Customer Reviews

Lost Love: A True Story of Passion, Murder, and Justice in Old New York

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After the murder has been committed, the author spends time giving us the backgrounds of the three principle characters. Even if you aren't a history fan, don't skip these chapters because they'll help you understand the account of the actual trial. This is the story of a talented and intelligent woman who finds both the courage to leave and divorce her abusive alcoholic husband and to fall in love with a brave and decent man in spite of she went through. Then she loses her true love when her scum ex kills him. The chapters on the trial were difficult to endure because the defense team was so slick and the prosecution team was so lame. I was so angry with the prosecution team because they didn't even try to counter the defense team's "sanctity of marriage" ploy with the theme that no one on the jury would want to have his sister or daughter married to a drunken brute such as the defendant. Thank goodness the book tells us what happened to these people! ! after the trial, or it would be very depressing to read. I like the fact that the author gives us so many actual quotations from the original sources. I *really* hate books which are supposed to be factual accounts of true crimes but the authors include thoughts and dialog that are pure speculation because there is no reliable source for that information! Don't let the fact that this murder and trial happened over a hundred years ago stop you from reading it. Similar stories are happening today. Ann E. Nichols

I have to say reading this book was disappointing to me. As much as I love true crime stories even over a hundred years old, the story and case around the crime of the century in Post-Civil war New York City with a journalist killed by his lover's husband was so disappointing.

The author encloses letters among the main characters involved in this bitter love triangle but without explanation or passion in explaining why we should read about this case.

The author also encloses newspaper article accounts from the time period. Again, there is a little explanation. I was truly dumbfounded that I just read the book anyway even though I didn't enjoy it. I felt that Abby Sage's horrible marriage and love affair went totally undefined by the author. There were bits and pieces about her abusive marriage to her husband but I never understood her or her husband or her lover.

I just felt that this book could have had so much to offer and fell too short.

Daniel McFarland murdered journalist Albert Richardson in 1869 in a fit of jealous rage. He blamed Richardson for the break-up his marriage and literally got away with murder because a jury found him not guilty.

This is a true case and one of the most fascinating true crime stories in American history. George Cooper had great material to work with. However, instead of 'writing' a book, he simply threw letters, legal documents, and newspaper articles at us.

The job of a writer is to take those materials, distill them, and write them up in an entertaining fashion. Lost Love is like looking through a researcher's file folders. It's still interesting, but it's not a book.