31 Bond Street by Ellen Horan

31 Bond Street is a novel inspired by a true incident that happened in New York in 1857.

The Starting point of the plot is when Dr. Harvey Burdell, a well known dentist  is found brutally murdered in his house,31 Bond Street, fingers are pointed at the house mistress, Emma Cunningham, a widow with two daughters who has leased a floor of the hose.

District attorney Abraham Oakey Hall Prosecutes Emma. If he succeeds in a conviction, his ambition to be the next mayer will be fulfilled. But the defense attorney Henry Clinton is determined to protect her.

From then on the plot doesn't flow in a straight line but rather presents itself as pieces of a puzzle,occurring at different times involving different people. The reader has to put the pieces together and make sense of what happens.

The story presents a certain portion of American history and politics, racism and slavery as well as economy in America back then. But most important of all is the way the book portraits the misery people put themselves in, being greedy, following false values, getting married with the sole purpose of improving one's social status and wealth.

The author has gone too much in detail to the back ground of the plot at certain points, making the book a little draggy at times. The end is a little awkward too, because the author has not related to it properly from the beginning.

Generally this book was a fairly good read, both entertaining and informative. Any one studying law would find this book interesting too.