The Devil's Gentleman: Privilege, Poison, and the Trial That Ushered in the Twentieth Century

From renowned true-crime historian Harold Schechter comes the riveting exploration of a notorious New York City murder in the 1890s, the fascinating forensic science of an earlier time, and the grisly court case that became a tabloid spectacle.

The wayward son of a revered Civil War general, Roland Molineux enjoyed good looks, status, and fortune€“hardly the qualities of a prime suspect in a series of shocking, merciless cyanide killings. Molineux€s subsequent indictment for murder led to two explosive trials and a sex-infused scandal that shocked the nation. Bringing to life Manhattan€s Gilded Age, Schechter captures all the colors of the tumultuous legal proceedings, gathering his own evidence and tackling subjects no one dared address at the time€“all in hopes of answering a tantalizing question: What powerfully dark motives could drive the wealthy scion of an eminent New York family to murder?


Praise for The Devil's Gentleman:

€œA heady tale of sin, sex, jealousy and revenge in sepia-toned Manhattan.€
€“The New York Times

€œA dark chronicle of ghoulish revenge [and] journalistic sensationalism . . . [a] well-wrought anatomy of a murder and portrait of an age.€
€“The Wall Street Journal

€œSchechter peppers his account of one of America€s earliest media circuses with peacock characters and deliciously tawdry details. . . . For scandal sweet tooths, this one€s a beaut.€
€“Entertainment Weekly

€œIn the hands of an artist and historian as gifted as Schechter, the material becomes a superbly evocative reconstruction of the fascinating period in American life that gave birth to our media-crazed society.€
€“Bomb magazine

€œWell told and powerfully written . . . Through newspaper accounts of the day and memoirs of the principals . . . Schechter brings [a crime] to vivid life.€
€“San Antonio Express-News