Sophocles wrote: “Trust dies, but mistrust blossoms.” In 1920, in the village of Nagyrév, husbands trusted wives. Children trusted mothers. And everyone trusted the midwife, Zsuzannah Fazekas. No one knew she boiled fly paper in vinegar and then skimmed the residue into several small glass vials. And over the next 15 years, about 300 men, infants, and children would die. I speak with Patti McCracken in episode 20. Arsenic and Old Midwives.

Patti McCracken is an award-winning journalist whose articles have appeared in Smithsonian magazine, The Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, Christian Science Monitor, and many other publications. She has worked in various newsrooms, including the Chicago Tribune, where she was on the foreign/national desk and was twice a Knight International Press Fellow. The Angel Makers: Arsenic, A Midwife, and Modern History’s Most Astonishing Murder Ring is her first book.

NOTES:  Transcripts of this episode are available here and in your Apple Podcasts app.  All links are available at astudyincrime.com. Take a listener survey and help shape future episodes!

You can find Patti McCracken at https://www.pattimccracken.com/ and https://www.skolay.com/. She is on Facebook and Instagram at pattimccrackenauthor.

For a limited time, she is offering a promo on The Angel Makers, audiobook ($4.99, $3.99 Apple), or E-book ($1.99). Buy a copy right now: B&N/Nook: https://bit.ly/3zsGQ0f, Chirpbooks https://bit.ly/3VMmbeT, Libro https://bit.ly/3W9OkOI  , and Apple Books https://bit.ly/3W56CAl

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A Study in Crime™ is written and produced by Scott Fulmer, author of the true-crime memoir Confessions of a Private Eye. A veteran private investigator, Scott has spent the last 30 years conducting investigations throughout the U.S. He’s a decorated combat veteran of the Gulf War and lives in the Texas Hill Country near San Antonio.