In Light of All Darkness; The Case of the Shapely Shadow; Charles III: the Making of a King

 

This one was really sad. I was a teenager when Polly Klaas was kidnapped, not much older than her. I remember everyone looking for her, in those pre-Amber Alert days. And I remember when they found her murdered body, and the trial of her killer (I feel no need to type his name, it's easy enough to look up if someone wants to know). 

Polly was a super low risk victim. In her bedroom with two other girls, in her own house, with her mother sleeping in the next room. A stranger abduction, which is really rare. And her killer was evasive and not at all forthcoming about how he chose Polly or what he did to her before he killed her. 

This book focused on the investigation and the personnel who searched night and day for Polly, hoping against hope to bring her home alive. It was very well told and extremely powerful. Her father, Marc, started a foundation to help other missing children and their families, while her mother retreated into anonymity. Everyone who had any contact with this case seemed to be forever changed by it. 

I'm almost done with the Perry Mason books, which seems hard to believe. The ones from the 60s don't have as much detail or originality as the ones from the 50s. They're still pretty good, but not as good. 

Janice comes to Perry's office with a heavy suitcase. Her boss, Morley Theilman (okay, Gardner, you're just making up names now), asked her to put it in a specific locker. She wants to open it to see what's in it and kept one of the keys that came with it when she bought it for him. They open it up and the suitcase is crammed with $20 bills. Perry and Della quickly turn on separate dictation machines and start reading as many numbers as they can before Perry sends Della with Janice to deposit the suitcase in the locker and send the key to an A.B. Vidal. Janice thinks Vidal is blackmailing her boss (she found a blackmail letter in his trash). 

Janice tells Perry that Theilman is missing, and naturally he turns up murdered (shockingly, neither Perry nor Paul find the body). Janice is a suspect, as are Theilman's first and second wives (the man got around). The key to the whole thing is the $20 bill a cab driver in Vegas is carrying, one of the bills from the suitcase. Who gave it to him and how did they get it? 

I feel guilty even including this one, because it was 99% pictures with very little text (in my defense, when I put it on hold I thought it was going to be a more traditional biography). It was mildly interesting to see King Charles throughout the years, but without much context it really doesn't have much going for it.