Murder in Little Italy

When midwife Sarah Brandt visits Little Italy to check up on a new mother who delivered her baby just the day before, she finds the young woman dead. The family insists that the death was from complications of childbirth. Sarah thinks not. Neither does the woman's own mother, an Irishwoman who spreads the story that the girl was murdered by her Italian in-laws, the Ruoccos-an accusation that inflames tensions between the two immigrant groups.

A second death in the tenements nearly leads to riots in the streets as political factions and organized crime take sides and square off over wild rumors and newspaper accusations.

Detective…