THE CRITICS AGREE! And here.'s what folks are saying about ON NIGHT'S SHORE, the seventh novel from award-winning author Randall Silvis:

"Move over, Caleb Carr. Randall Silvis's writing is exquisite and true."
--Maan Meyers, author of THE LUCIFER CONTRACT

"Stylish, dark-toned adventure...gritty and opulent."
--Publishers Weekly

"First-rate history mystery."
--Booklist, starred review

"A riveting tale of murder and betrayal, ON NIGHT'S SHORE drips with descriptive power. Silvis gives readers a page-turning story, accompanied by two remarkable and original sleuths."
--New York Post

"The vibrant panorama of New York City in 1840 that Randall Silvis spreads before our eyes in ON NIGHT'S SHORE bears little resemblance to the flat, static scenes that unroll like so much wax paper in most historical mysteries. Even more arresting is his sleuth, a wild-eyed newspaper journalist who signs himself E. A. Poe, Silvis delivers pungent impressions of the living city, exploring its mansions, slums, morgue, prisons, poorhouses and opium dens for all the ambient sounds and smells that define the character of a busy, brawling, unwashed metropolis."
--New York Times Book Review

"Fans of Caleb Carr's historical mysteries will lap up this well-told tale of murder, mayhem, poetry, prose, and political corruption in mid-19th- century New York. Although Poe's death is foreshadowed here, it doesn't detract from the immediacy of the story or the emotional resonance of the relationship between an unlikely pair of heroes this reader strongly hopes to meet again."
--Jane Adams, Editor for Amazon.com

"Poignantly imagined. The mystery behind "The Mystery of Marie Roget" is just one of the classic Poe themes woven into Randall Silvis's narrative, along with the always tantalizing puzzle of Poe's own ferocious and unique creativity. Silvis's story is compelling."
--Otto Penzler, Penzler Pick, February 2001

"In the hands of Randall Silvis, the New York of 1840, from its rural edges to its tenements of squalor, pulses with life, and the dark subtlety of Edgar Allan Poe's character slowly takes up residence in the reader's mind. Here in ON NIGHT'S SHORE the gloomy and much-beset father of our genre is granted a light-filled window in the person of a street urchin named Augie Dubbins. Would that we might see more of this pair."
--Laurie R. King, bestselling author of NIGHT WORK

"Compelling--I was compelled to keep turning pages. The vocabulary of this novel is rich and delicious. It is to be savored. Savored as a fine wine is rolled over the tongue to catch the bouquet--Silvis's words are rolled in the mind to catch the bouquet."
--Bette Sherman, Back In The Woods Bookstore, a BookSense store

"The real delight here is the portrayal of Manhattan's bawdy underworld and its nefarious characters. Comparisons to Caleb Carr's The Alienist are inevitable and not unwarranted. Fans of Bruce Alexander's Sir John Fielding series and Laurie King's The Beekeeper's Apprentice will also be delighted with this work. One hopes that we shall see Poe and his young apprentice work many more cases."
--Library Journal

"On Night's Shore is a sinuous, surprising narrative filled with deceptions, betrayals, unexpected revelations, and moments of high drama. It is also an extravagantly detailed recreation of a particular time and place, it is precise and thoroughly imagined, giving the novel an unmistakable aura of authenticity. Anyone interested in Poe's career, in American literary history, or in historical fiction at its finest needs to read this book."
--Bill Sheehan, Editor for BarnesandNoble.com

ON NIGHT'S SHORE has been selected as an Editor's Pick for The Poisoned Pen's History Mystery Club.

Barnes & Noble Customer Reviewer Rating: 5 stars