Mrs. Sherlock Holmes - Hardcover

Ricca, Brad

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1250072247 ISBN 13: 9781250072245

Publisher: St. Martin's Press, 2017

Synopsis

Mrs. Sherlock Holmes tells the incredible story of Mrs. Grace Humiston, the New York lawyer and detective who solved the famous cold case of Ruth Cruger, an 18-year-old girl who disappeared in 1917. Grace was an amazing lawyer and traveling detective during a time when no women were practicing these professions. She focused on solving cases no one else wanted and advocating for innocents. Grace became the first female U.S. District Attorney and made ground-breaking investigations into modern slavery. One of Grace's greatest accomplishments was solving the Cruger case after following a trail of corruption that lead from New York to Italy. Her work changed how the country viewed the problem of missing girls. But the victory came with a price when she learned all too well what happens when one woman upstages the entire NYPD. In the literary tradition of In Cold Blood and The Devil in the White City, Brad Ricca's Mrs. Sherlock Holmes is a true crime tale told in spine-tingling fashion. This story is about a woman whose work was so impressive that the papers gave her the nickname of fiction's greatest sleuth. With important repercussions in the present about kidnapping, the role of the media, and the truth of crime stories, the great mystery of the book and its haunting twist ending - is how one woman can become so famous only to disappear completely.

About this title

Review

"The author of Super Boys: The Amazing Adventures of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster--The Creators of Superman (2013) returns with the astonishing story of the first female U.S. district attorney...Rapid, compelling storytelling informed by rigorous research and enlivened by fecund imagination." --Kirkus Reviews (Starred)

"Ricca has parlayed an obscure reference to Mrs. Sherlock Holmes in his earlier research into a spellbinding true crime history that reads like a novel. It will be enjoyed by aficionados of Victorian crime novels as well as true crime fans."--Library Journal (Starred)

"[Humiston's] story demands a hearing.... Brad Ricca makes a heroic case for Humiston, a lawyer and United States district attorney who forged a career of defending powerless women and immigrants." --New York Times Book Review

"Fans of Erik Larson's books will enjoy reading about Grace Humiston's remarkable career in an era when women were still fighting for the right to vote."--Booklist

"In Mrs. Sherlock Holmes, Brad Ricca paints the picture of Grace Humiston, a soft-spoken yet persistent woman investigator determined to solve the disappearance of an 18-year-old girl--this in the midst of both the suffragist and white-slavery movements. Where the police leave off, Humiston, undaunted by naysayers, picks up clues and doggedly follows them. Ricca lays out this fascinating whodunit with a novelist's skill, making Mrs. Sherlock Holmes a suspenseful winner." --Cathy Scott, award-winning journalist and Los Angeles Times bestselling author of Murder of a Mafia Daughter and The Killing of Tupac Shakur

"Brad Ricca's spellbinding nonfiction account of the disappearance and murder of a young woman ranks right up there with the most absorbing mystery novels. Set against a background of early 20th century New York, Mrs. Sherlock Holmes exposes police indifference, newspaper sensationalism and sexist attitudes. A first-rate story." --Sandra Dallas, New York Times Bestselling author of The Last Midwife

"A fascinating account of Grace Humiston, a pioneering attorney in the early 20th century...Her incredible life story, superbly portrayed by Ricca, is more proof that truth is stranger than fiction." --Publisher's Weekly

About the Author

BRAD RICCA is the author of Super Boys: The Amazing Adventures of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster--the Creators of Superman, winner of the Ohioana Book Award for Nonfiction and the Cleveland Arts Prize for Literature. His first book of poetry, American Mastodon, won the St. Lawrence Book Award. His documentary Last Son won a Silver Ace Award at the Las Vegas International Film Festival. He has been a contributing expert for the New York Daily News, TheWall Street Journal, the BBC, the AV Club, and All Things Considered. He is a SAGES Fellow at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, where he was born and now lives with his family.

About this edition

• Publisher: St. Martin's Press
• Publication date: 2017
• ISBN 10: 1250072247
• ISBN 13: 9781250072245
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 448