E.M. Schorb has written a wonderfully atmospheric novel of murder set in the historical Five Points district, New York's most infamous slum, in the 1840's. Poor Mary Hart, the beautiful Hot Corn Girl, is brutally murdered in the middle of Paradise Square. When Peter VanBrunt is found kneeling beside the butchered woman with a meat cleaver in his hand it looks like an open-and-shut case. But Sergeant Jonathan Goode of the Municipal Police isn't convinced that VanBrunt is guilty. Sergeant Goode enlists the help of renowned author Edgar Allan Poe and a cast of colorful cohorts to solve the mystery.

The setting is as much of a star in this book as the characters. Schorb brings 1840's New York to life quite vividly. I'm not an expert on either Poe or that era of history, but Schorb certainly made it FEEL authentic to me. In my humble opinion, PARADISE SQUARE is a must-read for all connoisseurs of historical mysteries and Poe aficionados. There's a reason E.M. Schorb won The Frankfurt eBook Grand Prize in Fiction for PARADISE SQUARE. And the reason is it's a bloody good read!