The boldness and utter callousness [of] ... their criminal activities seems to have been equalled only by the stupidity of ... their victims.”
The midwife—known to all as Auntie Suzy—was a “smiling buddha” with a waddling gait, who kept a secret vial stashed in her apron pocket. She bustled through the village, poking her nose into her neighborwomen’s troubled lives, whispered “Why are you bothering with him? I have a way …”
"One hell of a story" - The Spectator
"Particularly evocative" - The Economist
"Compulsively readable" - PW, starred review
"Dramatic and compassionate ... simply excellent" - Booklist, Top 10 Best True Crime Books of the Year
"Patti McCracken brings to life this long-forgotten tale in a grimly gripping narrative" - Financial Times, Best Summer Reads
"Criminally good" - Spotify
"The Angel Makers may be foremost the story of one of the most successful poison conspiracies in our history. ... it's both an addictively readable book and a wonderfully insightful one." - Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Poisoner's Handbook, Deborah Blum
"The only thing more astonishing than Auntie Suzy's murder ring is author McCracken's skill in pairing a reporter's magpie eye for detail with truly first class storytelling. The result is ... a truly entertaining single-sitting read." - Vannessa Cronin, Amazon Editor
SATCHMO IN SZOLNOK?
My assistant, Attila, was wonderful about digging up details, including the rumor that Louis Armstrong performed at the Hotel Tisza in Szolnok in 1933.
Read MoreTHE ANGEL MAKERS VS. ARSENIC AND OLD LACE
Midwife Auntie Suzy was not the only busy bee. She had the devil’s version of a spiritual partner far across the sea.
Read MoreARTHUR STROHSCHNEIDER
ABOVE IT ALL
“Dandy would trot off, tail wagging, toward the merchants who had set up at the weekly market on the square. He would dodge under the baskets and bags of shoppers, scoot past the tub makers and the children jockeying for bottles of homemade lemonade. He’d pass under the Austrian tightrope walker, who had fastened his highwire ...
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