The Chinatown Trunk Mystery

By Mary Ting Yi Lui,

Book cover of The Chinatown Trunk Mystery: Murder, Miscegenation, and Other Dangerous Encounters in Turn-Of-The-Century New York City

Book description

In the summer of 1909, the gruesome murder of nineteen-year-old Elsie Sigel sent shock waves through New York City and the nation at large. The young woman's strangled corpse was discovered inside a trunk in the midtown Manhattan apartment of her reputed former Sunday school student and lover, a Chinese…

When you buy books, we may earn a commission that helps keep our lights on (or join the rebellion as a member).

Why read it?

1 author picked The Chinatown Trunk Mystery as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Mary Lui’s fascinating book hinges on a hook that nearly always works—a murder mystery. In this case, the victim was Elsie Siegel, a young white woman from a good family who did missionary work with the Chinese American community in New York City. She was the picture of innocence until her body was found bound up in a trunk in a Chinese American man’s apartment. Further investigations uncovered a set of love letters not only to this man but also to another Americanized Chinese immigrant. Seemingly one of her lovers had killed her out of jealousy. What followed was not…

From Alison's list on the politics of doing the laundry.

Want books like The Chinatown Trunk Mystery?

Our community of 12,000+ authors has personally recommended 69 books like The Chinatown Trunk Mystery.

Browse books like The Chinatown Trunk Mystery

Book cover of Foul Bodies: Cleanliness in Early America
Book cover of More Work for Mother: The Ironies of Household Technology from the Open Hearth to the Microwave
Book cover of To 'Joy My Freedom: Southern Black Women's Lives and Labors After the Civil War

Share your top 3 reads of 2024!

And get a beautiful page showing off your 3 favorite reads.

1,224

readers submitted
so far, will you?

5 book lists we think you will like!

Interested in New York City, Chinese Americans, and presidential biography?

New York City 1,144 books