Begins January 17
Duel with the Devil by Paul Collins
Crown Publishers, NY, 2013
A remarkable account of a 19th Century murder and the trial that ensued encompassing a showdown between the controversial figures Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr, is the setting of Duel with the Devil.
Central to their dispute was the Manhattan water supply which Burr saw not just as an opportunity to help a city devastated by plague but also as a chance to heal his battered finances.
But everything changed when Elma Sands, a beautiful young Quaker woman, was found drowned in Burr's newly constructed Manhattan Well.