Carrie Hagen's WE IS GOT HIM December Events

Calling all Pennsylvanians! Carrie Hagen, author of We Is Got Him will be hitting the road this December, visiting bookstores and libraries throughout the Keystone State to meet her fans, answer questions, and read excerpts from her story of the 1874 kidnapping of Charley Ross. Four year old Ross was the victim of the first highly publicized kidnapping for ransom in America, and Hagen’s We Is Got Him is a deeply researched and critically acclaimed account of Charley’s abduction, as well as the reaction his disappearance drew from his family, the media, and the public at large. If you’re in the area and a fan of historically researched true crime, be sure to stop by these upcoming events:

Saturday, December 3^rd

Free Library of Northampton Township

Richboro, PA

2-3:30 PM

Wednesday, December 7^th

Swarthmore Public Library

Swarthmore, PA

7 PM

Wednesday, December 14^th

Cheltenham Center for the Arts

Media, PA

11 AM

Saturday, December 17^th

Barnes and Noble Oxford Valley

Fairless Hills, PA

3-5 PM

Sunday, December 18^th

Barnes and Noble Jenkintown

Jenkintown, PA

2-4 PM

Carrie Hagen was recently profiled by the The Philadelphia Inquirer where she discusses writing her first book. For the latest news, be sure to follow her on Facebook and check out her blog, What Do I Care?

Praise for WE IS GOT HIM

"Relentlessly suspenseful . . . As sad and unsettling as this tale is, Hagen tells it with the splendidly compelling narrative momentum of a contemporary true-crime writer, with the kind of lively historic detail that may inspire new walking tours of Germantown and South Philadelphia . . . This is an elegantly told, superbly accomplished history of good and bad intentions gone awry." – Philadelphia Inquirer

"We Is Got Him is a riveting tale of the comprehensive search for a missing four-year-old boy from Germantown, PA, in 1874 . . . A must- read for those interested in true crime and law enforcement history.” – Library Journal

"Hagen’s writing balances journalistic sincerity and dispassion with exciting precision." – Publishers Weekly

“A slice of American crime history both instructive and tragically entertaining." – Kirkus

In the house: Carrie Hagen, author of WE IS GOT HIM

We'll spare everyone pictures on this rainy, humid day, but today Carrie Hagen came into the Overlook offices to work with our new editor, Stephanie Gorton. (Welcome, Stephanie!) She has a book coming out this August called WE IS GOT HIM: ABDUCTION, MURDER, AND FEAR OF THE EVE OF AMERICA'S CENTENNIAL.

We launched this title last week, and everyone is waiting impatiently for the manuscript to be finished so we can start reading! It's true crime in the vein of Devil in the White City, and the story is absolutely fascinating. It's 1874, and a young boy named Charley Ross (learn more about him here) was snatched from his front yard in Philadelphia in what became the first kidnapping for random in America.

The title "We Is Got Him" comes from the famous random note, which we'll just preface with one [sic]:

Mr. Ross- be not uneasy you son charly bruster he al writ we as got him and no powers on earth can deliver out of our hand. You wil hav two pay us befor you git him from us. an pay us a big cent to. if you put the cops hunting for him yu is only defeeting yu own end. we is got him fitt so no living power can gits him from us a live. if any aproch is maid to his hidin place that is the signil for his instant anihilation. if yu regard his lif puts no one to search for him you money can fech him out alive an no other existin powers don't deceve yuself and think the detectives can git him from us for that is one imposebel
yu here from us in few day

Philadelphia was preparing to celebrate the American centennial after decades of civil war and recession, and Hagan weaves the story of this kidnapping--and how it threatened to unravel social confidence and plunge a city into despair--into the fight by the Philadelphia mayor to preserve the city's stature and other politicians using the Centennial as a chance to show America's endurance.

The research that went into We Is Got Him is incredibly daunting--Hagen worked on it while earning her MFA in Writing Nonfiction from Goucher College. We're absolutely thrilled to be publishing this--mark your calendars for August!