The Angel Makers
Arsenic, a Midwife, and Modern History’s Most Astonishing Murder Ring
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3.8 • 9 Ratings
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- $21.99
Publisher Description
The Angel Makers is a true-crime story like no other—a 1920s midwife who may have been the century’s most prolific killer leading a murder ring of women responsible for the deaths of at least 160 men.
The horror occurred in a rustic farming enclave in modern-day Hungary. To look at the unlikely lineup of murderesses—village wives, mothers, and daughters—was to come to the shocking realization that this could have happened anywhere, and to anyone. At the center of it all was a sharp-minded village midwife, a “smiling Buddha” known as Auntie Suzy, who distilled arsenic from flypaper and distributed it to the women of Nagyrév. “Why are you bothering with him?” Auntie Suzy would ask, as she produced an arsenic-filled vial from her apron pocket. In the beginning, a great many used the deadly solution to finally be free of cruel and abusive spouses.
But as the number of dead bodies grew without consequence, the killers grew bolder. With each vial of poison emptied, a new reason surfaced to drain yet another. Some women disposed of sickly relatives. Some used arsenic as “inheritance powder” to secure land and houses. For more than fifteen years, the unlikely murderers aided death unfettered and tended to it as if it were simply another chore—spooning doses of arsenic into soup and wine, stirring it into coffee and brandy. By the time their crimes were discovered, hundreds were feared dead.
Anonymous notes brought the crimes to light in 1929. As a skillful prosecutor hungry for justice ran the investigation, newsmen from around the world—including the New York Times—poured in to cover the dramatic events as they unfolded.
The Angel Makers captures in expertly researched detail the entirety of this harrowing story, from the early murders to the final hanging—the story of one of the most sensational and astonishing murder rings in all of modern history.
How did one woman convince a village of wives and mothers to become killers?
A Female-Led Murder Ring: Meet the village wives and mothers of Nagyrév who were drawn into a conspiracy of death that went undetected for over fifteen years.Arsenic from Flypaper: At the center of it all was Auntie Suzy, the "smiling Buddha" midwife who turned a common household item into an untraceable and deadly weapon.Post-WWI Hungary: Journey to a forgotten corner of 1920s Europe, a rustic farming village where isolation and spousal abuse created fertile ground for murder.A Shocking True Story: Follow the trail from the anonymous notes that exposed the crimes to the sensational trials that captured the world's attention, all brought to life through meticulous research.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Journalist McCracken debuts with a compulsively readable account of a group of women who operated a murder ring for years during the early 20th century in the Hungarian village of Nagyrév. At the center of the ring was a squat, pipe-smoking midwife known as Auntie Suzy, who carried arsenic in her pocket and doled it out to women who were tired of their abusive spouses and sickly children. After a series of anonymous notes to authorities in 1929 and decades of mysterious deaths, 16 women went on trial for poisoning their husbands and sons in a case that riveted the world press. They were all convicted: three of them were hanged, and three—including Auntie Suzy—died by suicide rather than face life in prison. It's thought, the authors writes, that over the years hundreds of men of Nagyrév were slipped arsenic into their brandy, soup, or goulash by the women in their lives. McCracken grounds the work in archival documents and trial transcriptions, and dramatically recreates scenes for which there's no documentation, a liberty, she admits in a note, she has taken "with deep respect for the integrity of this case." This is a must for true crime fans.
