Elizabeth Taylor: the Grit and Glamour of an Icon

 

I'm a big fan of Elizabeth Taylor, and even more of her fifth (and sixth) husband, Richard Burton. Brower was able to bring out the "realness" of her: she was a human being, a real woman, who just happened to be insanely gorgeous and a talented actress. One of the things that really stayed with me after reading this was how readily she ran towards crises rather than running from them. When Montgomery Clift was in a terrible, disfiguring car accident, she pulled his teeth out of his throat because he was choking on them. When her good friends started getting sick and dying from AIDS, she became an advocate and nursed the ill without being afraid, even in those early days before we knew how the disease was transmitted. She let people try on the Krupp diamond, a 33 karat diamond Richard bought for her. She wore it all the time, even when she was just lounging at home. In short, Elizabeth was the type of gal who would wear a tiara to work for the heck of it. Like someone else I know 😄

Nothing More to Tell; Directed by James Burrows

I always enjoy Karen McManus's books, and this one was no exception. I thought I had it figured out (was a little smug about it, in fact) and, as always, I was completely wrong 😀

Brynn and her family are moving back to Sturgis, Massachusetts, and she'll be attending the same school she used to attend, St. Ambrose. The year Brynn moved, a popular teacher named Mr. Larkin was found murdered in the woods. Three students happened across the body: Shane, a popular rich kid, Charlotte, another rich girl who was in love with Shane, and Tripp, a scholarship kid who was friends with Brynn until just a few days before Mr. Larkin was killed. Tripp embarrassed Brynn in gym, accusing her of stalking him, and they never spoke again.

Mr. Larkin's murder was never solved, and now that Brynn is a senior she's interning on a true crime podcast called Motive and she's pitched an episode about his murder. She's given the green light, so she starts investigating. 

Everyone is lying, everyone has secrets, lots of red herrings and near misses. The conclusion was pretty good. It was a fast paced read with lots of twists. 

The first 2/3s or so of "Directed by James Burrows" was pretty good. He talked about Taxi and Cheers and Frasier, all excellent shows that I've watched and enjoyed. Once he got to Friends and Will and Grace, I was lost. I've never seen either show (it shocks people my age when I admit I never watched Friends. My sister made me watch an episode once and I was so confused, I thought two of the main characters were dating, based on how they were behaving, and she told me they were siblings). I know what Friends is about, I had no idea about Will and Grace. I know now, obviously, after reading his book. I liked that he didn't have anything bad to say about anyone he worked with, and I'm sure, Hollywood being Hollywood, he worked with some real ornery folks, but you would never know it. He was very gracious to everyone. 

I'm totally in the mood to go rewatch Taxi, though 😊

Twist of the Knife; Helltown

 

I love Anthony Horowitz's books. They're so clever. 

The fourth Horowitz/Hawthorne collaboration finds Anthony a suspect when a theater critic is brutally stabbed. She panned Anthony's new play on opening night, and she happened to be stabbed with a dagger that was gifted to everyone in the cast. Anthony was careless enough to leave his dagger in the theater (after getting his fingerprints all over it). Anthony is arrested and spends a night in jail being questioned. His old friend Hawthorne comes to get him out and the two of them race to figure out who killed Throsby the critic before Anthony ends up in serious trouble. It was fast paced and thrilling and as usual, I didn't see the end coming but thoroughly enjoyed it. 

I picked up "Helltown" because hey, true crime, not realizing until the very end that it was about the same killer talked about in a book I read almost two years ago, "The Babysitter". 

Tony Costa brutally butchered at least four young women in Cape Cod in 1968/69, burying their remains in the woods. His arrest was giant news, garnering the attention of two local authors, Norman Mailer and Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. 

Then the Manson murders happened in the summer of '69, and pushed Costa off the front page. The DA, who had dreams of making a political career out of prosecuting the Vampire of Cape Cod, ended up forgotten (that had more to do with how he handled Ted Kennedy's car accident, though). Costa ended up committing suicide after being sentenced to life in prison for his crimes. It was a truly heartbreaking story. Those poor young women suffered, and Costa put their loved ones through hell. Just sickening. 
 

Three-Edged Sword

 

The third book in the Riley Wolfe series by Jeff Lindsay was pretty good. A shady government paper pusher named Prescott kidnaps Riley's mom and his good friend, Monique (who Riley had in long-term care: his mom has been in a coma for years and Monique suffered a traumatic brain injury after their last job together) so he could blackmail Riley into stealing a flash drive from a Lithuanian black ops guy. He's got it in a crazy former missile silo in Russia with every protective measure you can think of. No problem for Riley, of course. It was fast paced and exciting and I really enjoyed the ending. 

American Demon; I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell

 

"American Demon" was about the Cleveland Torso Killer (who was never caught) and the downfall of America's golden boy, Eliot Ness. 

Ness was riding high off of his success of bringing down Al Capone when J. Edgar Hoover batted him back down. Not interested in having someone on the FBI who got more press than he did, Hoover refused to entertain Ness's application. Ness moved on to become the safety director of Cleveland. He had a good start, cleaning out corrupt cops and shutting down illegal gambling dens, but his luck ran out when it came to trying to catch the killer who was cutting people up and leaving them in dumps. Combine that with his fame going to his head, and Ness started making some unfortunate career ending mistakes. He ended up resigning a step ahead of being fired in disgrace (he caused a car accident after imbibing). Ness's life ended rather anti-climatically, just a few months before the book based (loosely) on his life, "The Untouchables" came out. He died of a heart attack, poor and forgotten. A sad ending to a promising start. He just peaked too soon. As for the Torso Killer--many theories over the years but no resolutions. 

After "American Demon" I wanted something light and funny, so I picked up a book I own and have read numerous times, "I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell" by Tucker Max (and I say this with a smidge of shame). 

Max started a website in the early 2000s, regaling the internet with stories about his drunken debauchery. He ended up making a pretty good career for a time off his tales of drinking and sleeping around before he grew up and stopped. Believe it or not, he's married now and has four kids and is living on some compound in Texas where he's busy preparing for the end of civilization as we know it. 

Not would I would have predicted for Tucker, but hey, to each his own. While I enjoy his stories I know I've grown up because they no longer make me laugh like they did when I was in my late twenties.