So, true to form, I reread the second book in the Series of Unfortunate Events titled "The Reptile Room". After proving to the dimwitted adults that Count Olaf really was after their fortune, the Baudelaire orphans are sent to live with their Uncle Monty, who studies snakes. At first things are great: Uncle Monty is a wonderful guardian who takes good care of the kids and is planning a big snake hunting expedition to Peru. Right before they are set to leave, his new assistant shows up: Stephano. Staphano is clearly Count Olaf in disguise, but the kids can't get Uncle Monty alone long enough to explain the dire situation to him. Sadly, Olaf murders Monty and the kids are shipped off to live with yet another guardian.
I read Harold Schechter's "Depraved" years ago (in fact, I might own it...) and of course Erik Larson's "Devil in the White City" (which I know I own). H. H. Holmes has always fascinated me. Selzer exhaustively researched the man and his crimes, and debunked a lot of the theories that Schechter and Larson put forth, namely that Holmes built his "castle" in Chicago to use as a hotel to lure innocent tourists to their deaths in one of his many hidden rooms. The building was built long before the World's Fair, and was never used as a hotel. Selzer contends that Holmes was a con artist, not a serial killer, and although he most certainly did kill some of the people he was accused of murdering, he certainly didn't murder hundreds. It was well written and quite fascinating.
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