Alchemy of Bones: Chicago's Luetgert Murder Case of 1897

On May 1 1897 Louise Luetgert disappeared. Although no body was found Chicago police arrested her husband Adolph the owner of a large sausage factory and charged him with murder. The eyes of the world were still on Chicago following the success of the Worlds Columbian Exposition and the Luetgert case with its missing victim once-prosperous suspect and all manner of gruesome theories regarding the disposal of the corpse turned into one of the first media-fueled celebrity trials in American history. Newspapers fought one another for scoops people across the country claimed to have seen the missing woman alive and each new clue led to fresh rounds of speculation about the crime. Meanwhile sausage sales plummeted nationwide as rumors circulated that Luetgert had destroyed his wifes body in one of his factorys meat grinders. Weaving in strange-but-true subplots involving hypnotists palmreaders English con artists bullied witnesses and insane-asylum bodysnatchers Alchemy of Bones is more than just a true crime narrative; it is a grand sprawling portrait of 1890s Chicago--and a nation--getting an early taste of the dark chaotic twentieth century.