When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bled: A Short Historical Mystery

A murder in a picturesque tavern sends the great poet Walt Whitman in search of a killer.

(Note: "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bled" is a short story. It is also available in the author's 10-story collection, Daggyland #3.)

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New York City, 1859. Everybody comes to Pfaff's, a German tavern tucked under the sidewalk in Greenwich Village.

Well, not everyone. Anyone who is artistic, anyone who is different. Artist, writers, actors…

In this warm, inviting space, these antebellum creatives can be who they are meant to be. What happens in the shadows at Pfaff's stays at Pfaff's.

But now, the murder of an esteemed theater critic has rattled the regulars and brought the police to Pfaff's doors.

Soon, there will be questions—and scandal.

Because polite, gentle New Yorkers don't want to know what's really going on here. They prefer to believe that people with such…abhorrent predilections don't exist.

Only one savvy gent can crack this murder and keep Pfaff's the way it was always meant to be: disreputable.

His name is Walt Whitman.

Poet, newspaperman, detective.

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"Fascinating story with great period detail."—Robert Lopresti, Little Big Crimes

"D'Agnese writes the most unusual and interesting books." —BookViews