A review by bethsiekierawalker
Hannah Mary Tabbs and the Disembodied Torso: A Tale of Race, Sex, and Violence in America by Kali Nicole Gross

3.0

An interesting look at a particularly grisly crime in Philadelphia, 1887. While I appreciated how well researched the story was, and I was actually drawn to the promise of the discussion of how gender and particularly race played into the court case, the book read like a thesis. The language was a bit stiff, and although I read this in an afternoon, it was not quite as riveting as I would have hoped.

That being said, I would recommend this book as a look at what the author rightly introduced as a subject and set of circumstances that is unique for this period in time, namely the narrative of a black woman and her relationships with men and society that bucked the usual social norms.