Alice and the Assassin: An Alice Roosevelt Mystery

In this uneven series launch from Koreto (Death on the Sapphire), the assassination of William McKinley has elevated Theodore Roosevelt to the presidency and given his 17-year-old daughter, Alice, Secret Service protection provided by 30-year-old Joseph St. Clair, a former Rough Rider. In the winter of 1902, St. Clair allows the headstrong girl—still living in New York City under the nominal control of her aunt—to indulge her curiosity by visiting notorious anarchist Emma Goldman. Though the government’s investigation says otherwise, Goldman insists that Leon Czolgosz, recently executed as McKinley’s assassin, could not have acted without outside guidance. Afraid that the same shadowy adversaries might threaten the new president as well, Alice and St. Clair scour Manhattan from teeming Chinatown to the elite University Club in search of the truth. The plot can feel strained, and Koreto’s Alice is more often rude and entitled than enjoyably feisty. But the premise and the depictions of the turn-of-the-century Manhattan melting pot shine, heralding a promising series. [em]Agent: Cynthia Zigmund, Second City Publishing Services. (Apr.) [/em]