“It was a ‘business of poisoning’

The boldness and utter callousness [of] ... their criminal activities seems to have been equalled only by the stupidity of ... their victims.”

– John “Jack” MacCormac,
New York Times, March 1930

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The Angel Makers is a true-crime story like no other: a 1920s village midwife, who may have been the century’s most prolific killer, led a murder ring of women responsible for the deaths of at least 160 men.

The midwife—known to all as Auntie Suzy—was a “smiling buddha” with a waddling gait, who kept a secret vial stashed in her apron pocket. She bustled through the village, poking her nose into her neighborwomen’s troubled lives, whispered “Why are you bothering with him? I have a way …”

Read On

"One hell of a story" - The Spectator

"Particularly evocative" - The Economist

"Compulsively readable" - PW, starred review

"Dramatic and compassionate ... simply excellent" - Booklist/Top 10 True Crimes of the Year

"Patti McCracken brings to life this long-forgotten tale in a grimly gripping narrative" - Financial Times, Best Summer Reads

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BEHIND THE SCENES...

WHEN DETAILS SHAPE THE STORY

Once I had all the details, I had to figure out where to put them.

SATCHMO IN SZOLNOK?

My assistant, Attila, was wonderful about digging up details, including the rumor that Louis Armstrong performed at the Hotel Tisza in Szolnok in 1933.

THE ANGEL MAKERS VS. ARSENIC AND OLD LACE