Description: ln the spring of 1889, Brooklyn's premier newspaper, the Daily Eagle, printed a series of articles that detailed a history of midnight hearses and botched operations performed by a scalpel-eager female surgeon named Dr. Mary Dixon-Jones. The ensuing avalanche of public outrage gave rise to two trials -- one for manslaughter and one for libel -- which became a late 19th century sensation. Vividly recreating both trials, Regina Morantz-Sanchez provides a marvelous historical "whodunit", inviting readers to sift through the evidence and evaluate the witnesses. This intricately crafted and mesmerizing piece of history reads like a suspense novel that skillfully examines masculine and feminine ideals in the late 19th century. Like many legal extravaganzas of our own time, the Mary Dixon-Jones trials highlighted broader social issues in America. They unmasked apprehension about not only the medical and social implications of radical gynecological surgery, but also the rapidly changing role of women in society.

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