Edgar A. Poe: a Life; L.A. Coroner

 

The picture of the cover of this book does not do it justice. The cover in real life is shimmery and a bit purply and is just gorgeous. 

At any rate. Mr. Poe! What a treasure he was. It's amazing to think of all that he wrote in such a short life. So much tragedy. His father abandoned the family and his mother died when he was a little guy, leaving behind Edgar, his older brother Henry, and his younger sister, Rosalie. Henry went to live with his grandparents and Edgar and his sister were farmed out to two different families, Edgar of course going to the Allan family. He was a smart kid who got along well with his adopted mother but he and his adopted father clashed and had a huge falling out over money when Edgar was at West Point. Gambling debts caught up to him and Allan was reluctant to keep bailing him out. 

Money problem plagued Poe his entire life. He was always in debt. He was also a romantic who fell in love quickly and often. He married Virginia Clemm, his cousin, who died of tuberculosis, leaving Edgar devastated. His own death, most likely from alcohol abuse, remains shrouded in mystery. While we often think of Poe as a melancholy, solitary man sitting alone in a garret with a raven cawing from the doorframe, he was actually a well liked and athletic man. Rereading some of his poetry, I'm just in awe of how brilliantly he was able to convey thoughts and feelings in so few words. I love his Dupin mysteries, they're so well written. It was a beautiful, well done tribute to not just an author but a man.

Thomas Noguchi was well known as the "coroner to the stars". Working for L.A. County, he was on the scene when many well known public figures died, from Marilyn Monroe to Natalie Wood. His autopsy of Robert F. Kennedy was lauded by his professional colleagues as "perfect". 

The County Board of Supervisors still wanted him out in 1969 because of his public image. Noguchi was a publicity hound who loved being interviewed and having his name in the paper. They forced his resignation but then Noguchi decided to fight for his job and after a lengthy process was reinstated with backpay. He felt he was untouchable politically after that and started concentrating on his own consulting business, using the County's funds, facilities, and work time to earn money on the side. Noguchi was demoted from Chief Coroner in the early '80s but didn't retire until 1999. 

Beware the pitfalls of hubris. 

With a Vengeance

 

I enjoyed Riley Sager's latest, "With a Vengeance". It had a bit of a "Murder on the Orient Express" feel to it, but honestly any mystery or thriller involving a train is going to get that comparison. Christie set the bar high with that one. 

Six people receive an invitation to take a train from Philadelphia to Chicago from a mysterious, unknown person. Once they board the train, which is empty except for them, they learn why: Anna Matheson. Anna is the daughter of the man who used to own the railroad and helped design the Philadelphia Phoenix. He was destroyed in WWII when one of his trains which was carrying a cargo of soldiers and weapons blew up, killing dozens of young men, including his own son, Tommy. Art Matheson went to prison, where he was stabbed to death. His wife was so distraught she killed herself, leaving Anna with the wreckage of her once happy family. 

Anna's aunt left her proof that the six people on the train conspired with her father's chief competitor, Kenneth Wentworth, to destroy him and now Anna wants her vengeance. 

I can't say too much more without ruining it but the ending was so logical that of course I didn't figure it out. Once it was revealed I had an "oh, yes, of course!" moment. It was a great book, very hard to put down. 

Marble Hall Murders; Stone of Farewell

 

"Marble Hall Murders" is the third Horowitz book featuring editor Susan, after "Magpie Murders" and "Moonflower Murders". After I reread what I posted about those two books, I was ready to go.

Susan moves back to London after breaking up with her boyfriend in Crete. She's freelancing at a new publishing house (since Charles Cloverleaf is in prison for killing Alan Conway and trying to kill her). They've decided to continue the Atticus Pund series and have hired Eliot Crace to write them. Eliot is the grandson of Miriam Crace, who was famous for writing a series of children's books about a family named the Littles. 

Much like Conway, Eliot puts little puzzles and clues into the story. "Pund's Last Case" takes place at the summer home of wealthy Lady Chalfont in the south of France. The characters are all based on Eliot's own family and Susan is leery of publishing a "revenge" novel since Eliot is hellbent on tearing down his famous grandmother's sainthood. According to Eliot (and many of the family members Susan is able to talk to) Miriam Crace was a horrible human being and everyone was glad she died. Horowitz did a masterful job of incorporating the story within the story this time around as well as planting clues for the reader along the way (I won't pretend I caught them all, I'm sure I didn't, but I did get a few and I'm pretty darn proud of myself). It was really well done, I enjoyed it. 

I read the first book in the series, "The Dragonbone Chair", two years ago and meant to finish up the rest of it but unfortunately life got in the way (not to mention these books are like 1,000 pages long. Jeez). 

I think I actually enjoyed this book more than the first one. It seemed to have more action and I'm more familiar with the characters now. I'm not even going to attempt to sum up the story (see above re: 1,000 pages) but it was fun. And someday I'll get to book three!

Finlay Donovan Digs Her Own Grave

 

A body is discovered in the garden of Finlay's neighbor from across the street, Mrs. Haggerty. A garden that was planted by Finlay's philandering ex-husband, Steven. Oh, and the dead guy's widow claims she and Steven had an affair. Combined with all those bodies they found on his sod farm a few months back, the police are pretty convinced Steven is their killer and arrest him. Meanwhile, Mrs. Haggerty decides to move into Finlay's house since the police investigation resulted in a lot of damage to hers. 

Finlay is on a mission to clear her ex-husband of the charges as well as get Mrs. Haggerty's house repaired so she can go home. Oh, and her agent, Sylvia, is coming into town to negotiate a TV deal for Finlay's books and wants "hot cop" Nick to sign on as a consultant. Finlay is, naturally, a little concerned about having Nick consult on a show that is loosely based on her own crimes and secrets. 

It was a lot of fun and had some laugh out loud moments. The mystery of who killed the guy who was buried in Mrs. Haggerty's backyard wasn't really much of a mystery, but it was entertaining. 

Desi Arnaz: the Man Who Invented Television

 

Like most of my generation I grew up watching reruns of "I Love Lucy". Lucille Ball is the first celebrity death I actually remember. 

My dad told me when I was a kid that Desi Arnaz was a genius. He was the one who decided to film "I Love Lucy" and invented the concept of a rerun. Before Desi, my dad said, they would record over shows once they'd been broadcast. No one ever thought anyone would want to watch them again. Desi was a visionary, though. He saw the potential in keeping those shows around. 

I don't think he's gotten enough credit for how much he did for that show (and others). Lucy was the screwball comedienne. Everyone remembers her hiking her skirt up to stomp on grapes, getting drunk on Vitameatavegamin, and stuffing chocolates down her dress. Without straight man Desi, she wouldn't have been nearly as funny. 

It's a shame his philandering and drinking destroyed their marriage. They truly seemed to love each other to the very end, they just couldn't live together. The years of drinking and smoking caught up to both of them: Desi died in 1986 at the age of 69, Lucy followed in 1989. Thanks to the vision of Desi Arnaz, generations that follow will always know who loved Lucy and we get to continue to love her antics.  

Supersonic; Gravedigger's Almanac; Gandolfini

 

I've been reading over the past few weeks, just not *finishing*. I finally finished a few this weekend. Yay, me!

I love Oasis and always found the relationship between brothers Noel and Liam Gallagher funny. I thought Liam was a pompous jackass but it turns out Noel kind of is, too. Their poor mother. Noel was definitely more on task and got frustrated quickly with Liam's antics. Liam made fun of Noel for always going to his hotel room and working on songs instead of partying in the pub like he did, but Noel pointed out that Liam wouldn't have had anything to sing if he didn't. I went back and rewatched the MTV Unplugged (from 1996, I think?), where Noel had to sing because Liam claimed he had a sore throat (Noel said he was just hungover). Liam sat in the balcony, smoking and drinking and heckling Noel, who did a commendable job of singing, considering he had, like, five minutes notice and was not comfortable in that front man role. Then Liam bitched that Noel wanted to sing more and more, which left him nothing to do but shake his tambourine on stage. Well, sweetie, that's on you, isn't it? At any rate, it was funny, even if I didn't know half the slang they used and had to keep looking things up. 

I really enjoyed Potzsch's "Hangman's Daughter" series and I was excited to see this new one by him. It didn't disappoint! I hope he ends up writing more of them. 

Augustin Rothmayer is a gravedigger in Vienna in the 1890s. Herzfeldt is a new inspector to town. Vienna seems to have a serial killer (although the term wasn't coined yet) on the loose: young woman are dying with their throats slashed and stakes shoved into their privates. Herzfeldt is all about modern criminology and collects evidence, takes photos, etc., which doesn't go over well with some of the old fashioned police on the force. Rothmayer calls his attention to a corpse that appears to have been buried alive and Herzfeldt starts thinking the two cases might somehow be connected. 

It was super interesting and I actually guessed the killer before it was revealed, so I was very proud of myself. 

And finally, the late, great James Gandolfini. While I wasn't a huge fan of Bailey's writing style, I powered through because I was interested in Jim's life. 

He seemed to be a genuinely good person. Literally everyone who was interviewed had nothing but amazing things to say about him. He would call up directors after he'd been cast in a project to make sure they didn't want him to bow out. "Are you sure I'm the right person?" he would ask. "There's probably someone else who could do it better". Yes, he had his issues with drugs and alcohol, but who wouldn't, under the pressure of being Tony Soprano for ten years? He bought the crew on that show dinner every Friday night. He dropped everything on Christmas to go to the hospital to be with a friend whose wife was hospitalized unexpectedly. There were a million little stories like that in this book. The world lost a good one the day he died, much, much too soon. RIP, Jim. 

Sister, Sinner

 

Why Aimee Semple McPherson, you ask? Well, it's because I watched the HBO version of "Perry Mason" that aired a few years ago for two seasons. While I loved the art deco architecture and the costumes and the actors, I was disappointed the show didn't stick to Gardner's books. The original show was great in that regard, but it was missing a lot of the fun, flirtatious banter between Perry and Della and Della and Paul. The new show didn't have any of that, either. But what it did have was a storyline about Sister Alice, which was based on Aimee Semple McPherson. 

McPherson was a Pentecostal who founded the Angelus Temple (which just celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2023). McPherson was a charismatic preacher who gained a huge following, not just in Los Angeles, but around the country. She was swimming off Venice Beach one day when she vanished without a trace. Her secretary, who was on the beach with her, sounded the alarm. Divers and police tried to find her to no avail. No body washed ashore. Her mother, who worked with Aimee at the Temple, claimed she'd been "raptured" up to Heaven. 

A month later, Aimee turned up in a border town in Arizona, claiming she'd been kidnapped out of the ocean and held captive. Police were skeptical of her story for many reasons (her garments were clean, no dust or sweat stains, she had her watch and her silk hairnet, she wasn't dehydrated, no one was ever able to find the shack where she was held captive, etc.). Rumor had it that Aimee ran off to Carmel with her married lover for an illicit tryst but was discovered and came back to concoct the kidnapping story. The truth never made its way out. 

Aimee ended up having a falling out with her mother and her daughter and died relatively young. If not for the weird kidnapping interlude her story would have been inspirational. She was groundbreaking in many ways, forging her way in a life that wasn't open to women at the time. Of course she swindled a lot of poor people out of their money while she lived high on the hog, but hey. Details 😂