The Angel of Darkness by Caleb Carr

The Angel of Darkness is easily compared to a late 1800's version of a "Criminal Minds" episode.  The story is set in Manhattan and the fringe area around New York, and includes many familiar historical and political characters, as well as businesses of the era.  The author does an excellent job of portraying the common "thought" of the era. At every juncture in history before the dawn of a new century (1897) there appears to be some mile-markers that resonate in the minds of the population. 
Some notable, some notorious. The author paints this well in his plot. The story narration, comes from one of the characters, Steve Taggert (alias- "Stevepipe", given for his adept ability with an 11 inch piece of lead pipe). With only a few months to a year left to live, he looks into the past to give us the inside facts of how the tale unfolds.

Several viable characters quickly assemble themselves as a task force to apprehend an elusive and criminally manipulative villain by the name of Elspeth Hunter (alias- Libby Hatch), a ruthless mass murderer of children and black widow to a few hapless husbands. 
The team: 
Psychologist- Dr. Laszlo Kreizler, an investigative journalist
John Schuyler Moore of the NY Times, a private investigator
Sara Howard, a pair of Jewish police investigators
Lucius and Marcus Isaacson, along with 
Stevie and Cyrus-- Dr. Kreizler's assistants. 

The story surrounds the detailed investigation, apprehension, and prosecution of their suspect. The story is rich in content with frequent morbid and gruesome scenes for the macabre enthusiast and fairly fast paced for 626 pages. The Angel of Darkness will seem to get off to a slow start to those which have already read part one, The Alienist, by Caleb Carr, but to those which are jumping in on this, part two, will be rewarded by a standalone sequel. (****)