A Twist at the End: A Novel of O. Henry and the Texas Servant Girl Murders of 1885, by Steven Saylor
By saving A Twist At The End: A Novel Of O. Henry And The Texas Servant Girl Murders Of 1885, By Steven Saylor in the gizmo, the method you review will certainly likewise be much less complex. Open it as well as start reading A Twist At The End: A Novel Of O. Henry And The Texas Servant Girl Murders Of 1885, By Steven Saylor, simple. This is reason why we suggest this A Twist At The End: A Novel Of O. Henry And The Texas Servant Girl Murders Of 1885, By Steven Saylor in soft file. It will certainly not interrupt your time to get the book. On top of that, the on-line heating and cooling unit will certainly likewise reduce you to browse A Twist At The End: A Novel Of O. Henry And The Texas Servant Girl Murders Of 1885, By Steven Saylor it, also without going somewhere. If you have connection web in your office, home, or gizmo, you could download A Twist At The End: A Novel Of O. Henry And The Texas Servant Girl Murders Of 1885, By Steven Saylor it straight. You might not also wait to get guide A Twist At The End: A Novel Of O. Henry And The Texas Servant Girl Murders Of 1885, By Steven Saylor to send by the seller in various other days.
A Twist at the End: A Novel of O. Henry and the Texas Servant Girl Murders of 1885, by Steven Saylor
Best Ebook PDF A Twist at the End: A Novel of O. Henry and the Texas Servant Girl Murders of 1885, by Steven Saylor
Best known for his acclaimed mystery fiction set in ancient Rome, in A Twist at the End Steven Saylor delivers a stunning historical novel about America's first recorded serial murders - the Austin, Texas, servant girl murders of 1885 - artfully blending real characters and true crime into an engrossing work of fiction.
The city of Austin, Texas, "is fearfully dull", wrote young Will Porter to a friend in the spring of 1885, "except for the frequent raids of the Servant Girl Annihilators, who make things lively in the dead of night." Years later Will Porter would become the most famous writer in America - O. Henry, the toast of New York. The long-ago Austin servant girl murders would remain unsolved. But behind the O. Henry pen name, Will Porter was a man with secrets. The appearance of a merciless blackmailer and a mysterious stranger draw Porter back into the past and back to Texas, to confront the twisted solution to those murders - and the secrets of his own soul. When he was a young man in Austin in that spring of 1885, Porter fell in love. Her name was Eula Phillips. She was beautiful. She was married to someone else. And she was doomed to be a victim of the Servant Girl Annihilators.
The first victims were young black women who worked in the households of Austin's most prominent citizens. The crimes were unspeakable, as the killer or killers used an ax and - in the newspaper parlance of the day - "outraged" the victims even as they were dying or already dead. The authorities were baffled. The murders continued month after month,until suddenly, shockingly, on a bloody Christmas Eve, the pattern changed - and the trial that resulted would uncover an explosive scandal of sex and power that would tear the city of Austin apart. The scene of these crimes was a capital city in uneasy transition.
A Twist at the End: A Novel of O. Henry and the Texas Servant Girl Murders of 1885, by Steven Saylor- Amazon Sales Rank: #44001 in Audible
- Published on: 2015-06-09
- Released on: 2015-06-09
- Format: Unabridged
- Original language: English
- Running time: 1218 minutes
Where to Download A Twist at the End: A Novel of O. Henry and the Texas Servant Girl Murders of 1885, by Steven Saylor
Most helpful customer reviews
17 of 19 people found the following review helpful. Misunderstood By A Customer Based on what I have read from majority of the prior reviewers, I have discovered a trend. All of the reviewers were fans of the Roma Sub Rosa series, and obviously were looking for more. I had not heard of Steven Saylor (as I am not a "Roman Reader") until an interview on this very book on NPR. The next day I carried a hard cover out of Book People and had finished it within 24 hours, happy to have found a great new author to enjoy. Saylor's has a great ability to bring fact and fiction together, both with his characters and the environment in which he surrounds them, he completely emerges the reader in the events of the time. Afterwards I proceeded to purchase the Roma Sub Rosa series, as I wanted more of Saylor, and I enjoyed each one as much as this book, and also hope there will be more, but I will always be glad my first Saylor novel was "A Twist at the End". I believe every author needs to branch out and try new interests, but it shows here how loyal fans can easily turn on a great writer.
14 of 17 people found the following review helpful. THE ALIENIST of the West By Robert Crawford Steven Saylor is perhaps, barring the great Caleb Carr, the best historical novelist around today. Known for his Roma Sub Rosa series and his wonderful Gordianus the Finder, Saylor travels forward in time and regales the reader with a murder mystery that is based on real life and a "detective" who is a fellow writer- O. Henry.In terms of plotting and chracterization, Saylor cannot entertain the reader in A TWIST AT THE END as Caleb Carr did in THE ALIENIST. The latter book, a hefty 500+ page tome, gave us an indelible and fascinating look at late 19th century New York city with the kind of perspective that only a gifted historian can give to a lively period in a great metropolis's history. Here, Saylor excels when he confines his novels to ancient Rome.1884-5 Austin is rocked and caught unawares with what is falsely credited as the nation's first serial murders. The police are of course baffled and William Sydney Porter, the so-called detective in this novel, is more concerned with slacking off and warbling love ditties under the windows of Austin's young ladies than in solving the case. Even after his beloved Eula Philips is brutally murdered, Porter does not do much to advance the investigation. Nor should he. It was a classic case of the wrong protagonist being at the right time, as O. Henry was indeed present in Austin during the murders. Imagine Oscar Wilde being made the hero of a Jack the Ripper novel and you'll see my meaning.A large reason why THE ALIENIST and its sequel worked is because we got a sense that an investigation was being made, that, if not the police someone was doing their best to apprehend the killer. As Saylor rightly posits, the Austin police dragged their heels during this real-life investigation. However, there's no talented and well-characterized task force to pick up the slack and the only thrill of the novel is the cheap one of waiting for the next murder, one that we already know will be committed.Porter makes for a weak, unsatisfying protagonist and the bland characterization is only enlivened by the love between himself and Eula Philips, a real-life victim of "the servant girl annihilators". The recreation of a long-lost Austin is something that I imagine would be fully appreciated only by a native of that city (as Saylor is), since it lacks the recognition and universality of Carr's 19th century NYC. Still, the pacing is even, although dragged out, and the characterization adequate. The lack of reknown for this unsolved series of murders baffles me as it did the author and I believe that the story deserved to be told.Unlike Carr, who does not shy away from the horror of the murders and allows the reader to look over his detectives' shoulders in his two brilliant period pieces, Saylor affects the sensibilities of his genteel characters and gives us virtually no details of the servant girl murders, thereby depriving himself of the chance to more fully immerse the reader as a novel of this length must do. It's also quite obvious from the first half of the book who the killers are. No twist at the end, there.And, aside from the identity of Porter's blackmailer in 1906 New York, which alone doesn't justify the title and the buildup, there *is* no twist at the end. All in all, a journey in which the train ride is more memorable than the destination.
10 of 12 people found the following review helpful. interesting historical mystery By A Customer In 1906, someone tries to blackmail William Sidney Porter for his role in the brutal murders of female servants of color two decades ago in Austin, Texas. Better known as O'Henry, the renowned author suffers nightmares while he sleeps and flashbacks to the vicious events of 1885 Austin.Back than, the indifferent Austin authorities blamed a Negro, but the incarceration of the "culprit" failed to end the bloody murders. William, working at the General Land Office, dubs the murderer as the "Servant Girl Annihilator." William wonders who the real killer is even as he debates with his office peers the merits of the Female Clerks Bill and dreams of spending time with the married Eula, though Porter too is married.A TWIST AT THE END is an interesting historical mystery based on a real but never identified serial killer stalking 1880's Austin. The story line is filled with intriguing subplots and many interesting tidbits about the era. However, these never fully intertwine with the prime story line, leaving non-historians to ask why their inclusion is in the tale. The motives of the characters never fully develops as talented Steven Saylor's novel is two togas short of his ancient Rome series and several pecks beneath the Mark Twain mysteries.
See all 39 customer reviews... A Twist at the End: A Novel of O. Henry and the Texas Servant Girl Murders of 1885, by Steven SaylorA Twist at the End: A Novel of O. Henry and the Texas Servant Girl Murders of 1885, by Steven Saylor PDF
A Twist at the End: A Novel of O. Henry and the Texas Servant Girl Murders of 1885, by Steven Saylor iBooks
A Twist at the End: A Novel of O. Henry and the Texas Servant Girl Murders of 1885, by Steven Saylor ePub
A Twist at the End: A Novel of O. Henry and the Texas Servant Girl Murders of 1885, by Steven Saylor rtf
A Twist at the End: A Novel of O. Henry and the Texas Servant Girl Murders of 1885, by Steven Saylor AZW
A Twist at the End: A Novel of O. Henry and the Texas Servant Girl Murders of 1885, by Steven Saylor Kindle
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar