The Lunatic Fringe: A Novel Wherein Theodore Roosevelt Meets the Pink Angel

By William L. DeAndrea

In Old New York, Teddy Roosevelt seeks answers to a cartoonist's killing, a missing woman, and an impending bomb plot .

As a newspaper war flares between Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst, noted cartoonist Evan Crandall is murdered in his apartment. When police officer Dennis Muldoon finds the body, he also discovers a naked, sultry beauty blindfolded and tied to the bed. She pleads with him to free her, but after he unties this mysterious 'Pink Angel,' she steals his gun and escapes. Meanwhile, anarchists are planning to blow up the Croton Reservoir during a millionaire's nearby wedding reception. Enter the police commissioner, Theodore Roosevelt.

With the help of Officer Muldoon, Roosevelt is on a mission to set the city in order, and that will mean putting a stop to escalating crime, and locating the mysterious Pink Angel.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Head of Zeus
• Release date: Jun 1, 2014
• ISBN: 9781784083991

William L. DeAndrea

William L. DeAndrea (1952–1996) was born in Port Chester, New York. While working at the Murder Ink bookstore in New York City, he met mystery writer Jane Haddam, who became his wife. His first book, Killed in the Ratings (1978), won an Edgar Award in the best first mystery novel category. That debut launched a series centered on Matt Cobb, an executive problem-solver for a TV network who unravels murders alongside corporate foul play. DeAndrea’s other series included the Nero Wolfe–inspired Niccolo Benedetti novels, the Clifford Driscoll espionage series, and the Lobo Blacke/Quinn Booker Old West mysteries. A devoted student of the mystery genre, he also wrote a popular column for the Armchair Detective newsletter. One of his last works, the Edgar Award–winning Encyclopedia Mysteriosa (1994), is a thorough reference guide to sleuthing in books, film, radio, and TV.