on street casually regardless of age/gender/race, and people always find him a real smooth listener, too. The requirement of excellent bartending.

Later on, after he becomes a police star, there skills come in handy for every aspect of police work and also, save his life few times. He is a born-police.

Because the new police force is basically a group of thugs on the street who just happen to know Tim’s brother, Val who for a long time runs streets with money and fist, all they can do is patrolling the street and break up fights and catch pick-pockets. So when they are confronted with a possible serial killer, they haven’t got a clue of what to do about it. And it doesn’t take long for a police boss Washington to realize that their only chance is Val’s little brother Tim who happens to be the only man with sophisticated brain and the mindset of detective. in his new police force. So Washington personally appoints (secretly) Tim as a only detective in force and it becomes Tim’s job to go out and catch the killer. 

After he solves the mystery, he got a new fancy title and a secret raise (instead of $10 a week, $14, for now).

He is a small but compact man who never loses fights against all the big men on the street thank to his bully brother. Years of fighting against Val makes Tim a really tough street fighter.  

He is fair and moral and has a common sense which is quite rare in his part of town. After massive fire, he has a huge scale on the right side of his face which he covers with a fabric so not to scare anybody away.

Valentine Wilde.   Tim’s brother. He is basically who you need if you want to run a political party in 19^th century New York: a big bad bully who do everything possible, mostly illegal, to get votes. 

In 19^th century New York, apparently, being Democrats is considered like being Republics in 21th century: dumb and violent. 

Because Valentine has been so successfully bribing and threatening as much voters as possible to get Democrats elected every elections, when NY forms the first police force, he is awarded as a captain for Ward Six.

He is a big bad brute with incredibly smart mind. He is a fixer of all sort, political or personal, if the price is right. He is a womaniser with huge fondness of morphine and marihuana and whisky and rum and so on.

He is also one of fire chiefs of NY and quite rich too.

Since Tim is his only surviving family, He cares about Tim a lot but has really crazy way of showing his affections. But without him, Tim probably is dead long ago.

When fire destroys everything, it is him that recommend Tim to Washington for a copper star.

Mrs. Boehm. A widow who owns a small building and the bakery on it. She is also a landlady for Tim who rents an upstairs room for a really good price because he is a police star (protection and all).

She is basically a little tough version of Mrs. Hudson whom every capable detective needs to maintain their daily chores. 

George Washington Matsell (chief Matsell). Amazingly charismatic organizer who later becomes the first police chief of the newly organized New York City Police Department. 

With advice from Val, he hires Tim as one of a copper star which turns out to be the best move he ever made as a chief.

A mountain of a man who naturally demands respect and knows how to push people around to get the job done.

Bird Daly. A child prostitute, which is illegal but quite common during this period, who runs away from Madam Marsh’s brothel, Silkie Marsh with blood all over her clothes and is rescued by Tim. 

She triggers all the events that cause chaos in 1845.

Madam Marsh. A blond bombshell who runs brothel called Silkie Marsh. She was a child prostitute herself too. Then with smart and determination, moves up the leather and now own her own business.

Literary, she has seen and done every possible things that the underground of NY possesses and becomes quite rich and powerful. 

She is one of top donor for Democratic Party and that make it harder to question her even if she is heavily involved in this investigation.

Marcy Underhill. Tim’s dream girl. She is a daughter of the reverend Thomas Underhill who saves Tim and Val from streets when they are still young teenagers and a wannabe writer.

She does lots of volunteer-work on street for poor kids and families.

Dr. Peter Palsgrave. The only doctor in entire NY who specializes in children’s health. Naturally, he is the first doctor to call upon to exam dead children and from there, he gets involved till the end.

Ninepin, Dead-Eye, Matchbox, Fang, etc. Gang of children who sell newspaper on streets. They are as young as 8 years old and most of them can’t even read. But they are smarter and much richer than most adults and tough as nails. You just never mess up with them. 

Through Marcy, Tim becomes friends with them and with their huge network, they becomes ultimate source of information for Tim.

Kind of like Baker Street Irregulars for Sherlock Holmes.

P

lace. –New York 1845. Bright, new city with ever growing population. And like all new cities, with shining civilization and raising sun, comes a shadow so dark and deep, anything is possible and available if you look for them.

The author, off course, never pays any attention to prosperity of New York. Her emphasis (therefore, research) is solely on the darkside of NY.

So naturally, NY city portrayed here is streets after streets of slums, poor immigrants, criminals, prostitutes, cheap muscles, street child gangs, drug dens, corrupt coppers and crazy politicians. Amazing collections of fantastic low-life characters.

P

lot. – It starts with a kid prostitute Bird covered with blood running away from her brothel. Tim who becomes a cooper star only few weeks ago is contemplating to quite the force when Bird literary runs into his arm. From there, the first ever serial killer investigation in NY takes off like mad tornado swiping off every corner of the city into total chaos in the end.

Because it is mandatory for a historic mystery writer to show off their research, like all other great period novel, this book takes little while to take off.

The storyline of this book is between the great fire and the great riot. However, only the latter has the connection to the case.

The author applies old English to all dialogues/monologues which is a little hard to understand at the begining, but turn out to be a great move. Because, once you get to use to it, it makes everything more authentic and convincing. What is really harder for me to go thought, however, is the New York Slang called FLASH.

FLASh is the combination of vocabularies which, off course, doesn’t make any senses grammar-wise but somehow creates cool sentences of which I can kind of guess the meaning but am not 100% sure about it.

Almost all the persons on streets uses this slang especially kids and hard labor workers.

As for the story, it goes like this.

1.    After a huge fire destroys everything he has, Tim has no choice but takes his brothers’ offer and join the police force.

2.    Tim who after a really tough case (mentally) is determine to resign the force. Then he meets Bird.

3.    With Bird’s help, he discover the burial ground for dead children. There, they dig out remain of 19 children all cut into small pieces with a big cross cut in their chests. Is this a work of a serial killer? Or religious maniac? Mad Irishman?

4.    While digging the ground, police chief Washington who identifies the talent behind Tim’s mind almost immediately puts him in charge of the investigation.

5.    With the help from various sources, Val, street kids, Dr. Palsgrave, Mr. Priest (one of his colleague he can actually trust) and even Miss. Underhill, Tim untangles all the mysteries and becomes a much better and confident copper star at the end.

6.    On the course of the investigation, there are several attempts to end Tim’s life and if you read it thought to the end, you will find a few great twists before everything settles down.

V

erdict. –A really good mystery. I mean, it’s not easy not to like a mystery based on 19^th century New York, isn’t it? Especially it is filled with all the exciting characters. Tim’s big brother Val is easily the best character in this book. He represents everything wrong with this society: narcotics, alcohol, bribery, violence, whoring, gambling, theft, cheating, extortion, etc. Yet, probably the only one who truly enjoys his life.  

The background information is also really well researched. The problem that they are dealing with at 1845, specially religious tension between Catholic and Protestant, is grim and hopeless but is fantastic for the story.

Lyndsay Faye spends lots or pages to set up great background and truly interesting characters, so I’ll be really surprised if the sequel is not on the work already. 

This, I think, is the beginning of a great series.