On the chilly evening of December 22, 1799, a young woman named Elma Sands, wearing her best calico dress, slipped out of her Quaker cousin’s boarding house on Greenwich Street, ostensibly to elope with her lover (as she told her cousin, Hope). Eleven days later, Elma’s body was found floating in the Manhattan Well, and Elma’s family accused Levi Weeks, a young carpenter and a fellow boarder, of killing her. The subsequent trial, which featured the powerhouse defense team of political rivals Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr, became the first sensationalized murder trial in American history; it was also the first U.S. trial for which there is a recorded transcript. Willig (The Pink Carnation series) draws on this transcript to bring the historical personalities involved brilliantly to life in all their human complexity. Especially fascinating are her depictions of Hamilton and Burr and their contrasting legal strategies. The impulsive, idealistic Hamilton wants to identify the true killer; the Machiavellian Burr is only interested in exonerating his client (even if he might be guilty). In her closely observed details, Willig also vividly recreates a growing New York City in a newly independent America. With an epilogue that reveals what happened to the principal characters after the trial and a historical note that details the author’s research, this compelling novel will appeal to true crime fans, aficionados of legal thrillers, and readers of historical mysteries. [Fun fact: The notorious Manhattan Well, which is an actual well, still exists at 129 Spring Street in lower Manhattan.]
