The Angel Makers

Arsenic, a Midwife, and Modern History’s Most Astonishing Murder Ring

By: Patti McCracken

Narrated by: Gabra Zackman

The Angel Makers is a true-crime story like no other—a 1920s midwife who may have been the century’s most prolific killer leading a murder ring of women responsible for the deaths of at least 160 men.

The horror occurred in a rustic farming enclave in modern-day Hungary. To look at the unlikely lineup of murderesses—village wives, mothers, and daughters—was to come to the shocking realization that this could have happened anywhere, and to anyone. At the center of it all was a sharp-minded village midwife, a “smiling Buddha” known as Auntie Suzy, who distilled arsenic from flypaper and distributed it to the women of Nagyrév. “Why are you bothering with him?” Auntie Suzy would ask, as she produced an arsenic-filled vial from her apron pocket. In the beginning, a great many used the deadly solution to finally be free of cruel and abusive spouses.

But as the number of dead bodies grew without consequence, the killers grew bolder. With each vial of poison emptied, a new reason surfaced to drain yet another. Some women disposed of sickly relatives. Some used arsenic as “inheritance powder” to secure land and houses. For more than fifteen years, the unlikely murderers aided death unfettered and tended to it as if it were simply another chore—spooning doses of arsenic into soup and wine, stirring it into coffee and brandy. By the time their crimes were discovered, hundreds were feared dead.

Anonymous notes brought the crimes to light in 1929. As a skillful prosecutor hungry for justice ran the investigation, newsmen from around the world—including the New York Times—poured in to cover the dramatic events as they unfolded.

The Angel Makers captures in expertly researched detail the entirety of this harrowing story, from the early murders to the final hanging—the story of one of the most sensational and astonishing murder rings in all of modern history.

©2023 Patti McCracken (P)2023 HarperCollins Publishers

Needless extraneous details…

Needless extraneous details fill in for lack of real substantive historical information. I would have preferred less ‘color’ and more substance, but it was still a decent read about real events.

An Engaging and Encompassing Read

Patti McCracken weaves together a true crime tale with all the fleshed out details of literary fiction. Similar to other recent non-fiction authors like Erik Larson, McCracken uses a mix of research and direct quotes with her own extrapolations to keep the work fairly fast paced and engaging. The connections and wide scope of the work bring to life how much this shocking story was not as singular or remote as it may appear. McCracken’s descriptions are fleshed out and do not leave much to the imagination, yet it still gives room for the listener to formulate their own questions and perspectives on the actions of the women of Nagyrév.
I found in general the descriptions to be the strongest point of the book. The more we can relate to historical events and people as humans, the better we can learn and consider our own perspectives. On this point, I sometimes felt there was a dearth of description or footnotes on aspects of Romani and Hungarian culture or history that could help fill in my dearth of knowledge. If I had a physical copy of the book, perhaps this would be less of a problem. I felt that in the notes and afterward McCracken brought more foreword, and I personally wouldn’t have minded more embedded in the main text.
The narrator, Gabra Zackman, also helps bring this story to life. Her clear and distinct voices between characters helped to keep track of them easily in a drama that ends up swallowing the town whole and its women with it. Even at 1.25x speed, Zackman’s performance never felt choppy or robotic. Occasionally the crier’s voice seemed a little over the top, but perhaps that is why they’re the crier! The only lull for me was towards the last few chapters of the book, wherein I felt that I knew what would happen and therefore felt no need to listen intently and in fact set it aside for nearly a few weeks even though I only had about twenty minutes to go!
I heartily recommend this book to anyone that has wanted to dip their toe into non-fiction, but the prospect of a dry textbook scared them off or to the true crime reader in need of a new history to tell their friends about.

Read like Historical Fiction

An interesting affair bogged down by writing that felt waaay more like historical fiction... A tale of an evil (and fat, least we forget) midwife that led a group of desperate and/or greedy women to poison unwanted, and sometimes awful, men and babies/pregnancies.

possibility of a good story lost

the story by itself is really interesting, but the way it was represented as a literary work was too boring, too many unnecessary paragraphs detailing rooms, smells, etc. Really wanted to hear more of actual testimonies, written articles at that time, and in general, more analysis of how these kind of events happened

Interesting Story, Questionable Execution

The story of the angel makers of Nagyrév is an interesting one. This particular telling of it doesn't really do it justice. The author focuses on a lot of extraneous details -- the murderous midwife is constantly described by her weight, to the point where it becomes a bit farcical. Not quite sure if the author was deliberately trying to draw a line between fat = bad, or if she was just so in love with the concept of the village midwife being this venal, fat, bloated tick of a woman feeding off the community she was supposed to serve that she was unable to move beyond the metaphor. The depiction is almost cartoonish -- the evil witch in a fairy tale.

This particular telling focuses on Aunty Suzy and her inner circle -- mostly family members -- and their unique take on problem solving. Their motivation is primarily greed.

I think that it would have been interesting to learn more about the women who were motivated by desperation. McCracken references two women in particular who rid themselves of abusive family members, but they seem like narrative outliers to be pitied rather than women with stories of their own.

Time jumps make it hard to follow

Give it a go.
This was an interesting story made more so by the knowledge of its basis on real events. As noted by the author, EVERYTHING in quotes was actually said, and only where a blank needed to be filled in was there potential fiction.

That said, unfortunately the timeline seemed to jump around quite a bit. Instead od picking up where another leaves off, there is a backtracking that made the storytelling jumpy and hard to follow- a fact made worse after I switched to audible. (I have more time to listen than to read).

In sum, I would recommend it to others, but if you zone out while reading or do so amidst distractions, be prepared to go back and clarify who/what/when the events involve.

Good Story!

Well researched true crime history on a story I had not heard of. Definently recommend

Didn’t keep my attention

I liked much of it but I found it hard to keep my attention at times.

More like historical fiction

More words dedicated to Aunt Suzy’s body than to her crimes. I would not recommend this audiobook.