Bag of Bones: The Sensational Grave Robbery of the Merchant Prince of Manhattan
Praise for J. North Conway’s The Big Policeman: The Rise and Fall of Thomas Byrnes, America’s First, Most Ruthless,and Greatest Detective “Creating period atmosphere by quoting extensively from newspaper accounts of the sensational crimes Byrnes solved, Conway portrays his subject’s cleverness and excesses with a flawed-hero flavor that should draw in true-crime fans.”             —Booklist “An essential read for those interested in police work, detective stories, and New York City history.”             —Library Journal “A fascinating, fast-moving account of one of the most polarizing and influential figures of 19th-century New York.  Conway brings ‘the big policeman’ to life.” —Daniel Stashower, author ofThe Beautiful Cigar Girl: Mary Rogers, EdgarAllan Poe, and the Invention of Murder “A treasure trove of information not only on larger-than-life pioneering detective Thomas Byrnes but also on law-and-order in wide-open nineteenth-century Manhattan.”—David Pietrusza, author ofRothstein: The Life, Times, and Murder of theCriminal Genius Who Fixed the 1919 World Series Praise for J. North Conway’sKing of Heists: The Sensational Bank Robbery of 1878 That Shocked America “Engrossing . . . Conway skillfully paints a backdrop of fierce and flamboyant personalities who paraded across the Gilded Age, from Brooklyn Bridge engineer John Roebling to Marm Mandelbaum, ‘queen of the criminals.’ . . . [H]e capably recounts his story against a background of glitter and greed.”             —Publishers Weekly “A page-turning account of one of the most brazen crimes of our time.”             —Reader’s Digest “Conway, a college prof and ex-newspaper man, covers this ancient tale in a way that makes it feel like a hot news story.”              —New YorkPost