“It was a ‘business of poisoning’

The boldness and utter callousness [of] ... their criminal activities seems to have been equalled only by the stupidity of ... their victims.”

– John “Jack” MacCormac,
New York Times, March 1930

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The Angel Makers is a true-crime story like no other: a 1920s village midwife, who may have been the century’s most prolific killer, led a murder ring of women responsible for the deaths of at least 160 men.

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 …”

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Patti McCracken is an award-winning journalist whose work has been featured in Smithsonian, Wall Street Journal, Columbia Journalism Review, San Francisco ChronicleBaltimore Sun, Christian Science Monitor, Chicago Tribune, Guardian, and numerous other publications. She was formerly on staff at the foreign/national desk of the Chicago Tribune and was twice a Knight International Press Fellow.

 After nearly two decades in Europe, McCracken now resides on Martha’s Vineyard.

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McCracken runs writing workshops and coaches professional writers - and those who want to become one.

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BEHIND THE SCENES...

THE WONDER OF TISZA BLOOMS

These long-tailed mayflies are mostly extinct but still found along the Tisza. Their yearly mating is dramatic and always draws a crowd, and did back in Prosecutor Kronberg's day, as well.

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HOT SHOT HUNGARIANS!

Zsa Zsa Gabor! Drew Barrymore (sure)! And there're more!

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AN ANGEL MAKERS PLAYLIST?

One might go something like this ... 

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