The angel makers : arsenic, a midwife, and modern history's most astonishing murder ring Cover Image

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The angel makers : arsenic, a midwife, and modern history's most astonishing murder ring / Patti McCracken.

Summary:

In a rural hamlet in Hungary, a midwife known to all as Auntie Suzy dispensed homemade elixirs to the village residents. She has salves for the aching backs of farmers and tinctures for upset stomachs. Nightshades as painkillers and healing poultices for good folks who mostly lacked a proper doctor. And for the women of the village, there were whispers she had a secret solution so powerful that it could solve any problem, from unwanted pregnancies to abusive husbands. "Why are you bothering with him?" the midwife would ask... In the beginning, the women used Auntie Suzy's arsenic furtively enough. After all, babies are often stillborn and drunkard husbands sometimes get sick and die. But as the number of bodies grew without arousing much suspicion, the killers grew bolder. With each vial of poison emptied, a new reason surfaced to drain yet another. For more than fifteen years, the unlikely murderers aided death unfettered, tending to it as if it were simply another chore--spooning doses of arsenic into soup and wine, stirring them into coffee and brandy. By the time their crimes were discovered, the body count was feared to be in the hundreds. -- Provided by publisher.

Record details

ISBN: 9780063275034
ISBN: 0063275031
Physical Description: viii, 316 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm
Edition: First edition.
Publisher: New York : William Morrow, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, [2023]
Copyright: ©2023

Content descriptions

Bibliography, etc. Note:

Includes bibliographical references.

Formatted Contents Note:

Pt. 1. The murders 1916-1925 -- Two graves and a girl to marry -- Homecoming -- A deadly flu, a fallen kingdom, a foiled plan -- "Sing, my dear boy!" -- A doctor's suspicions -- By any means, and magic -- Judge's loss -- A hasty christening -- Eight crying orphans -- Forging ahead -- pt. 2. The investigation 1929 -- Mr. Ebner's secret -- Yours anonymously (again) -- May Day festival -- "The Gendermes are here!" -- A case for Kronberg -- "Nagyrev is the hornet's nest" -- Cucumber season, no more -- An air of guilt -- Up in the loft -- The great honeypot -- Vigil -- Goose girls and open graves -- Old man Cser -- An unburdening -- A rescue, and resolve -- A poulace seethes, a prosecutor schemes -- Undercover, under bed -- One mad dash -- "Forgive the sins of those who obeyed Satan" -- Coda: Top hats and gowns, and to the gallows she goes -- The aftermath -- Postscript.