I love history that digs into something that was absolutely massive during its day and now is essentially unknown and forgotten. It always makes me wonder what the same things will be from our era. Sarah Horowitz's The Red Widow: The Scandal that Shook Paris and the Woman Behind it All (September 6, Sourcebooks) does... Continue Reading →
True Crime from Appalachia: WVU Coeds and the Shenandoah Murders
The podcast Appalachian Mysteria kicked off a few years ago by covering the 1970 murders of West Virginia University coeds Mared Malarik and Karen Ferrell. The two had hitchhiked back to their dorms after seeing Oliver! in the college town of Morgantown, West Virginia, and disappeared. Their headless bodies were found later in a nearby... Continue Reading →
Mini Reviews: The Quiet Zone, Mystery at the Blue Sea Cottage, Sex Cult Nun
Some minis today: A town with no WiFi, growing up in a sex cult, and the unsolved murder of a Jazz Age dancer. They have nothing in common besides their blue-green cover schemes. I didn't plan it that way, but I like it! The Quiet Zone: Unraveling the Mystery of a Town Suspended in Silence... Continue Reading →
Frighteningly Good Reads: Unbelievable and Zodiac
Are you joining up with Molly @ Silver Button Books for Frighteningly Good Reads? There's still one week until Halloween! I managed to surprise myself by reading not only the book I'd specifically set aside for Molly's very fun challenge, but another that had been on my shelves for awhile and is, arguably, the spookier... Continue Reading →
Two Mysteries: What Happened to Paula and Atlantis Black
What Happened to Paula: On the Death of an American Girl, by Katherine Dykstra Katherine Dykstra's mother-in-law roped her into the story of Paula Oberbroeckling, an 18-year-old from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, who disappeared one summer night in 1970. Her remains were found a few months later but a cause of death was never determined. Instead,... Continue Reading →
Two Crimey New Releases: Death on Ocean Boulevard and Don’t Call it a Cult
Death On Ocean Boulevard: Inside the Coronado Mansion Case, by Caitlin Rother. Published April 27 by Citadel The story of what happened to Rebecca Zahau and her boyfriend Jonah Shacknai's son, Max, is both a mesmerizingly compelling puzzle and deeply sad. No matter how you puzzle over its innumerable oddities and curious details, and the... Continue Reading →
True Crime Minis: New Yorker Essays, Surrealist Juarez, And Yet Another Murder of the Century
In my desperate attempt to finish endless back reviews (and I mean way, way back -- these are from 2019, dare we even cast our memories back to such a halcyon time?) I'm rounding up a few true crime-themed titles that are worth discussing even if I couldn't form them into full-fledged reviews. You know... Continue Reading →
Nonfiction Favorites From the Backlist
I think I look forward more to putting together my list of backlist favorites each year than the new releases. What was better for you this year -- new releases or older nonfiction? Borrowed Finery, by Paula Fox - Children's novelist Fox's memoir is brilliant, especially for memoir that's non-linear and kind of hazy in... Continue Reading →
25 New Nonfiction Favorites of 2020
It's finally time to close the book on a year none of us will forget, much as we'd like to! 2020 may have sucked unendingly for so very many reasons, but it did have some redeeming qualities in the new nonfiction department. Here are my favorites, in no particular order, from the 2020 new nonfiction... Continue Reading →
Unraveling the Myth of a Harvard Murder
We Keep the Dead Close, by Becky Cooper (Bookshop.org) I complain a lot, A LOT about the spate of true crime books in the last few years where an author with no or minimal connection to a crime they find interesting writes a book about it that's also memoir, and inserts themselves into the story... Continue Reading →
Nonfiction November Week 2: Book / Podcast Pairing
I had such grand plans for pairing week, a Nonfiction November favorite, this year. But then, as you already know, 2020 happened, and for some reason I was barely even listening to podcasts, so that went out the window. A reminder of this week's prompt, hosted by Julie @ Julz Reads: This week, pair up... Continue Reading →
Two Infamous Looks at the Jeffrey MacDonald Case
I'm not sure why now, but the Jeffrey MacDonald case is having something of a cultural resurgence. A new Hulu/FX documentary based on legendary documentarian Errol Morris's book A Wilderness of Error just aired, with a podcast, Morally Indefensible, to accompany it. Ok, maybe it's just that one thing which is actually two things, plus... Continue Reading →