Our Take

Alex Hortis delivers a masterful excavation of a forgotten case that fundamentally shaped American media and justice. What makes The Witch of New York remarkable is how it illuminates the precise moment when criminal trials became entertainment—when the penny press discovered that scandal sold papers and the public developed an insatiable appetite for lurid details. Hortis doesn't just recount Polly Bodine's three trials; he reveals the ecosystem of ambitious prosecutors, celebrity defense attorneys, sensationalist journalists, and showmen who created the template for every high-profile case since. The book resonates powerfully in our current era of true crime podcasts and wall-to-wall trial coverage, demonstrating that our tabloid justice system has 180-year-old roots. Polly herself emerges as a complex figure—vilified for transgressing 19th-century gender norms as much as for any actual crime. True crime fans who appreciated Kate Winkler Dawson's American Sherlock or Harold Schechter's The Devil's Gentleman will be captivated by Hortis's meticulous research and vivid storytelling. For readers fascinated by Erik Larson's narrative histories or anyone curious about the intersection of media, crime, and gender in American culture, The Witch of New York is essential reading that feels urgently relevant today.