So that's why they're called Coppers

The Gods of Gotham
By Lyndsay Faye

It's 1845 and New York city crackles with life and the occasional fire. Bartender Timothy Wilde is saving up money so he can ask the woman of his dreams to marry him when an explosion in his neighborhood leaves him penniless and scarred. In need of new employment, Timothy finds himself a member of the copper stars, New York's first police force. Met with derision and hostility, the copper stars must try to maintain order in a city where racial and religious tensions are on the rise. 

The potato famine in Ireland is causing an influx of immigrants who many New Yorkers consider to be less than human. These immigrants are largely Catholic, to which the Protestant majority also objects. The streets are filled with violent mobs, shouting newsboys, prostitutes, and every manner of outrageous debauchery. When the body of a child is discovered, the melting pot of the city threatens to boil over. Since there have never been police in New York City before, Timothy must invent his job as he goes along. Interviewing those connected to the case, gathering evidence, and piecing it all together, he finds that this may be the job he was born to do.

This is a historical novel filled with drama and is an excellent source for entertaining examples of old-fashioned slang.

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Review by Danny Hanbery