An interesting read that I'm glad to have discovered. I'll definitely be seeking out more by this author.

Thank you to Netgalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I was a little disappointed in this book. I found it hard-work and repetitive in places. The writing style was not to my taste.

3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting premise for a book.
Reviewed in the United States on November 4, 2020
This was an interesting story from long ago. Unfortunately, it was a bit too repetitious and redundant throughout that made the book seem a lot longer than it was. I received a copy from NetGalley and the publisher and this is my honest opinion

this was a really interesting case, i liked how the author built the story and you could tell that it was well-researched. i'm glad I was able to read this as i love true crime and hadn't heard of this case before.

I keep forgetting that, while I love true crime, books like these are hard to get though. Not a quick read, but if you have extra time, read this!

Early in the morning of June 14th 1904 Frank Thomas “Caesar” Young (50) is travelling in a horse drawn Hansom Cab to the harbour in New York. He is supposed to be meeting his wife there before boarding ship to travel to Europe for a stay of several months. In the cab with him is his lover Nan Patterson (21) a young actress; who he has telephoned earlier to come and accompany him. During the trip they will stop twice to buy Young – a heavy drinker – drinks and once so he can “buy a hat”. When they approach Broadway a shot is heard. The cabbie will find Young dying with his head on Nan’s lap. The gun is in Young’s pocket. With no witnesses the only person who knows the truth of the shooting is Nan herself. With no real evidence of the crime or her guilt, she will shortly after be arrested as a witness and transferred to the notorious Tombs Prison. Held there for nearly a year she will then be put through three trials for first degree murder, one will be stopped after illness of a juror, in the second there will be no decision so it will be declared a mistrial, as will the third. By the third a bizarre and unfounded hypothesis has been developed that the murder was a conspiracy with her uncle who bought the gun on Friday 3rd. After a legal battle Nan, her uncle and aunt will finally be released. It was admitted at the time that she should be tried as an example, for her irregular and immoral lifestyle, her notoriety will follow her for many years.
This is not just a story about an unfortunate death but a tale that has the potential to talk to so much more – the legal system, press coverage and practices, relationships between men and woman, predatory sexual behaviour, double standards, financial and other vulnerabilities of women. Seagrave has identified institutionalised and deep seated “misogyny” as one of the key themes she wants to explore. She has recognised this specific incident – and its fallout – through newspaper coverage and has used this as her key source of information on what allegedly happened. Although she clearly recognises that the press coverage is sensational in character, often contains inaccuracies or falsified information – something she recognises and rails against, - she has not sought out other sources.
Through the mishmash of articles, and their presentation by Seagrave, it is still possible to see a very informative tale that speaks to the attitudes and injustices of the time. Young an amateur sportsman from England had become a wealthy self made man through stables ownership, gambling and otherwise questionable practices. He undoubtedly had issues with alcohol and was a notorious womaniser, targeting much younger and poorer women. His wife, not fully researched, is involved in growing a property portfolio away from him. Nan, eloped and married at 16, came from a “good family” some of whom are involved in politics. With this failing marriage, no real skills and to earn a living she went on the stage in small roles. She came to the attention of and was then stalked by Young, being followed across country when she realised he was married. His wife and others made attempts to stop this relationship. Nan, as an actress, was considered the “responsible” party; Young older, richer and married was never regarded as morally or otherwise responsible, his behaviour taken for granted.
The legal system in the US was, as everybody knows was flawed and stacked against poorer people and especially women. Once Nan gets dragged into the system it was hard for her to disentangle herself. Seagrave does not involve herself in research on the possible underlying politics of the charges and trial – although even at the time there was criticism of politically appointed attorneys and others using the legal system to gain publicity and further their careers. But she identifies some of the evidential inadequacies of the case, the legal bias and malpractices, and how the legal process seemed to be led by reaction to the press coverage.
Overall this should make for a very interesting read. But it needs to be said that the presentation – starting with the introduction where the dates of the killing and the name of the victim are given inaccurately – is very poor. The ordering of the information, the repeats, the inconsistencies, the failure to identify sources properly and even the lack of systematic naming of the key characters makes the text unnecessarily garbled and as a result a seriously tiresome read. This is a great pity as Seagrave has identified a number of social issues that were important at the time and still resonate today. These might make some readers struggle through the text, but it will take commitment.

I received a free electronic ARC of this novel from Netgalley, Kerry Segrave, and BooksGoSocial.
Thank you all for sharing your hard work with me. I have read this true crime story of my own volition, and this review reflects my honest opinion of this work.

Obviously a work of the heart, Death in a Hansom Cab is the retelling of the arrest and three trials of chorus girl and actress, Ann Elizabeth 'Nan' Patterson, for the murder of her married paramour, bookie and horse owner Frank Thomas 'Caesar' Young in 1904 New York City. Kerry Segrave presents us with all the known facts of this death, and the intricate dance steps performed by the prosecution during all three of the trials Nan went through before finally receiving her freedom from just short of a year in the Tombs, and the indignities and slander she was faced with in the press every day both before and after her release.

Both heavily researched and an interesting story, but Death in a Hansom Cab could have done with judicious editing. There were many redundancies and repetitions but it is a tale I am glad to have been exposed to.

I’m so upset with this author because I think in the rush to publish an intriguing story she just completely forgot to edit a single thing. Names are spelled differently, there are grammatical errors galore, it’s a holy mess. It totally detracts from what has the potential to be a great true crime novel. I’m really interested in reading about this travesty of justice.

This is obviously a labour of love for the author but it is rather repetitive in its writing. The outline of the book at the start gives away the whole of the storyline - I know it's a real-life case but storyline is the best word I can come up with. Reading about historical crime interests me however the way in which this book was written had me glazing over and I had to force myself to finish it.

Overall, this is a fair investigation into the misogyny inherent in the early 1900s and how it effects a young woman’s life.
However, the first section is very repetitive- clearly a lot of research was done, but a summary of the newspaper reports would have been more engaging, rather than outlining each newspaper report, when these all said similar things.
The book picks up as we get into the trials and the main thrust of the story.
The book would also have benefitted from a proof reader. There’s a number of typos throughout that should have been picked up before the book was published.

I thought the subject would be interesting but the writing style was just not that good. I agree with some of the other reviews about the story.

In 1904, horsing racing entreprenaur Caesar Young was shot during a hansom cab ride. The other only occupant was Nan Patterson, a chorus girl who had been involved with the married Young for a few years. After three trials, no criminal crimes were leveled against Patterson and no answer to what happened in that hansom cab.

On the surface, this true crime story captured my interest ..... but I quickly grew frustrated by the author's writing style of presenting newspaper reports without any intrepretation or context. We get the same details over and over again (and are often told the accounts are not accurate) but there is little in the way of background on Young or Patterson, or the nature of their relationship. There are bits of information scattered throughout but nothing developed out of the unclear facts of the case.

If the author's intent is to comment on how journalists portrayed Nan Patterson - as a homewrecker, as a sly seductress, as an unintelligent untalented actress - again, there is no intrepretation of the various accounts and no overlying theory of the crime or of Patterson's character.

This book was very frustrating to me, and I cannot recommend it. 2 stars.

My interest was piqued by the title and concept, as I love true crime, especially cases I don’t know a ton about. But while the story surrounding the case was fascinating, what sort all the press surrounding the accused, I didn’t care much for the writing style, It feels very matter-of-fact and somewhat stilted, whereas I like when nonfiction history books can really give me a sense of the environment and what the people may have been like,