Search results for ""author patti mccracken""

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.

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A Financial Times Best Summer Book 2023A Waterstones Best True Crime BookNagyrev, Hungary, 1929. Over 160 mysterious deaths. A group of local wives conspiring together, and one woman at the centre of it allIn 1929, a dark secret at the heart of a Hungarian farming village was finally exposed. For more than 15 years, Nagyrev had harboured a group of serial killers, one of the largest murder rings ever recorded. They came to be known as The Angel Makers.Led by a sharp-minded midwife known as Auntie Suzy, the local wives brazenly rid themselves of unwanted relatives, spooning doses of arsenic into soup and wine, stirring it into coffee and brandy. Murder was just another chore.Over 160 mysterious deaths later, the unlikely gang of murderesses came to justice in a sensational trial reported the world over. With absorbing detail, Patti McCracken pieces together the lives of Auntie Suzy, her wide network of killers, the unsuspecting victims and the villagers who witnessed it all.The Angel Ma

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