The Gods of Gotham

The

GODS

of

GOTHAM



ALSO BY LYNDSAY FAYE

Dust and Shadow



The

GODS

of

GOTHAM





This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

While the author has made every effort to provide accurate telephone numbers and Internet addresses at the time of publication, neither the publisher nor the author assumes any responsibility for errors, or for changes that occur after publication. Further, the publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.



For my family,

who taught me that when you are

knocked considerably sideways, you get up and keep going,

or you get up and go in a slightly different direction



In the summer of 1845, following years of passionate political dispute, New York City at long last formed a Police Department.

The potato, a crop that can be trusted to yield reliable nutrition from barren, limited space, had long been the base staple of the Irish tenant farmer. In the spring of 1844, the Gardener s Chronicle and Agricultural Gazette reported anxiously that an infestation belonging to the mould tribe was laying waste to potato crops. There was, the Chronicle told its readers, no definite cause or cure.

These twin events would change the city of New York forever.



SELECTED FLASH TERMINOLOGY*

A

AUTUM. A church.

B

BAT. A prostitute who walks the streets only at night.

BENE. Good;

Lyndsay Faye is the author of the critically acclaimed Dust and Shadow and is featured in The Best American Mystery Stories 2010. Faye, a true New Yorker in the sense that she was born elsewhere, lives in Manhattan with her husband, Gabriel.

"The Gods of Gotham is a wonderful book. Lyndsay Faye's command of historical detail is remarkable, and her knowlege of human character even more so. I bought into this world in the opening pages and never once had the desire to leave. It's a great read!" Michael Connelly

"The launch of a brilliant new mystery series, set in 1845 New York City: Irish Potato Famine, the birth of the police force, brothels and bedlam."-- Gillian Flynn

"It's been almost twenty years since Caleb Carr's bestselling Olde New York crime novel, The Alienist, was published, and I cant count the number of times since then that someone has asked me if I can recommend a suspense story anything 'like it.' Well, New York has inspired lots of terrific thrillers, but I've just stumbled on one of the worthiest successors yet. Lyndsay Faye's novel, The Gods of Gotham." Maureen Corrigan, NPR's Fresh Air



If your concept of paradise is popping in a DVD of Gangs of New York while rereading Caleb Carr s The Alienist, then put Lyndsay Faye's The Gods of Gotham on your to-buy list. USA Today



There s enough excitement here to cause anyone s veins to quiver. The Washington Post



Riveting. The New York Times