"The panic and chaos surrounding the Lindbergh kidnapping case, as well as tactics of crime fighting from the early twentieth century through the Depression, come wonderfully alive in this thoroughly researched, well-crafted biography.
Ellis Parker, the first chief detective of Burlington County, New Jersey, was dubbed "the American Sherlock -Holmes" by newspapers for his uncanny ability to reconstruct crimes through psychology and deduction. Reisinger follows Parker's career, from solving horse thefts, barn fires, and murders, through catching bootleggers and bank robbers, on to the detective's professional Waterloo, the Lindbergh case. This is as much a study of criminology as it is a biography, with Reisinger detailing the old-time police work that relied heavily on informants and intimidation and how criminals adapted to changing times, especially during the Depression.
The core of the book is the Lindbergh case, Parker's theories on the real suspect, and his tragic overreaching to prove his point. Gripping. "
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