Customer Reviews

The Alchemy of Murder

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

In 1885 Nellie Bly began her reporting career at the Pittsburgh Dispatch after reading an inane article about a woman being at fault for a man assaulting her. Two years later, she travels to New York where she seeks a journalist position at the New York World, but the Gotham newspaper Gods rejected her. She sells the idea of going undercover as a woman committed to the notorious Blackwell's Island Asylum for ten days; Mr. Pulitzer and his managing editor Mr. Cockerill are stunned but accept.

However, once inside as a mad woman, she realizes that Dr. Blum was murdering New York prostitutes. Pulitzer showed no interest, but Nellie was hired for other undercover exposés. She soon learns of a serial killer in Whitechapel London using the name Jack. She went there after Ripper, but failed to catch him. She soon follows the homicide trail to Paris where the World's Fair introduces the Eiffel Tower while a plague kills many residents, but the killer remains loose. She meets Jules Verne, Oscar Wilde and Louis Pasteur while stalking a psychopath.

This is a superb historical mystery told in the first person by the intrepid heroine. Her obsessive hunt for the prostitute killer spans two continents and several years as the audience obtains a feel for time and place. The two literary greats seem a bit forced into the plot although both assist the intrepid reporter and enhance the era; on the other hand Pasteur is a great inclusion especially his tour of the Paris sewers. Filled with drawings to better describe some of the happenings, readers will enjoy the escapades of four famous people trying to solve the serial murder crimes of the late nineteenth century.

Harriet Klausner

I must not have read the same book as the other reviewers on Amazon because this book was a complete mess. The writing style is awkward and switches around between first and third person perspectives, with little notes from "the editors" on many of the pages. I "get" it, and I know what the author is trying to achieve but for me it just didn't feel very polished. Story is pretty predictable and the inclusion of historical figures felt more like a gimmick than anything. Overall, unless you're a mystery buff, pass on this.

Wanted to like this more because I love historical mysteries. But both protagonist and antagonist were portrayed in exaggerated ways - SO evil and the ONLY person who knows the truth. Just could not like Nellie Bly as portrayed here. She was so stupid and willful at times and just like in some horror movies you want to say "don't do that", but she does. The historical characters seemed gimmicky except perhaps Jules Verne. The evil antagonist was SO evil he is nearly the anitchrist, having assasinated the Russian czar, was Jack the Ripper, etc. Book was too long considering Nellie's personality and the excessive exaggerated evil of her opponent.

I absolutely loved this book and would recommend it to all. I don't generally read for pleasure, but with this book I could not put it down. In fact I read it in 2 days! From the very first chapter, I was just hooked. It was exciting, adventurous and interesting...I couldn't tell which parts were history and which were fiction. As an independent woman I could really relate to Nellie.

I truly wanted to love this book. I did actually finish this book, and the climactic scene was terrific. However, because of the many, many, many times I wanted to throw the book across the room, I even vacillated about giving it one-star. But since I didn't truly hate all of it I decided I had to forgo that idea.

The biggest problem early on was that the book starts out great--for TWO chapters. Then Chapters Three through Eight are all back story--yes, SIX Complete Chapters Of Back Story--that gives us a mini-bio of Nellie Bly. Made the story slam to a sudden halt while readers get hand fed all of this info that a more skilled writer would have parsed out in narrative. Yes, part of it does explain why Nellie is in Paris, and explains her motivation--But It's Still Told As Back Story. And speaking of the author's lack of expertise, the Nellie sections are written in First Person Point of View and Present Tense, and where the author couldn't figure out how to tell the story otherwise was written in Third Person Point of View and Past Tense--and those other POV persons were many and varied. Didn't work for me. I wouldn't have picked this book up if I hadn't already known Nellie's story, and anyone who doesn't likely wouldn't want have to stop and read the mini-bio. And the switching back and forth from POVs and tenses was annoying as well. While I realize the author wanted to give us a taste of Nellie's sass and spunk with her partial POV, this book should have been written entirely in third person past tense. And, while I don't want to offer any spoilers, I was incensed at a scene between Nellie Bly and the married Jules Verne. Obviously, I am unlikely to pick up the next volume in this series, despite my final decision to give 3-stars instead of 2.

Carol McCleary's first installment of her new Nellie Bly mystery series comes out of the starting gate full gallop with a tour-de-force debut that will keep you up all night for one hell of a one-sitting read. Finely tuned polished writing and loveable characters will have historical mystery fans panting for more from this astoundingly accomplished new author.

Opening scenes of The Alchemy of Murder introduce the famous American female newspaper reporter Nellie Bly landing her first journalist job at New York's "World" office, hired by none other than Joseph Pulitzer. Seeing Nellie had an eye for a good story, talent for writing, and incredible guts to go undercover to get the nitty gritty and truth behind the scenes, he takes a gamble and wins, finding Nellie Bly to be a worthwhile asset to his newspaper.

Installing herself in an insane asylum, Nellie works in disguise to uncover the truth regarding the inhumane treatment women patients are receiving. While mingling with other ladies, pretending herself to be crazy, she befriends another women who bargains with Nellie to work together on escaping the horrors around them. While one night finding her friend missing, Nellie haunts the asylum searching for her and witnesses a frightening doctor doing experiments on the patients. Shocked, she realizes this mad physician has just murdered her friend. Determined to get the scoop, she is let out and there begins her first manhunt for a monster on the loose. Nellie then follows leads and other crime reports across the Atlantic to London, back home to New York, ending with a final journey to Victorian Paris where many sightings have been reported of a "slasher" mutilating and murdering women. He is called the Alchemist and is in hiding somewhere in the bowels and back alley slums of the rougher side of Paris.

Arriving in Paris a stranger and neophyte to the city, she makes friends fast and instigates connections with the city's renowned celebrities. With fortitude, charm, and wit, Nellie enables her difficult investigation to be aided by a host of unique and intriguing characters such as the flamboyant Oscar Wilde, the father of science fiction Jules Verne, pioneer scientist Louis Pasteur, and the zany eccentric painter Toulouse Lautrec. The gang's all here and what a wild ride and puzzling mystery this becomes. A host of delightful characters, murder, espionage, sarcasm and wit, action, history and a humorous romance, all create a well-rounded Victorian thriller you just can't beat!

I absolutely loved this debut novel and give it high praise. All ingredients are well plotted out and executed fabulously. Historical mystery addicts are going to eat this up and count the days until the second book arrives early next year where it seems Nellie will travel to Egypt. Well done Carol McCleary, hats off to a stunning new book!

Mystery; Historical

I picked this up at the library because something about the cover made it seem like the kind of book I like. I was right as I enjoyed this largely light-hearted romp through 1889 World Exposition Paris. The main character is Nellie Bly, intrepid newspaperwoman who is tracking down a crazed mass murderer.

The story is presented as if it is her own memoirs, recovered by editors and edited for spelling. Thus most of the book is in first-person. However sometimes the action shifts to follow other characters and I'm not sure how that is supposed to be explained if the central conceit is that Nellie wrote these notes. Is Nellie supposed to have recovered them on her own or are the Editors filling in sections for the reader?

Continuing on, Nellie meets many famous figures, most notably Jules Verne, Louis Pasteur, and Oscar Wilde who all play very important roles in the mystery. Verne and Wilde serve as aides for her investigation while Pasteur figures in with information about microbial killers. It seems as if someone is killing the poor of Paris with mysterious microbes that have kept the police baffled. I really liked seeing the famous figures and I hope, although I haven't researched this, that they would have been in Paris during this time.

Besides microbes, there is also someone killing prostitutes, a la Jack the Ripper and various anarchy plots. The latter is something I ought to have known but had never much considered. Therefore the discussions of all of those were most interesting to me. The role of women is also analyzed with Nellie determined to prove that women are not the weaker sex, no matter what gibes the police send her way.

As to the mystery, it was a bit confusing although I really should have pinpointed the murderer. I had an inkling about him but I was too trusting and thought he was only an associate instead of the mastermind. Someone who is more suspicious will probably finger him much sooner for the heinous crimes.

Overall: Despite the bleak topics presented, this is a largely light and often amusing story with a determined heroine and with the promise of sequels.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book on so many levels. It is a page turning, suspense filled mystery that gives personality and flavor to real people and events in the late 1800's. The author playfully introduces characters of historical importance to the time period making factual references to people and places. The author did not put me to sleep in details I have no place to put. History and genre come alive in this well woven story. Nellie just keeps getting more and more fabulous. I am recommending this to all my friends so we will have something inspiring to talk about.

I love the editor's footnotes to facts and future promises of more information in Carol McCleary's next book.

Nellie Bly is an American journalist who is determined to prove that women can have careers as important and successful as those of men. While undercover at a mental hospital in New York, she encounters a German doctor who murders her roommate, Josephine. Nellie is convinced that this same man has traveled around the world, killing other women, and is currently in Paris where the 1889 World's Exposition is taking place.

In Paris, a terrible disease known as the Black Fever is spreading throughout the city. It is hitting poorer areas harder than the wealthier sections of town, but those in the government want to keep the contagion a secret. If the world knew of the epidemic, the country's economy and tourism due to the Exposition, would be destroyed. They have several of the greatest minds of the age, including famed chemist Louis Pasteur, working on discovering how the disease is being spread.

When Nellie is arrested in Paris after witnessing the murder of a young woman, she is convinced that it is the same killer who killed Josephine in New York several years earlier. However, the police aren't taking her seriously. She decides to enlist the help of novelist Jules Verne to assit her in investigating what she is calling the "slasher" killings. Together, the duo quickly become entangled in the mystery of the Black Fever. Is the disease related to the killings? How exactly is this disease being spread? And why can it not be seen through a microscope?

With a cast of colorful characters like Oscar Wilde and Nellie herself, Carol McCleary's Victorian mystery, "The Alchemy of Murder", is an interesting blend of fact and fiction. And while it was a little rough in patches (some of the scenarios are just a little too 21st century), I am looking forward to reading more from this talented author.

The first in a series of "unpublished" adventures of Elizabeth Cochran Seaman, otherwise known as crusading Victorian reporter Nellie Bly. Nellie's career including her incarceration in a mental institution (in order to expose the horrible treatment of the inmates) and traveling around the world in 72 days to beat the record of the fictional Phileas Fogg.

But "newly-discovered" manuscripts reveal that Nellie discovered a horrifying event while incarcerated on Blackwell's Island: a foreign doctor performing experiments on prostitutes. He escapes the United States, only to spend a short sojourn in London as Jack the Ripper, and then Nellie follows him to Paris, where the great Exposition is taking place. Here she enlists the help of a first-reluctant Jules Verne, and eventually is assisted by the dissolute but charming Oscar Wilde and the elder biologist Louis Pasteur, entering the Parisian underworld in search of a madman. An epidemic looms over the city--but is it of natural causes or artificially produced?

This is a page-turner that takes Nellie from sewers to hospitals to the rough neighborhoods of the Parisian poor. Verne's initial hostility blossoms into something quite different, and there are chases through sewers teeming with rats, encounters in dance halls and sleazy clubs, a journey to the country while stalked by cutthroats, as our heroes slowly realize a biological weapon is being born. Improbable, but addicting, except for one thing: it's another of these modern books where spell-checking is evidently done by computer. Nellie "shutters" instead of "shudders." Oscar Wilde wears "beeches" (nice trick) rather than "breeches." It breaks the crafted atmosphere and is really quite unfortunate.