Paradise Square

An Authors Guild Backinprint.com EditionThis title won the Grand Prize Fiction, which is one of the largest monetary awards for literature, at the prestigious Frankfurt International eBook Awards in October of 2000. Now it is available for the first time in paperback! Edgar Allan Poe is called upon for assistance in solving the shocking murder of a young hot corn girl in the Five Points section of Manhattan. A former classmate of Poe's at West Point, Peter Van Brunt, is accused of the crime, and Poe, always the gentleman, is honor-bound to help clear the young man who had years before helped to save him from complete disgrace upon leaving the Academy. Young Detective Sergeant Jonathan Goode is assigned to the case and though he finds the poet's insights into solving the matter invaluable, his patience with poetic genius is occasionally severely tested. Sergeant Goode and Poe follow all leads from the murder scene, through the thug-infested streets, taverns, and tenements of the Five Points to the more genteel environs of Washington Square. The victim's employer, Dr. Eleanor Whitney, administrator of the Association for Improving the Condition of the Poor, lends aid in discovering the truth of the crime while becoming friends with the poet and more than friends with Sergeant Goode. Their adventures lead them into the struggle between the corrupt political regime, whose Boss is also the leader of one of the largest outlaw gangs in New York, the Plug Uglies, and the reform party. Things get so hot in the city for Poe and Sergeant Goode, that they decide to seek refuge at Poe's cottage at Fordham. Dr. Whitney goes along with the two in order to keep an eye on Poe, who has developed a high fever. During their stay of several days at Fordham, Sergeant Goode and Dr. Whitney fall in love, Poe recovers, and all are menaced by a strange lone rider with a rifle. Their return to the city brings the story to a thrilling climax, when Poe, Goode, and a squad of Municipal police, called leatherheads for their protective headgear, attempt to arrest Boss Meade. A riot ensues between the Plug Uglies and various factions of the police, and the United States Cavalry is called in to restore order. But Meade escapes into the Old Brewery with Goode and Poe in hot pursuit, only to be assassinated by the true killer. The killer is at last cornered in the Phoenix Theatre. What happens next is a bit of Poesque legerdemain.