31 Bond Street

"A blend of historical evidence and fictional imagining, an engrossing read" WASHINGTON POST "This is a deft and highly readable book, much recommended for those who enjoyed The Suspicions of Mr Whicher." DAILY MAIL "A gripping recreation of this true life crime." THE INDEPENDENT "Mystery and romance galore." THE SUN "An enthralling page-turner to the very end." SUNDAY HERALD "Deftly blending known fact with fiction, she [Horan] concocts a Gothic tale of passion and intrigue, shot through with courtroom fireworks." WBQ "A historical crime story in the hands of a skilled writer." SAN FRANCISCO BOOK REVIEW "Horan brings to life a sensational 19th-century New York City murder trial in which a woman is accused of viciously killing her husband... An engaging mix of fact and fiction, with a juicy trial, sensationalistic reporters and lots of local urban color." KIRKUS REVIEWS "Horan's characters, like Edith Wharton's, are motivated by social class and survival in a world ruled by wealth and national uncertainty. This unique look at history and the private lives of those affected by it makes for captivating reading." BOOKLIST "A gripping legal thriller that proceeds at the leisurely pace of a 19th-Century novel." MYSTERY SCENE MAGAZINE

Ellen Horan has worked as a studio artist and as a photo editor for magazines and books in New York City. She currently lives in downtown Manhattan, the setting of her first novel, 31 Bond Street.

Who killed Dr. Harvey Burdell in his opulent Manhattan town house?
At once a gripping mystery and a richly detailed excavation of a lost age, 31 Bond Street is a spellbinding tale of murder, sex, greed, and politics in 1857 New York. Author Ellen Horan interweaves fact and fiction—reimagining the sensational nineteenth-century crime that rocked the city a few short years before the Civil War ripped through the fabric of the nation, while transporting readers back to a time that eerily echoes our own.
Though there are no clues to the brutal slaying of wealthy Dr. Burdell, suspicion quickly falls on Emma Cunningham, the refined, pale-skinned widow who managed his house and servants. An ambitious district attorney seeks a swift conviction, but defense attorney Henry Clinton is a formidable obstacle—a man firmly committed to justice and the law, and to the cause of a frightened, vulnerable woman desperately trying to save herself from the gallows.