Who Killed These Girls?; The Case of the Shapely Shadow

 

I watched the new Netflix documentary a few weeks ago on the Yogurt Shop Murders and they interviewed Lowry. When she mentioned she wrote a book I immediately said: "Book?" and picked up my phone to put it on hold. Luckily one of the libraries I frequent had a copy. 

On December 6, 1991, four teenage girls were brutally murdered in the back of an I Can't Believe It's Yogurt! shop in Austin, Texas. The killer(s) then set the building on fire. Firefighters arrived to put it out and in the wreckage found the girls' bodies. 

From a police detective's point of view, it was a nightmare. The evidence was either burned or washed away, the building was completely soaked. They did manage to collect some things that ended up helping them finally solve the case LAST WEEK (wild, just wild). Of course this book was written before the killer's identity was revealed. Advances in DNA technology led to the testing of material found under Amy's fingernails and matched a serial killer who committed suicide in 1999.  

It is, and remains, a truly heartbreaking story because those four young women on the cusp of life were not the only victims. The police ended up arresting four young men and two of them went to prison for ten years before being released due to lack of evidence and the way their trials were mishandled. They both made false confessions, which admittedly didn't look good for them, but they also both got a lot of the facts wrong. 

I know the pressure must have been immense and it's unfortunate that it happened that way and stole all those years from those boys. My dad hated the police and thought everyone in prison was innocent because all the police do is lie. I had so many arguments with him about how not *every* cop is crooked. When things like this happen it just reinforces that negative stereotype. 

Hopefully the families of Amy, Jennifer, Sarah, and Eliza have some peace now, knowing that the man who murdered their girls is dead. 

I needed something light and quick, so I turned to a perineal favorite, Perry Mason. I know, I just reread it in January of 2024, but that's okay. It was fun to revisit. Here's the review I posted then: 

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? 

 

Ready for My Close Up

 

A behind the scenes look at the making of the Hollywood classic, "Sunset Boulevard", starring silent film star Gloria Swanson as Norma Desmond, a washed up actress of a forgotten era, rambling around a falling down mansion, waiting for her big comeback. It also starred William Holden as an aspiring screenwriter who ends up being Norma's kept man. 

It was a fun look at how the movie was written, cast, and made. He did pad the book out a bit by describing multiple scenes in detail (without adding anything) as well as repeating himself a few times (he *really* loved the suit salesman's line about taking the vicuna wool, since the lady is paying, humiliating Joe Gillis, her paramour. He mentioned it many times). But all in all it was a fun read. I really enjoy these books about famous films. 

Can You Solve the Murder?

 

A Choose Your Own Adventure type murder mystery? Yes, please! What fun!

And it was fun. I already knew that I am terrible at figuring out mysteries. Literally, hit me over the head with clues and I get to the end and I'm almost always stunned. So I wasn't terribly surprised that I had an awfully hard time solving the mystery. But that's okay. Having to follow along and keep track of clues in a notebook made me really pay attention more than I normally would and I went back and reread a lot of pages to see if I missed anything. 

Harry Kennedy is murdered at a wellness retreat known as Elysium. There are a number of suspects. Almost everyone is lying in some way. There are also limitations on how many people you can interview, so you get the option to pick 3 of the 4 and of course if you don't pick the right one you miss valuable clues. 

Like I said, it was a lot of fun and the ending made sense. I hope he writes more of them. I enjoyed it. 

Road Dogs

 

A newer Leonard book (I was startled when they started talking about things that happened in the 1990s and 2000s, I'm so used to his books taking place in the '60s and '70s). 

Jack Foley is in prison for robbing banks when he meets Cundo and they become "road dogs", which is prison speak for watching each other's backs. Cundo ends up paying his high priced attorney to get a deal for Jack and he gets out early. Cundo asks him to go to Venice (California), where Cundo owns several mansions, and keep an eye on his wife, Dawn, until he gets out soon. 

Jack doesn't like being beholden to anyone, so he's trying to think of a way to pay Cundo back without robbing a bank. A local cop hers he's out and starts keeping an eye on him, assuming he'll go back to the life. Meanwhile, Jack "keeps an eye" on Dawn by sleeping with her. I don't think that's what Cundo had in mind. At any rate, Cundo gets out of prison and returns to Venice, but Dawn has plans. I don't want to spoil it, but the ending was great. 

Los Angeles Before the Freeways

 

My dad grew up in L.A. in the 1950s, so I grew up hearing stories about what it looked like before everything was a parking lot or a freeway. This was a fun book of mostly photos of Los Angeles during the 1940s and '50s, along with lots of historical information about the buildings owners and architects. It was just sad that almost every photo said the building was torn down at some point. Much like Las Vegas, we really don't seem to want to hang onto our historical places in Los Angeles. I enjoyed seeing the L.A. of some of my favorite authors, like Erle Stanley Gardner and James Ellroy. 

Whistle; Unknown Man No 89

 

I've never read any of Barclay's other books but judging by the comments online this one is a departure that not everyone liked. 

I did, and maybe it's because I've never read anything of his before. Yes, it bore a striking resemblance to "Needful Things" by Stephen King, but it was still fun and kept me reading. I had a hard time putting it down. 

In 2001, a new model train shop opens up in Lucknow, Vermont. In 2025 (or thereabouts) children's book author Annie is looking to get away from New York City after the tragic death of her husband in a hit and run. Her agent rents her a great house in upstate New York and she and her young son, Charlie, go and hope to heal. Charlie finds a model train set in the shed out back and he's enchanted by it, and Annie encourages his enthusiasm. 

The book is told from alternating points of view, 2001 and 2025. In 2001 the Chief of Police, Harry, is wondering why so many terrible things are happening in his small town: a gas barbeque blows up and kills a young father making birthday dinner for his son, a woman commits suicide, another young man lights himself on fire. The only link? They all had trains from Mr. Choo-Choo's shop. 

I don't want to give away too much but I thought the ending was quite clever and satisfying. Sure, there were a few holes that didn't make sense but I'm willing to suspend disbelief for fiction (to an extent). I would be glad if Barclay continues to write these darker stories. 

Another fun Elmore Leonard: "Unknown Man No. 89". Jack Ryan (I'm assuming no relation to Clancy's Jack Ryan) is a somewhat recovering alcoholic in Detroit who works as a process server. He's hired by a man named Mr. Perez to find someone named Bobby Leary. Bobby's father put stock in his name when he was a baby, and now that stock is worth a good amount of money. Mr. Perez is making an offer to tell Leary about the stock in exchange for a small finder's fee. 

Turns out Bobby is dead but he has a wife, Denise, and she becomes the focus of Ryan's search. But Ryan is wary of Mr. Perez and what kind of game he's playing. He suspects he's trying to cheat Denise out of what is rightfully hers (spoiler alert: Ryan is correct). 

It was a good story and I liked the ending. Leonard's endings are always unusual, never quite sure if it is good or bad. 

The Carpool Detectives

 

A few years back I heard about web sleuths: people who use the power of the internet for good, to help solve cold cases. I thought it was something I could do but I got quickly disheartened by the sheer number of unsolved cases and realized it wasn't for me. These four women did it, though, which is so amazing!

Shortly before the pandemic started, Marissa, a stay at home mom, was looking to get back into the workforce and took an investigative journalism class. While watching some B roll footage, she saw a police helicopter retrieval of an SUV where the two passengers had been found dead. Surprisingly, it was ruled a homicide and the case was still unsolved, fifteen years later. 

Once COVID kicked in, Marissa connected with three other like minded women (Jeannie, Samira, and Nicole) who wanted to solve the case of Joel and Angela Watkins (not their real names). With dogged persistence they were actually able to find out what happened to the couple. It was an incredible story.