{"product_id":"the-mask-of-red-death","title":"The Mask of Red Death","description":"\u003cp\u003eSuspense  intrigue  atmosphere  and vivid historical detail combine into a thrilling ride through nineteenth-century New York City in The Mask of Red Death. Harold Schechter delivers both a wonderfully accurate portrait of a city in turmoil and an irresistibly appealing depiction of his amateur sleuth Edgar Allan Poe  mirroring the masters writing style with wit and acumen.  It is the sweltering summer of 1845  and the thriving metropolis has fallen victim to a creature of the most inhuman depravity. Found days apart  two girls have been brutally murdered  their throats slashed  viciously scalped  andmost shocking of allmissing their livers. Edgar Allan Poe  despite what the tenor of his own tales of terror might suggest about his constitution  is just as shaken and revolted by these horrendous crimes as the panic-stricken public. Suspicion of the scalpers identity immediately swirls around the most famous redskin in New York  Chief Wolf Bear  one of the human attractions at P.T. Barnums American Museum. Certain that Chief Wolf Bear is innocent  Poe has deduced that the city is concealing a cannibal somewhere in its teeming masses  one with an ever-growing appetite for human prey.  Before he can investigate his theory further  Poe stumbles onto the scene of a third gruesome murder. Poe recently met William Wyatt when he agreed to look at a document for Wyatt to determine the authenticity of the purportedly famous handwriting on it. Now Poe finds Wyatt in a pool of blood  his scalp removed. How  Poe muses  are Wyatt and his document connected to the two slain girls?  As frenzied emotions over the murders reach a fevered pitch  Kit Carson makes an appearance. The famous scout has been tracking the Liver Eater since the man killed his wife months ago. Together  Carson and Poe make an odd sleuthing team  but their combined wits are formidable. The trail they uncover reveals a dark secret more powerful than anything they could have imagined one that may reach the upper echelons of politics and privilege.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44963292872757,"sku":"ByrdShop_0345448413","price":60.98,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780345448415.jpg?v=1770411057","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/the-mask-of-red-death","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}