Book Review
Title: The Blackest Bird
Author: Joel Rose
Publisher: Random House/Doubleday Books

The Blackest Bird Website
Year: 2007
Pages: 464
ISBN: 0393062317 

Reviewed By: Tessa Perkins (Vancouver Correspondent - Canada) 

Authentic history, tantalizing mystery, and the poetry of Edgar Allan Poe; what more could you want? In Joel Rose's latest novel, all these elements are skillfully blended to create an intriguing tale of corruption, crime, and literature in 19^th century New York. Wrote mostly in 19^th century vernacular, the author manages to recreate the atmosphere of this evolving city and bring a well-known literary figure back to life.

High Constable Jacob Hays of the New York Day and Night Watch has a tough job. He is the first detective of New York City, and he doesn't have much going for him except a knack for reading faces and a daughter who can glean hidden details from literary texts. When Mary Rogers is brutally murdered, Hays takes it upon himself to solve the crime. When his police force becomes corrupted by Samuel Colt, the inventor of the repeating revolver, and his prime suspects in the murder case escape when the prison catches fire, the case becomes almost impossible to solve except for the clues hidden in the writings of Poe. Poe takes the murder and relocates it to Paris to write a story based on it titled "The Mystery of Marie Roget." While Poe claims he will reveal the solution to the case in his installments of this story, his proximity to the victim and his former affair with her implicate him as a suspect. Olga Hays, daughter of the High constable, enamoured with Poe, refuses to believe that this could be true.

Joel Rose is able to wonderfully integrate the poetry of Poe and others into the text and eventually these are what lead Hays to solve the crime. For anyone who loves literature or studies it closely, this triumph of words against violence is a great symbolic victory. Along with the help of Olga's literary scrutiny, Hays uses his method of interrogation, "Good Citizens always tell the truth," in an attempt to pry it out of his subjects. (When talking to street thugs, this is not always quite so effective). Hays perseveres through it all, and even after he retires from the force, and is well into his 70s, he continues to investigate the case as an honest model citizen.  

The narrative is well wrote and full of interesting details such as why we call policemen "cops" and how Colt came up with the idea for his patented repeating revolver. While the novel does contain some harsh crimes and nasty activities, it strays from the gory side and stays more on the intellectual, thoughtful, and literary elements. With great style and detailed characters, Rose creates a tapestry of true events with some alterations, additions, and combinations of facts.  

Rose's eighteen-year labour of love is well worth a read, especially for Poe lovers and history buffs. Although the book lacks strong action sequences and comes to a few false climaxes, it is not meant to be the next action blockbuster. It is meant to show us a glimpse into the life of Jacob Hays, High Constable of New York, and it does this by including multiple narrative branches while the main narrative goes up and down, including a great deal of historical information before Hays eventually solves the crime and we are treated to a very intriguing ending that makes you think long after you have turned the final page.