Speakers of the dead A Walt Whitman mystery

In 1843, New York City was like the Wild West: murder, grave robbing, and corruption were rampant. Walt Whitman finds himself in the middle of it all because he is determined to report the truth in the Aurora, the newspaper for which he writes. Legally and sentimentally, anatomic dissection by medical schools is abhorred because of beliefs that there can be no resurrection following dissection. Medical schools, including Abraham and Lena Stowe's Women's Medical College of Manhattan, buy corpses from body snatchers, since that's the only way for students to learn about the human body. Whitman loves the Stowes like family and is appalled when Abraham is murdered and Lena is accused of the deed. Within days of Abraham's death, Lena is tried and hanged despite Whitman's protests. The editor of the Aurora, Walt's lover Henry Saunders, is also kidnapped and murdered because the paper continues to expose the practice of body snatching for profit. Whitman's probing research brings him in contact with New York's finest and New York's lowest, as well as contemporary literary figures such as Ralph Waldo Emerson and Edgar Allan Poe. In the end, a few upstanding figures emerge from the cesspool of corruption. This fast-paced tale is expertly narrated by Mark Bramhall, who gives both male and female characters unique voices. -Verdict Issues of family, abuse, sexuality, violence, temperance, and friendship are skillfully woven into the mystery. The inclusion of well-known figures of the day adds intrigue and will stimulate demand. ["This elegant literary mystery...makes a fine debut, bringing to vivid life one of America's greatest poets and presenting a fresh perspective on a less-familiar period of U.S. history": LJ 2/1/16 starred review of the Plume hc.]-Ann Weber, Los Gatos, CA © Copyright 2016. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.