Many thanks go to Shawn Francis Peters, University of Minnesota Press and Netgalley for the free copy of this book in exchange for my unbiased review. A well dressed, attractive young woman was found dead on a secluded road on the outskirts of Minneapolis shot in the head. She was an upstanding citizen with her own dressmaking shop and home. No debts, good friends, supportive family. Who would want to hurt her? Harry Hayward, playboy extraordinaire, was charged. What follows is a study of their relationship and the investigation into her death. <br />I love true crime novels especially ones from the golden age of America before CSI and DNA when investigations included newspaper reporters. This is a prime example. Very well written. It follows a timeline and is narrative form instead of that awful method some historical writers have where they write the whole story in chapter one then wrote filler for the ready of the book. Peters way was perfect. I'm completely satisfied for having added this book to my collection.

A fascinating insight into Harry Haywards life and crimes. Shawn Francis Peters does an excellent job of telling the story without making Hayward into any kind of celebrity. I was riveted from page 1 and couldn't put it down.

Harry Haywood’s life is examined in this book including his different crimes but discusses his plan to kill a dressmaker for the money he would get from the insurance he had bought in case of her death. He had loaned Catherine Ging large amounts of money to help her with her dressmaking career. Sadly, Harry was a gambler and just couldn’t keep his money on him for long. Harry appeared to be an expert on mesmerism. He would use that skill on people to get his way. Harry was one of the most notorious criminals in Minnesota.

As much as I found the book fascinating, there were times I found it confusing. I did find that the life of Harry interesting as I have never thought that about what happened during the Gilded Age. It is amazing to get a glimpse of history that one doesn’t normally see.

I hadn’t heard of Harry Howard before and I found this quite interesting. Getting into the mind of Harry was a good way to learn about Harry’s motives. I also enjoyed the narrative and learning about solving crimes “back in the day”. Anyone who likes true crime books should enjoy this one.

Why was I interested in this book?
19th century crime! In the Midwest! In a city that isn’t Chicago! (Not that I have anything against Chicago, but it gets a lot of attention. There are plenty of interesting cities between the Mississippi River and Rocky Mountains in the 19th century. Or in this case, on the Mississippi River.)

What Worked
This is a nice look into Minneapolis at the end of the 19th century. It was, like many Midwestern/Heart Land cities, on the rise full of hustle, bustle, excitement, and vice. Harry Hayward dabbled in many areas of crime and Peters gives each a good deal of background of their own. I especially enjoyed learning about the counterfeiting and money laundering schemes.

Another crime-adjacent subject important to the story is yellow journalism. Much of Hayward’s reputation as a “master criminal” was made in the press. Dueling newspapers didn’t entirely fabricate stories, but they certainly latched on to the juiciest, most lurid tidbits of the police’s initial investigation and Hayward’s trial. To an extent, the “Murder and Mesmerism” subtitle of this book has similar sensationalism. The mesmerism aspect of Hayward is really very minor. I hoped that this would be the story of an out-and-out charlatan performer, a hypnotist using his abilities to bilk and murder! Alas, not the case, though it seems strange that I should be disappointed by a charismatic con man and the murder of a young woman.

What Didn’t Work
A very minor thing: There was some repetition of details between the telling of what happened to Kitty Ging and Hayward’s eventual trial. This is a slight stumbling block with true crime: to tell about the crime accurately, an author ends up using facts based on the testimony of those involved.

Overall
Good telling of a historical true crime. Peters has a light touch with his presentation of details and keeps the narrative rolling.

The author was able to get into the mind of Harry Hayward and make this book enjoyable for not only true crime buffs, but those interested in reading about mental illness.

As a true crime buff, I enjoyed this book. It was well-written and researched but not too densely layered. It's always interesting to think how different such a case would be handled now with the sophisticated forensics now available.
My thanks to NetGalley for providing me with an eARC in exchange for my honest review.

Harry Hayward is a local legend in Minneapolis for the plot to murder Kitty Ging but this book does more than tell that story, it gets into a mind of a madman and does so effectively. Highly recommended for true crime and Minnesota history buffs.

A true account of killer Harry Hayward who was convicted of arranging the murder of 29-year-old Catherine Ging back in the Minneapolis winter of 1894. He had been involved with Kitty Ging for some time, spending time in her company and purportedly investing money in her dressmaking business. Hayward had never held a job but was known to have a long history of gambling all over the country. Yet somehow he’d managed to come up with large amounts of money to lend Kitty Ging. He also talked her into taking out large insurance policies to cover the loans, naming him as the beneficiary. Howard had an alibi for the time of the murder as he was out with another woman at the time and seen by many people. This made for an interesting read if you like true crime from another century of a likely psychopath.

An advance digital copy was provided by NetGalley, and author Shawn Francis Peters, for my honest review.

The University of Minneapolis Press
April 3, 2018.

Peters takes a heavily documented murder case from turn of the century Minneapolis--a wastrel black sheep son of a wealthy family got into a financial scam with a seamstress and then had a conspirator shoot her in the head so he could collect the insurance he took out on her, and turns it into a standard local history "this happened and then this happened and then here's a huge block quote from the local newspaper about what happened." This is a fascinating case, but there's no context, or larger connections or analysis.