Dead in the Frame

 

I'm not sure which Pentecost and Parker book this is...four or five, maybe? It's a fun series. 

While Will is vacationing off the grid with her girlfriend, Holly, Ms. Pentecost is arrested for the murder of Jessup Quincannon. Quincannon is the sicko who has a museum full of memorabilia from famous murders. He threatened to expose a dark secret about Lillian's past in front of a room full of his exclusive club members. Lillian shows up to the event, goes up to his office, and the rest of the guests hear gunshots. She was the only one in the room with him. It looks like an open and shut case, but Will knows her boss would never kill anyone. 

The solution was clever if not a bit contrived (not as contrived as pole vaulting over mud to leave footprints, but hey, not everyone can be Erle Stanley Gardner). 

A Travesty of a Mockery of a Sham

 

I do so adore Woody Allen. I can't believe he's going to be 90 this year. 

McGilligan wrote a very thorough biography on Allen. It was interesting. I learned about his early years writing for TV shows, doing stand up, and appearing on "The Tonight Show" (I went back and watched some clips on YouTube--hysterical). I always forget he has such a strong Brooklyn accent until I hear him speak. 

I was surprised to discover the "Play It Again, Sam" (my favorite Woody Allen movie and yes, I know he didn't direct it) wasn't on anyone's top 10 lists. A lot of folks consider his other films to be funnier. Well, okay. I love that movie so much, although it's Tony Roberts (RIP) who makes me crack up. Every time that man walks into the scene I just start laughing. I'm sure the running payphone gag doesn't resonate today but I still find it funny. 

There are a lot of his movies I haven't watched in a really long time, and some I've never seen, so I have a feeling I know how I'm going to spend many of my upcoming weekends 😊 

Black Tunnel White Magic

 

This one started off with a major red herring, including the title. 

In June of 1990, four teenagers found a body in a tunnel at Chatsworth Park. The park had a reputation for being spooky since it was near Spahn Ranch, which is where Manson and his followers spent a lot of time. One of the teenagers reported seeing figures in black robes running in and out of the trees as they walked to the tunnel, not speaking or getting close, but clearly up to something. The victim was identified as Ron Baker, who was supposedly attending a Magic Circle meeting, a group for Wiccans, earlier that evening. 

Cue the "Twilight Zone" theme, right? Wrong. 

Originally police pursued the Wicca angle, wondering if Ron had been involved in the occult or was used in some sick ritual. Turns out his murder had a much more common motive: greed. 

Ron lived with two roommates (I see no need to type their names, so I'll just use initials): DM and NB. One night the two of them were watching an old episode of "Dragnet" that involved a kidnapping with a ransom. Both guys agreed the perps bungled it and they would do a much better job. Thus a half-baked plan was hatched to kill Ron and demand a ransom from his parents, which they did. 

I have to pause here to contemplate the pure evilness of knowing that their son is dead (because they killed him) and calling Ron's parents and making a ransom demand anyway. Sick, sick bastards. 

From the start, police were suspicious of both men but had no evidence. DM was especially a real nutcase, faking his own kidnapping and going on the run. NB was arrested for armed robbery and DM took advantage to go to the police and offer up testimony against his ex-roommate in exchange for a deal. NB was charged and sentenced to life in prison. All DM had to do was keep his mouth shut and he would have skated, but he couldn't manage that, so he too was eventually arrested, charged, and sentenced. 

Sadly, the governor of California commuted DM's sentence and he's now a free man. NB is also making his own case to be let out of prison early. 

And the evilness just continues. Rest in peace, Ron. You and your family deserved so much better.  

From the Shadow of the Blues

 

I swear I've been reading over the last three weeks. Not *finishing*, obviously, but reading. I'm in the middle of three gigantic books I keep toggling between, trying desperately to finish before their dues dates (spoiler alert: I won't). 

This one was a short and quick read, so I knocked it out this weekend just so I wouldn't feel like I wasn't getting anything finished. I originally put it on hold thinking it was about John Lee Hooker, Sr., the great blues musician, and was slightly disappointed when I realized it's actually about his son. It turned out all right. His story was interesting, too. 

Junior was raised in Detroit in the 1950s and got hooked on cigarettes, alcohol, and heroin at an early age. He spent over half his life in various prisons for stealing and running con games in order to feed his habits. He ended up dedicating his life to God and became a preacher. 

Reading about how he literally robbed everyone in his family time and time again (his mother and sisters used to take their purses with them into the bathroom so he couldn't take money out of their wallets) and they still kept forgiving him and trying to help him was wild to me. I'm really glad he's in a better state of mind now, living and preaching in Germany and hopefully inspiring others to stop their bad behavior. 

Now I just need to find a biography about his dad...

Texasville

 

I've read "Texasville" many times before. The first time I read it as a teenager, I stayed up all night to finish it and was laughing out loud and was afraid I was going to wake up everyone in the house. Since then it's always been one of my favorite go-tos when I need a pick me up. 

I don't know why, but this time around it didn't seem very funny. Maybe because I'm the same age, or (gulp) older than the main characters. I was kind of surprised when I looked at other reviews for this book online how many people didn't like it at all. It's a sequel to "The Last Picture Show", so I could see how folks would be disappointed if they were expecting a story like "TLPS". "The Last Picture Show" is poignant and sad and touching. "Texasville" is the opposite: irreverent and at times nonsensical. 

Duane, one of the protagonists from "TLPS", is almost 50 and thinks everyone in the small town of Thalia has gone insane. He and his wife, Karla, have four kids and they're all trouble in their own ways. Dickie, who's twenty-one, sells drugs and is having affairs with at least two married women twice his age. Nellie, who's nineteen, has been married and divorced three times and has two kids. The twins, Jack and Julie, get kicked out of camp for various horrible things. Everyone in town is switching marital partners seemingly at random. Duane became very rich during the 70s, but now in the mid-eighties the price of oil has dropped and he's facing bankruptcy. On top of all that, the county is nearing its Centennial, and Duane is in charge of the thing. He spends a lot of time in his hot tub, shooting his gun at a two story doghouse he bought for his dog, who won't go near it. He's sad and miserable all the time and his wife and ex-girlfriend, Jacy, have become besties and constantly pick on him. 

I kind of felt for Duane. Everyone's behavior was appalling. No wonder he was so upset all the time. Everyone in town seemed to think his kids were charming and lively but I thought they were horrid little brats. Oh well. Hopefully in another decade or so when I reread it, it'll be funny again.  

Carson the Magnificent

 

I've read other biographies about Johnny Carson, but I really liked the writing style of this one. Zehme started the bio and then passed away before he could finish it, so Thomas tied it up. I don't know if it was Thomas' writing style or Zehme's. Either way, it was slightly snarky and witty. 

Ironically enough, as I was reading this book I discovered one of those channels that shows old TV shows, Antenna TV, shows episodes of "The Tonight Show", so I watched a few and they hold up. Still hilarious. I watched one where he interviewed Michael Landon and Landon was a lot funnier than I ever imagined. 

It's wild to imagine that he had 17 million people watching his show every night at one point. And that was before VHS and DVR, so they were watching it live. He really did own late night television and everything that has come after him has been a pale imitation. Honestly, I think NBC would be better off just showing Carson reruns than whatever they have on the air now at night (I have no idea, I haven't stayed up past 10 in about a decade). While it wasn't an all-encompassing biography (mostly focused on the show), it was still fun and I enjoyed it. 

Idea Man; Killer Story

 

After reading Bill Gates' autobiography, I thought it only fair to hear from his cofounder, Paul Allen, who sadly passed away in 2018. He wrote this book in 2011, and I was pretty impressed with how much he predicted, even back in the 70s: everyone carrying around their own calculator sized computer, AI, and streaming services surpassing cable TV. He was a bit off the mark about print books going away (he did say in 20 years, so he still has six years to go, but I don't think it's going to happen that soon). He truly was an idea man. 

Paul left Microsoft in 1983 after a health scare made him realize he wanted to live his life, not be cooped up in an office 20 hours a day having Bill yell at him. He had his issues with Bill but he also admitted that he brought out the best in him and he never had another partnership so successful. 

Paul wisely hung onto the majority of his Microsoft stock, so when it went public in 1986 he was a multi-millionaire overnight. Then a multi-billionaire. He used his wealth to enjoy his life, and even though it was short, it sounded like he really did pack the most into it that he could. He bought sports teams, yachts, and funded museums, charities, and commercial spacecraft. He seemed to have an interest in a million different things and spread his money around. It was a fascinating book. 

One might think, given my penchant for true crime books, that I also love true crime television. Not so. While I do occasionally enjoy a well made documentary on true crime, I find the TV shows so repetitive. It seems like it's always spouses cheating and killing each other. It depresses me that there are so many murders out there. 

At any rate, Claire was a producer for 48 Hours and hunted down stories for the show. She would attend trials and try to set up interviews with the main players, pitching it to the network. It sounds like a nightmare job to me, to be honest. Going up to complete strangers who are most likely grieving in some way and trying to set up an interview? No thank you.  

The cases she wrote about were interesting enough, but the real story was the behind the scenes details about how she researched and procured the interviews, pitched the show, and everything in between. It was interesting, but it didn't change my opinion about true crime TV.