The Brownout Murders by Luke C. Jackson and Kelly Jackson, illustrated by Maya Graham

 

Reviewed by Jeanne

Melbourne, Australia, 1942. In a world at war, people struggle with ways to stay safe.  Australians have been warned of the possibility of Japanese attacks. While the city isn’t extinguishing all lights at night as is London, they are limiting the amount of light--a brownout, not a blackout.  Troop ships from America bring soldiers, visible reminders that Australia is a nation at war and far away from most allies.

The story is told from the point of view of Beatrice, one of three sisters living in Melbourne.  She is a warden and wants to do her part for the war effort. Her sister Lizzie is more interested in the handsome American GIs and having a good time than volunteering, but needs Beatrice’s help to circumvent their mother’s reservations about  about her daughters consorting with soldiers. Sister June casts a cynical eye over both, being a part of a young communists group and not interested in frivolous pursuits.

Then a young woman is found strangled to death, her clothing removed. In a city already under stress, the incident strains nerves to the breaking point.

The black and white illustrations add to the atmosphere.  The authors do a wonderful job of conveying the tension and fear.  Early in the book, Beatrice speaks to a group of school children, explaining what she does to help keep Melbourne safe. Then the children fill out identification cards to carry in case the city is attacked.  I have to admit I had some flashbacks to my childhood when we were told to get under desks in case of a nuclear bomb.

I found this to be a very powerful story.  There is a great deal to unpack here; there are so many layers.  After another murder occurs, there’s talk about evacuating women and children.  There was talk of banning women from going to bars. And the victims were blamed for being victims.  As Beatrice notes, “They blamed alcohol.  They blamed men.  But they blamed women most of all.” 

The serial killings are more of a back-drop to the book than the total focus, but are chilling all the same especially since it’s based on a true story. This book really resonated with me, and I loved the way they used one image in particular to great effect. There’s more I would like to say, but I don’t want to spoil the book for anyone else.  It’s too good for that.

Nevermore: Murder in Music City, Nexus, Cursed Bunny

 

Nevermore 11-26-24       Reported by Rita

 

A Murder in Music City by Bishop, Michael

When a private citizen stumbles upon a secret file related to the murder of an 18-year-old babysitter in 1964, the unsolved case is reopened and, with the help of the world's top forensic experts, the real killer is finally brought to justice, in a shocking true crime story that changed Nashville history forever.

I found the author’s approach confusing and difficult to follow. I didn’t like it.      – NH        1 star

 

Nexus : A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI by Harari, Yuval N.

From the Stone Age through the canonization of the Bible, Stalinism, Nazism and the resurgence of populism today, a historian and philosopher explores human history to consider how the flow of information has shaped us, and our world, addressing the urgent choices we face as nonhuman intelligence threatens our very existence.

A very comprehensive discussion of AI. It’s a wonderful book, full of interesting information.     – DC      5 stars

 

Cursed Bunny by Chung, Bora

Blending horror, sci-fi and fairytales this collection of short stories from an increasingly popular Korean author includes a tale about a woman followed and haunted by her own bodily waste and a young monster forced into underground fight rings.

One of the weirdest books I’ve ever read. I really liked it.       – MH      4 stars

 

Other Books Mentioned

A Pair of Wings by Hopson, Carole

The School for German Brides by Runyan, Aimie K.

The Silent Watcher by Methos, Victor

Campbell's Rambles by Fletcher, Patty L.

Within These Walls of Sorrow by Barratt, Amanda

Dogs of the Cariboo and Other Stories by Gentry, Mary

The Cruelest Month by Penny, Louise

Sacred Wilderness by Power, Susan

The Cypress Maze by Valpy, Fiona

Identity Unknown by Cornwell, Patricia

 

New Books

Sonny Boy by Pacino, Al

The Colony Club by Noble, Shelley

The Village Library Demon-Hunting Society by Waggoner, C. M.

White Robes and Broken Badges by Moore, Joe

Atlas Obscura - Wild Life by Giaimo, Cara

The Art of the English Murder by Lucy Worsley

 

Reviewed by Jeanne

Historian Worsley sets out to do an exploration of famous murders and the literature they inspired.  She begins by telling the reader about Thomas De Quincey’s 1827 essay, “On Murder Considered as One of the Fine Arts,” which purports to be the thoughts of a member of the imaginary “Society of Connoisseurs in Murder” who explain what makes a good murder and rates them according to their qualities.  De Quincey is actually commenting on a cultural phenomenon of the time: murder as something exciting and entertaining.

Worsley pinpoints the start of this fascination with the 1811 Ratcliffe Highway murders.  A married couple, their three-month-old son, and their apprentice were discovered brutally murdered in their shop/home; twelve days later, another merchant, his wife, and a serving girl were slaughtered.  Public interest was intense; Worsley says that it created a new class of journalism, murder reporting.  It seemed that the British public could not get enough of such stories.  Newspapers, cheap publications with vivid (and often invented) details of sensational stories, and even puppet shows pandered to this new form of entertainment.

During the course of the book, she discusses how writers helped this obsession and how over time, real cases were given fictional treatments.  All this was to help satisfy the public appetite for crime.  Early writers such as Wilkie Collins helped pave the way for later authors, such as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Agatha Christie.

Along with the development of this murder mania, England was beginning to develop a police force.  At first these fledgling officers of the law were viewed with deep suspicion as busybodies and unreliable, but writers helped to turn the tide of public opinion.  Charles Dickens was one of the early proponents of the police; he wrote glowing articles about the new detective branch and even used real officer Inspector Field as a model for his Bleak House character Inspector Branch.

Readers of both true crime and fictional crime will find much of interest in this book, written with Worsley’s breezy charm.

Note: There was a TV series hosted by Worsley on this topic under the title “A Very British Murder.”

Murderabilia: A History of Crime in 100 Objects by Harold Schechter

 

Reviewed by Jeanne

True crime exerts a strong fascination. Long before movies, television shows, podcasts, and internet sites catered to public interest, there were books, newspaper articles, pamphlets, and yes, even songs to immortalize murders, kidnappings, and other crimes.  In this book, author Schechter has an illustration of an item connected with the crime and puts it in context with a brief explanation.

The book is arranged chronologically, starting with the murder of Naomi Wise in 1808. The photo is of her tombstone, but the “object” is actually a murder ballad.  Her story became “Little Omie,” a song that has been recorded numerous times, including versions by Doc Watson, Bob Dylan, and Elvis Costello.  It follows a pattern that goes back centuries and has crossed continents, that of a young woman murdered by the man she loves.

The final entry in the book is from 2014, and shows a soil sample from the “Slender Man” site, where two school girls stabbed a friend.  The two had concocted the plan in order to prove themselves worthy to a fictitious internet creature. 

In between are items as varied as Al Capone’s rap sheet, the death mask of Burke (as in the infamous Burke and Hare), a message from the Black Dahlia killer, John Wayne Gacy’s business card, and the remains of a pressure cooker from the Boston Marathon bombing.  Most of the stories are from the U.S., though there are a few international ones as well.  The summaries run about two pages.   

Schechter has written several other true crime books, including Hell’s Princess (about the infamous Belle Gunness) and Ripped from the Headlines: The Shocking True Stories Behind the Movies’ Most Memorable Crimes so this is territory he knows well. 

 I will confess—no pun intended—that I didn’t read the entire book.  There’s a limit to the amount of real life murder I want to read in a sitting.  I did look up some cases, such as the Lindbergh kidnapping, just to see how Schechter described it. In a nutshell, he covered the evidence but acknowledged that in the years since there have been questions as to Hauptmann’s guilt.  He didn’t go into detail.

 If you are a true crime aficionado, this may be a good browsing book for you. 

A Haunted Road Atlas: Sinister Stops, Dangerous Destinations, and True Crime Tales by Christine Schiefer and Em Schulz

 

Reviewed by Jeanne

Full confession:  I am not a podcast listener, so the information that the authors host “the hit podcast And That’s Why We Drink” meant nothing to me.  The subject matter sounded interesting though, so I picked it up. 

The book is a collection of brief articles about various paranormal or true crime stories, arranged geographically by region and then by city.  For the Southeast, for example, the cities include New Orleans (obviously a must!), Nashville, Charlotte, Atlanta, and Charleston.  While factual, the writing is punctuated with light-hearted comments. There are also recommendations for other paranormal or crime-related places to visit or stay in the city. There is a reference to the podcast connected with each one, so you can go listen to it if you are so inclined.

The two hosts of the podcast add some personal notes along with each location. One is a wine drinker while the other is an ice cream aficionado: the stories of hauntings and crimes are followed by the authors’ recommendations for good places for wine or ice cream.  If the place is also the scene of a haunting, that’s just a nice bonus. 

It’s an interesting collection, even if you haven’t been to any of the places discussed. Some of the stories are well known (the ghosts of the White House, for example, or the Boston Strangler) while others were definitely new to me.  There was also a good mix of time periods for crimes and hauntings, including some fairly recent cases (your mileage may vary on this but I think of the 1990s as “fairly recent” since I do remember them) as well as some dating back centuries (which I don’t remember, thank you very much!)

I was entertained by the book and might, just might, even try to figure out how to listen to a podcast, which says a lot right there.  It sounds as if these are two friends who are just swapping stories and having a good time. My only worry is that I might start craving ice cream.

Nevermore: Summer of 1876, Lock Every Door, Little Shoes

 

Reported by Rita

Summer of 1876: Outlaws, Lawmen, and Legends in the Season That Defined the American West by Chris Wimmer has it all, from infamous lawmen, presidents, bank robbers, and gun slingers to baseball players. Our reader described it as a very fascinating book that is very descriptive, painting a sometimes exhausting picture of life in the American West during that era.  NH

Lock Every Door by Riley Sager is a mystery thriller about young Jules Larson who is starting a new job as an apartment sitter in a mysterious, high-profile Manhattan building. When another sitter in the building goes missing, Jules starts looking into the building’s history and discovers others have gone missing before. This book was described as a real page turner, full of twists and turns. MP

Little Shoes: The Sensational Depression-Era Murders That Became My Family’s Secret by Pamela Everett is a true crime story about the murder of three young girls in 1937 in California, a wrongful conviction and execution, and the author uncovering family secrets that held the truth of an 80 year old criminal case. A very sad but incredibly interesting story. CD

Also Mentioned:

The Paris Deception by Bryn Turnbull

The Night She Disappeared by Lisa Jewell

The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah

Yellow Crocus by Laila Ibrahim

Come Sing, Jimmy Jo by Katherine Paterson

The Old Lion by Jeff Shaara

Micro by Michael Crichton, Richard Preston

Black Like Me by John Howard Griffin

The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak

Solutions and Other Problems by Allie Brosh

New Books:

Watch Us Shine by Marisa de los Santos

I Have Some Questions for You by Rebecca Makkai

 

Reviewed by Christy

            Bodie, a successful film professor and podcaster, has made a living on examining the treatment of women, particularly famous women. Her podcast delves deep into how Hollywood and society in general treated the likes of Rita Hayworth and Judy Garland. (Spoiler alert: it wasn’t great.) In between seasons of her show and deep into research of her next topic, Bodie is invited back to teach at her high school Granby - a fancy boarding school in New Hampshire where rich parents send their kids. Bodie’s family was not rich. She wound up at Granby after a series of unfortunate events and in large part due to wealthy benefactors. A 90s teen, Bodie saw herself as a grungy outcast though she did have a small group of friends. In the spring of her senior year, Bodie’s popular roommate Thalia was found dead in the school swimming pool. The death became a media sensation and continued to be fodder for speculation 25 years later.

            Bodie has mixed feelings about returning to her old stomping grounds. She’s excited to see some old friends who live and work on campus but she isn’t exactly looking forward to revisiting her turbulent adolescent years. And of course, there’s the Thalia of it all. They weren’t exactly friends (different social groups and all) but they were friendly. And anyway, someone you’ve shared a room with meeting their early demise is bound to shake up anyone. Bodie has tried not to dwell on the murder too much throughout the years since graduation but she’s recently fallen down the rabbit hole of YouTube and Reddit and internet sleuthing. It certainly doesn’t help when one of her students decides to do her class project on the Thalia murder.

            I thought this novel presented a really good mystery with some thought-provoking social commentary. Bodie has a critical eye for the true crime genre and those who ravenously consume it as if it’s a personal puzzle just for them. Then the author deftly switches back to the central Thalia mystery that pulled me in so quickly and easily that I thought, “Oh, maybe I’m part of the problem.” There is also some discussion of the Me Too movement and the sexual harassment and assault women face, which is an easy connection to make when discussing crimes against women. I don’t think these are groundbreaking observations or anything but still worthy of reflection.

I also appreciated that as we got to know some of the popular girls, we learn that they didn’t have an easy go of high school either. It was just a little reminder that we can never assume someone’s experience.

            This was a quick read that didn’t have any easy answers wrapped up in a bow. If I had to give any criticism, it would be that sometimes the novel feels a little crowded. There is a subplot with Bodie’s estranged husband that does tie into the overall conversation of the Me Too movement but it’s mostly about Bodie’s reaction. Granted, it adds some depth to her character as she struggles to even know how to feel but I’m not entirely sure this storyline is needed. At the very least, there is probably a more streamlined way to develop Bodie as a person.

            Overall, I would definitely recommend this novel - an engaging mystery with some substance.

Ripped From the Headlines: The Shocking True Stories Behind the Movies' Most Memorable Crimes by Harold Schechter.

 

Reviewed by Jeanne

Schechter is the author of several true crime books, including Hell’s Princess:  The Mystery of Belle Gunness, Butcher of Men, which Christy reviewed previously.  Obviously, he has a way with titles.

This book is a collection of 40 essays listed by movie which have some connection to a true crime case.  Some are more easily connected than others, but all are fascinating.  Some are well known and obvious—Psycho and Ed Gein, for example—while others are less known.  I was intrigued to see Arsenic and Old Lace listed, so of course I had to read that one first and found that there was a case of a woman murdering boarders by poison, though she wasn’t nearly as charming as Cary Grant’s aunts in the film.  I didn’t know that Scream was influenced by Danny Rolling’s murderous rampage in Florida.

Some of the movies listed are sensational and with only a slight connection to a crime such as Eaten Alive!

Usually the essay begins with a recap of a movie, and then describes the real life crime behind it. Some of these have some graphic detail which I could have done without, but for the most part they are restrained and informative.  I was more interested in the movie aspect, and for that part Schechter offers both description and a bit of a critique.  There were a lot of movies I was vaguely aware of—I recognized titles, such as Butterfield 8—but really didn’t know much about the movie itself.  Now I want to see Double Indemnity, a movie written by Billy Wilder and Raymond Chandler, and starring Barbara Stanwyck and Fred McMurray.  I’m also curious about M, the 1931 Fritz Lang movie based on a child murderer which was a breakthrough role for Peter Lorre.  I wish I had read this book before stumbling on Shadow of a Doubt, the Alfred Hitchcock thriller starring Joseph Cotton; it would have given the movie an added dimension.

While one movie is highlighted, there are some crimes which inspired several films.  Some of those are also mentioned in sidebars.  The Leopold-Loeb crime was the basis for both the movies Rope and Compulsion, for example, and the notorious Burke and Hare were the basis for The Body Snatchers, The Doctor and the Devils, and at least two entitled Burke and Hare.

There is an index, very handy for checking which Hitchcock films made the list, or if a specific movie shows up in a chapter headlined by a different film.  I was surprised by how often Theodore Dreiser’s name came up. His book An American Tragedy (based on a real crime) influenced more than one film.

I intended only to browse this book, but ended up reading the whole thing.  The short chapters made it easy to put down and pick up again later. Overall, I would say this is more a book for film buffs than for true crime people, but that’s just my perspective: I read it more for the movie info than the murders.  Catalogers seem equally conflicted: our copy is in the true crime section, while another library has it in their film section.

The Last Days of John Lennon by James Patterson with Casey Sherman and Dave Wedge

 

Reviewed by Kristin

As a Beatles fan, I’ve read quite a few Beatles biographies over the few years (okay, decades) since I became infatuated with John, Paul, George, and Ringo. Hunter Davies wrote The Beatles: The Authorized Biography back in 1968, and although I didn’t read it till much later I still enjoyed it. In recent years, the best one I’ve read is Tune In: The Beatles: All These Years Vol. 1 by Mark Lewisohn (reviewed here.)

James Patterson just had to get his name on a Beatles biography also, tackling the time before Mark David Chapman shot and killed John Lennon on December 8, 1980.

The title is a bit misleading. Sure, Patterson and his co-writers/co-researchers Casey Sherman and Dave Wedge delve deeply into the mind of Chapman the murderer. The authors switch between chapters detailing what Chapman was doing in the days leading up to the murder, and then moving back in time all the way to the early days of the Beatles. If you have never read anything about the Beatles, this work might be a great overview (with an emphasis on John’s history.) However, having quite a few Beatles books on my personal shelves, I didn’t learn more than one or two new facts.

If you are a true crime aficionado, you might also be a little disappointed because the authors don’t go too deeply into the blood and gore of the murder. The seeming calm that Chapman displayed is rather creepy though; he claimed that during his time in jail leading up to his trial he never slept better in his entire life.

As many other people have questioned, I can’t help but wonder how much writing Patterson himself does on his co-authored books. I found an article that says he often creates extremely detailed outlines, up to 80 pages or more, for his collaborators who then flesh out the book. Does this launch their careers? Or simply sell more books with the Patterson name? Patterson has donated millions of books to schools and millions of dollars to schools and independent bookstores, so I have to applaud him for his commitment to literacy.

I recommend this book only to readers with a casual interest in the life and death of John Lennon, or to die-hard James Patterson fans. We know the latter exists, or we wouldn’t have so many shelves dedicated to his books.