Room 1219; Street Dreams, The Whole Enchilada

"Room 1219" by Greg Merritt was a fascinating look at the Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle case of the early 1920s. Arbuckle was tried three times (the first two juries were hung) for the manslaughter of actress Virginia Rappe, who died of a ruptured bladder a few days after a party Arbuckle had over Labor Day weekend in San Francisco. The Arbuckle case changed Hollywood: up until that point in time, the studios controlled the press and the image of Hollywood was of golden men and women who never did anything wrong. After Arbuckle the media started printing Hollywood scandals and gossip, and the studios scrambled to clean up their image. Poor Arbuckle, although acquitted of any wrongdoing, never gained back the goodwill and fame he enjoyed before the scandal, and died young of a heart attack. Only two people really know what happened in that room that day, but the evidence leans towards Arbuckle not having done anything to hurt Virginia Rappe.

"Street Dreams" by Faye Kellerman was great, I can't wait to read more of her books. Cindy finds a newborn discarded in a dumpster and sets out to find out what happened to her parents. She finds the mother easily enough, a young woman with Down's Syndrome who witnessed her boyfriend being beat up six months early and she was raped by a gang of thugs. No one has seen her boyfriend, David, since. Cindy, with her dad's help, set out to get to the bottom of a horrible crime. It was well written and I really liked the characters, they seem like the kind of people I'd like to just hang out with.

"The Whole Enchilada" by Diane Mott Davidson is her 14th Goldy Schultz mystery. I honestly don't know why I keep reading them, I don't like them. I'm just dumb like that, I guess. Once again, I like the characters, and I think that's why I keep reading. They mysteries are always really hard to figure out and feature new characters I can't keep track of. And since I went vegan I can't really make any of her recipes anymore. But I like Goldy, and Marla, and Tom, and Julian, and Arch. So I keep reading :)