Lauren Willig has written a mesmerizing novel based on a centuries-old true crime: the murder of 22-year-old Elma Sands at the very end of 1799, and the first murder trial in the new United States. The Girl from Greenwich Street recounts the aftermath of the discovery of Elma's body in a Manhattan well. Elma came from a family of well-known and prominent Quakers, and when Levi Weeks, a boarder in Elma's family's home, was arrested for her murder, it rocked New York City. Levi's wealthy brother hired Henry Brockholst Livingston and Aaron Burr to defend him, and they were joined by none other than Alexander Hamilton, while future New York City mayor Cadwallader Colden represented the prosecution.
Willig (The English Wife; Band of Sisters), much like Sarah Koenig in the season one of Serial, uses the trial's original transcripts to deftly capture the nuances of a case that has remained unsolved for more than two centuries. Willig humanizes every character, including Elma, whom she shows as determined when she was alive despite the defense's attempt to portray her as a flibbertigibbet; Levi, who would continue to be hounded even after the acquittal Livingston, Burr, and Hamilton were able to get him; inevitably competitive Burr and Hamilton; and Elias Ring, Elma's shifty cousin-in-law. Perfect for fans of true-crime podcasts, historical fiction, or anyone who still has "Non-Stop" from Hamilton stuck in their heads, The Girl from Greenwich Street is an immersive historical novel. --Jessica Howard, former bookseller, freelance book reviewer