Author(s): Patti McCracken

True Crime

Nagyrev, Hungary, 1929. Over 160 mysterious deaths. A group of local wives conspiring together, and one woman at the centre of it all… The Angel Makers is the astonishing true story of the longest and most prolific murder spree ever recorded. In the winter of 1929, reporters from all over the world travelled to Hungary ready to cover the largest civilian mass murder trials in history. From his front-row seat in the courtroom, New York Times journalist Jack MacCormac was spellbound by the horror that unfolded. He had never heard anything like it - but nor had anyone. In the rural farming village of Nagyrev, a group of wives had formed the most sensational murder ring in existence: The Angel Makers. Led by a sharp-minded midwife known as Auntie Suzy, numerous women rid themselves of unwanted relatives, nearly all of whom were men, spooning doses of arsenic into soup and wine, stirring it into biscuits and brandy. It was like murder was just another chore. It would take over 15 years and 160 deaths before the unlikely gang of murderesses came to justice. Using MacCormac’s coverage of the trials and years of her own research and interviews, Patti McCracken pieces together with absorbing detail the lives of Auntie Suzy, her wide network of killers, the unsuspecting victims and the villagers who witnessed it all. The Angel Makers is the utterly gripping retelling of an almost unbelievable - yet entirely true - moment in crime history.