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A dark historical thriller set in the infamous Black Triangle of 1880s New York, where crime is rampant, every vice is available for a price, and even the law can be bought.
When a "crusading" judge declares war on an all female criminal empire by sentencing three of its members to death, his entire family receives invitations to their own funerals in the opening salvo of a campaign of revenge and terror from the "queen" of the Black Triangle......Black Lena Shanks.

And Hell hath no fury....

McDowell captures the time period with historical precision. His descriptions of life in the Black Triangle.....the poverty, despair and horror of simply existing leave sooty fingerprints on your heart, and casts long shadows across your dreams, as he weaves his tale of purely human evil unleashed by a political publicity stunt gone horribly wrong.

An incredible work of dark historical fiction.

Highly recommended.

Kudos to Valancourt Books for bringing this, and many other, lost classics of dark fiction back into print.