Starkweather; The Mysterious Case of Rudolf Diesel; The Bottoms

 

A couple of more on brand titles for me. First up, "Starkweather" by Harry N. MacLean. I saw a made for TV miniseries when I was a teenager about Charlie Starkweather and Caril Fugate, not to mention Stephen King was very taken with the crimes they (or just Charlie) committed and wrote about his fascination. So Starkweather became one of those topics I try to read as much about as I can. 

For those of you who don't know, 19 year old Charlie Starkweather went on a 8 day killing spree in 1958, taking his 14 year old girlfriend, Caril Fugate, along with him. Once the duo was caught, they both stood trial and were convicted of murder. Charlie got the electric chair, and Caril was sentenced to life in prison, but was paroled in 1976 and went on to lead a relatively quiet life.  

MacLean makes a pretty good argument that Caril most likely didn't actually kill anyone and was in fact so traumatized by watching Charlie blow people away with reckless disregard that she couldn't even form the thought to escape when the coast was clear. It was well written and very interesting. 

This one was interesting, too. Rudolf Diesel, of course, developed the diesel engine. He was universally known as a brilliant inventor and engineer. He disappeared off of a ship in 1913, just as the world was on the brink of war. His corpse was supposedly found floating in the ocean. The sailors who found him stripped the body of the items in his pockets and let the body sink into the ocean, never to be seen again. The items taken were identified as Diesel's. 

The official verdict was suicide, which seemed uncharismatic of him. Brunt has a great theory that he faked his death to defect from Germany and go to Canada and work for the British Navy designing diesel submarines. It's a plausible theory. 

And finally, Joe Lansdale's "The Bottoms". It's an older book, set in the 1930s. Harry lives with his mom, dad, and younger sister, Tom, in East Texas. They have a little farm and his dad owns a barber shop in town and is also the constable. Harry and Tom find a dead body tied up in a tree. Since the dead woman is black, Jacob (Harry's dad) takes her to the black doctor, who theorizes about her murder. There have been some others who were killed in a similar fashion and tied up. 

Lansdale plants many clues along the way. His characters are always fully fleshed out and entertaining. It was a good read.