Now or Never; Beautiful Little Fools

 

The latest Janet Evanovich book about Stephanie Plum was pretty good, even if she did marry the wrong guy in the end. 

At the end of the last book, Stephanie finds herself in quite the quandary: both Joe and Ranger have proposed, and she said yes to both. Now she has to figure out what to do. How to choose? Oh, and she might be pregnant, too. What a mess!

There was the usual round of trying to do her actual job, with a lot of disasters sprinkled in. According to the last page of the book, it's not the end of Stephanie's story, so we'll see how married life treats her. 

A few weeks ago, one of my colleagues came by and asked me if there were any writers I thought were overrated. Without hesitating, I responded: "F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway". Part of my lack of enthusiasm stems from the fact that they are often lumped in with William Faulkner, based on the time they wrote. I had to read "The Great Gatsby" three times as an undergrad, and I hated it more each time I read it. Seriously, just despised it. 

This one seemed interesting, though. I wondered what a different writer would do with Fitzgerald's characters, and how the story would look told from their point of view. I actually enjoyed it more than I thought I would. 

Dance with the Devil

 

I've been meaning to read this one ever since I saw the "Dear Zachary" documentary a few years ago. I'm going to spoil both movie and book, so here goes. 

In 2001, David and Kate Bagby were devastated to learn of their son, Andrew's, brutal murder. Andrew was their only child, beloved and cherished. A great guy with wonderful parents, universally loved. They had no idea who would do such a horrible thing. David was very matter of fact: they intended to go out to Pennsylvania, collect their son's ashes, find out who killed him, and then return home to California and kill themselves because they no longer had a reason to live. 

It turned out that Andrew's ex-girlfriend seemed the most likely suspect, but before the police could arrest her, she fled to her native Canada (I'm not going to mention her by name). David and Kate quit their jobs, packed up their lives, and moved to Canada, first to oversee the extradition hearings, but then later to be near their grandson. Yes, the monster that murdered their baby was having his baby. 

The strength and courage they displayed is positively remarkable. They had to be civil with this woman, knowing full well she murdered their child, in order to spend time with their only grandchild, Zachary. They sucked up their revulsion and did it, and as a result they fell in love with that sweet baby, and Zachary with them. To the point where he preferred Kate to his own mother. And why wouldn't he? Kate was a sincere, genuinely loving woman and his birth mother was a goddamn psychopath.  

Time and again, the Canadian justice system failed the Bagbys, and ultimately Zachary, by refusing to see what was right in front of them: that this woman was an evil, stone cold killer. She killed again one last time, drowning herself and Zachary. 

I cannot even begin to fathom an inch of the Bagbys pain. I frankly don't want to. They channeled it into victim advocacy, helping get laws passed in Canada so this type of thing wouldn't happen again. "Dear Zachary" was about Andrew and his wonderful parents and the horrible tragedy, David's book delved deeper into the legal aspects of the case. Even knowing what happened, it was still heartbreaking and horrifying to read it and try to contemplate what they went through. 

I hope they were able to finally find some kind of peace with life, but if they didn't I don't blame them. I don't know how anyone recovers from something like that.  

Guttenberg Bible; Box Office Poison

 

I enjoyed "Time to Thank" so much that I wanted to read Steve's first autobiography. It was a lot of fun! What chutzpah he had. 

He got to Hollywood a few days after graduating from high school, staying with his godfather, Michael. He promised his parents he'd be home in two weeks to start college. But Steve was determined to make it in show biz. He found a way to sneak onto a movie lot and set up an office in an abandoned building, furnished with things from the prop department. He spliced into the phone line and made calls all day long, trying to line up work. He went to the canteen and met a bunch of stars. He was around so much his face became familiar, everyone just assumed he worked there (it might have helped that he lied and said he was Michael Eisner's son). Eventually he started booking gigs, getting bigger and bigger jobs. He bought a house at 21 and a Ferrari. 

He comes across as very grateful and sincere for his good fortune. He reminded me more of his character from "Short Circuit", Newton Crosby, than his "Police Academy" character, loveable scamp Carey Mahoney. Very naive and not too worldly. But very charming and sweet. 

And keeping up with the movie business theme, "Box Office Poison". I don't watch a lot of movies. I hadn't seen any of the ones mentioned in this book, which was hysterical. Robey was perfectly sarcastic, just a great tone. 

Hollywood is a strange place, that's for sure. 

Miss May Does Not Exist

 

I read a book about Mike Nichols a few years ago and really enjoyed it. He and Elaine May started out doing improv together--if you look up their sketches on YouTube they are hysterical. 

I really enjoyed this one. Elaine May is still alive (in her 90s) and pretty much a hermit, which I can certainly admire. Why should she have to give interviews or see people if she doesn't want to? Good for her. 

For a long time she was known as a script doctor in Hollywood. She almost never got credit for the scripts she fixed, but she worked on *huge* movies like "Tootsie". Such a talented woman who was definitely ahead of her time. 

From Here to the Great Unknown

 

Oh gosh, this one was so sad. 

I was stunned when Lisa Marie Presley died so young. I had no idea she was in such bad shape, although I was shocked when I saw her at the Golden Globe awards just a few days before she died. She looked so out of it. Poor thing, she was never the same after her son, Ben, took his own life.

Lisa Marie worked on her autobiography for a long time, recording her memories on audio tape. After she died, her eldest daughter Riley listened to them and finished her story. 

It was brutally honest and very compelling. I had a hard time putting it down. 

Time to Thank

This book hit me in my feels. I cried at the end. It was really heartwarming, just sad. 

They don't make 'em like Stanley Guttenberg anymore. Hardworking, honest, a loving husband and great dad who gave everything to make sure his kids had a good life. He believed in his only son, Steve, giving him money to go out to Hollywood just days after he graduated from high school. Steve ended up achieving his dreams of movie fame, and managed to stay out of trouble. No doubt because of the solid upbringing he experienced. 

Steve adored his father. They had a great relationship. When Stanley's kidneys fail and he needs dialysis, Steve starts making the trek from California to Arizona every week to help take care of his dad. Those road trips gave him time to think about all the good times he shared with him. 

It was a beautiful tribute to a wonderful man, written by his loving son. It made me so grateful for the time and the memories I have of my dad. I only had 42 years with him, and I would have loved 42 more. Steve says something similar in his book. It's never enough time. Cherish it before it's too late. 
 

Fast Charlie; Trailer Park Parable; Behind

 

I love the Hard Case Crime books. This one was great. 

Charlie Swift is out to get revenge for the murder of his boss, Stan, and their crew by a rival, Beggar. He meets some interesting characters along the way and it had a happy-ish ending for a book of this nature. I watched the movie, too, and it was really good (even if Pierce Bronson is too old to play Charlie--in the book he's 40). They changed a lot, but I still enjoyed it. 

A friend at work who rarely reads was reading this one. The books he's recommended have been pretty good, though, so I gave this one a try. It wasn't bad, but it hit a little too close to home sometimes. 

Tyler (not his real name) and his two brothers grew up with an alcoholic, abusive father. When his dad was sober, he was great and Tyler loved hanging out with him. But things come to a head one Christmas Eve when his dad nearly beats his mom to death and goes to prison. Tyler was able to pull himself up out of this bad situation, join the Air Force, and later have a stable career and get married. So many kids in situations like his end up addicts themselves, so it was great to hear that he escaped it. 

And finally, Bentley Little's latest, "Behind". I really wanted to like it. Little has been on and off over the years, and this one was definitely off. Super disappointing. Just very repetitive and boring. 

Alex sees a house behind his house one day, and it brings back a flood of bad memories about his childhood. He also saw a house behind his house back when he was a kid, and not long after that his parents disappeared, never to be heard from again. 

Throughout the book, the main characters kept saying they didn't know how it was going to end, and I felt like Little felt the same way. So he just ended it. It wasn't ambiguous or anything like that, just "I'm tired of writing it, so it's over, the end". 

Book of Lost Names

 

One of the fun things about being a librarian is when you tell people, they will often ask if you've read their favorite book. I started having a lot of unusual foot pain recently, and after all my home remedies didn't work I went to see a podiatrist. When I told her I'm a librarian, she asked if I had read "The Book of Lost Names". I admitted that although I had heard of it, I had not read it and she gushed about it. So I read it.

I really liked it. Eva and her parents are Polish Jews living in Paris. When it falls to the Nazis, her father is arrested but Eva and her mother manage to escape and head towards Switzerland. They don't quite make it, but they do land in a little town in the mountains and Eva discovers she had a talent for forging the stamps on documents. She joins an underground ring of document forgers and starts creating new identities for Jewish children to help them escape the Germans. Eva doesn't want these children's identities to be forgotten so she and her fellow forger, Remy, create a code in a book kept in the library where they work. 

It was very engaging, I had a hard time putting it down. I really liked Harmel's writing style.  

Beyond the Throne

 

The actors on "Game of Thrones" did such a terrific job, especially in the last season with the absolutely awful material they were given to work with. 

Kristian Nairn, who played Hodor (HODOR!!) was such a great actor who brought a challenging character to life. Hodor only spoke one word, "hodor", over and over again, and yet Nairn was able to convey his sweetness and loyalty. 

Nairn himself is an interesting person. He grew up in Ireland, raised by a single mom. He worked (and actually continues to work) as a popular DJ. I enjoyed hearing his story and his experiences working on the show. 

Why We Love Football; Dark Tide

 

Posnanski counts down the top 100 moments in football history. He had a lot of good ones on here, ones I fondly remembered. He did, however, miss the first Lambeau leap, and I think that should have been included. Of course it's impossible to include everything. Football is full of amazing moments. There are definitely more than 100 reasons to love it. 

On that note...GO PACK GO!! 😊

"Dark Tide" was not what I was expecting, and yet I really couldn't put it down. It was very well written and compelling. 

Edna Cowell is Ted Bundy's cousin. They were close when they were children, Ted being the same age as Edna's older brother. When Ted was arrested for the kidnapping, rape, and murder of the young women that had gone missing around their Washington homes, Edna and her family were sure it was some horrible mistake. Their Ted would never do anything like that. 

It was hard for her to come to terms with the truth. I appreciated hearing about the experience from a family member, we don't normally hear their side of things. Even though we disagree about the death penalty, I found her story engaging. 

Last Night at the Hollywood Canteen

 

"Last Night at the Hollywood Canteen" was pretty good. Set during WWII, the Hollywood Canteen was a place where studio stars and workers volunteered their time to entertain servicemen. 

Annie Laurence is a writer who's new to Hollywood. She followed her former boyfriend and girlfriend out after they left New York for a contract at MGM. Obviously they had to keep their relationship hush hush, but critic Fiona Farris reviewed the last play that Annie wrote and made a joke about her sleeping with both the main stars. Fiona is killed one night at the canteen and Annie is a suspect, along with the rest of the group of friends known as the Ambassador's Club. 

It was a good mystery, I didn't see the ending coming (but then again, I rarely do). I liked the historical element of it, too. Reading about old Hollywood, even in fiction, is usually fun. 

IT

 

I haven't reread "IT" in ages. It was just as engaging as I remembered. 

Seven kids, who call themselves the "losers", come together in Derry, Maine, during the summer of 1958. Bill, Richie, Eddie, Ben, Beverly, Mike, and Stan are the kids who are always being picked on by the bullies: Bill stutters, Richie wears glasses, Eddie has asthma, Ben is overweight, Beverly is poor, Mike is Black, and Stan is Jewish. Henry Bowers and his gang torments them, but there's something much worse going on in Derry. Kids are being brutally murdered, including Bill's younger brother, George. And the losers know what is doing it: an evil entity they call "IT". They go after IT and fight it. The murders stop, and the losers part ways. 

Twenty-seven years later, IT is back and the losers who made a vow to return if IT wasn't really dead are being called home to once again face off against the eternal evil. 

This was the first Stephen King book I read. I was thirteen. It had a very lasting impression on me, and I'm still amazed at what an awesome storyteller King is when he's good. This is one of the great ones. 

The Fixer

 

I feel like I already know Fred Otash from reading James Ellroy's books, but of course those are fiction. 

Manfred met Otash a few years before he died, he lived in the same community as Manfred's parents. Otash was writing a book about his life as an officer with the LAPD, and then as the Private Eye to the stars. Everyone in Hollywood knew if you had a problem that needed immediate, discreet attention, you called Otash. Which is what Peter Lawford did when he discovered Marilyn Monroe's dead body. Otash had the house bugged and heard what happened to her, which Manfred didn't disclose in this book (or I missed it somehow). 

After Otash's sudden death, Manfred tried to get his book published, but no one wanted to touch it. Certain powerful people didn't want their dirty laundry aired. I hope it does see the light of day, I'd love to read it. But for now, this will do. Very fascinating. 

Split Image

 

Poor Tony Perkins. I don't think the man ever really knew *who* he was, he had to pretend to be someone else for so long. 

His father, actor Osgood Perkins, died when he was just a little boy and he was raised by his mother, Janet (everyone called her Jane). In her middle and later years, Jane lived with another woman, and everyone suspected they were lovers. Tony was gay and had boyfriends, like Tab Hunter, but he also dated women. According to a lot of folks the author talked to, Tony was into some wild stuff. Who really knows though? Tony also talked longingly about marriage and children, and when he married photographer Berry Berenson not long after he turned 40, his close friends were mystified. 

Tony and Berry seemed happy, though, and had two sons: Osgood and Elvis. His career never really did reach the peaks he thought he should after "Psycho". He died of AIDS related complications in 1992. Although his wife and sons did not contract the disease, Berry died in 9/11. 

Hunger to Kill

 

This was an interesting true crime book written by the lead detective who ended up catching a serial killer in Ohio. Shawn Grate killed five women (or more, he confessed to five). He kidnapped and abused a sixth woman, who was thankfully able to make a 911 call that led the police to the house. They rescued her, and Detective Mager interviewed Grate. 

What really struck me about this book is how people don't have a support network. For instance, one young woman he murdered had an ex-boyfriend and two young children with him. She left home one day and called several times a week until she just stopped in 2006. Her family and friends assumed she had just moved on, but she was actually dead. Her body wasn't discovered until 2015. That's so incredibly sad to me. Those poor kids, growing up, thinking their mom just abandoned them. No one calling the authorities to report her missing. Everyone just assuming she wrote off her old life. What a horrible tragedy all the way around, and then these sick people who prey on vulnerable people like her. At least he's behind bars where he can't hurt anyone else. 

You're Not Supposed to Die Tonight; Midnight is the Darkest Hour

So two that were kind of meh. "You're Not Supposed to Die Tonight" is an ode to slasher films of the 80s. Charity has an awesome job: she works at Camp Mirror Lake, where fans of the film pay to be scared out of their minds. Charity and her coworkers dress up as victims and killers every night and scare the bejesus out of a new group of paying tourists. I would sincerely apply for this job right now if it really existed. 

What Charity doesn't know is that Camp Mirror Lake isn't just a filming location for a cheesy movie, it really was a summer camp, and a whole lot of people died there over the years until it was shut down. Charity's coworkers are disappearing at an alarming rate. But Charity is the Final Girl in the simulation, and Final Girls don't die. I felt like it was a pretty good ride until close to the ending, the resolution just didn't stick right. 

"Midnight is the Darkest Hour" was a different beast. It was a super slow start, but I did like the somewhat ambiguous ending. 

Ruth lives in Louisiana, in a small, backwards town where her preacher father's word reigns supreme. Her father is an old-school fire and brimstone, women belong in the kitchen, type of a guy, so Ruth wasn't allowed to date or even go off to college. She did make a friend in high school: a boy named Everett, an outsider due to his alcoholic, non-church going father. She and Ever share a terrible secret: they killed a man who attacked her. After high school Ever left town while Ruth moved out of her parent's house and started working at the library. Ever comes back to town every once in a while and Ruth always looks forward to seeing him. 

Several prominent townspeople have been murdered, and Ruth's father stirs up the town against Everett. Ruth is determined to defend him, even if it means throwing away everything she's ever known. 

 

Lost Landmarks of Orange County

 

I love books like these, they're so much fun. I didn't grow up in Orange County, so I don't remember the vast majority of the landmarks Epting discussed, but it was still fun. Even in the almost 16 years that I've lived here, I've seen it change quite a bit. Always growing! I'm sad I missed the lion park, though. I bet that was fun. 

Sugar on the Bones; Guilty Creatures; Horror Movie; Tab Hunter Confidential

 

I do so enjoy the Hap and Leonard books by Lansdale. 

Hap and his wife, Brett, go to meet a potential customer, Minnie. Minnie and Brett take an instant dislike to each other, so they're summarily dismissed. Then Minnie's house burns down with Minnie in it, and Hap and Leonard feel obligated to look for Minnie's missing daughter. They run into some unusual people along the way, and Vanilla Ride makes a guest appearance. 

Twenty some years ago in Tallahassee, Florida, Mike Williams disappeared while fishing. His wife, Denise, and his best friend, Brian, were having an affair and Denise, being a devout Christian, didn't want to get a divorce. So instead she and Brian hatched a plan to murder Mike. 

Sure. Murder's *definitely* better than divorce (/sarcasm).

Mike's mom kept on bugging investigators, and it took 17 years, but finally Brian confessed to the murder and led them to Mike's body. In the meantime he and Denise had married but they were deeply unhappy, the secret between them eating them both up. In exchange for a plea deal, Brian testified against Denise and she was convicted of killing her first husband. 

"Horror Movie" by Paul Tremblay was very similar to "How to Make a Horror Movie and Survive". The unnamed narrator, know only as "The Thin Kid" is the sole survivor of a (small) cast of a horror movie made thirty years earlier. One member of the cast died during filming, the other two afterwards. Before one of them died, she posted clips for the movie (which was never released) and the script online. Now a studio wants to remake it, and they want The Thin Kid's help. 

It had an interesting ending, but I liked "How to Make a Horror Movie" better. 

And finally, "Tab Hunter Confidential". I finished watching "Bates Motel" on Prime (so good!) and then rewatched "Psycho", since I hadn't seen it in ages. Watching "Psycho" reminded me of how much I liked Anthony Perkins, and a quick Google search told me that he and Tab Hunter were an item for a little while. I've never seen a Tab Hunter film, but I was curious what he had to say about Perkins (not much, but all good things). 

It was a quick read, despite its size. Tab (real name Art) ended up in the movie business with the same agent as Rock Hudson. He really loved horses and ice skating, but he eventually came to appreciate acting and the perks that came with it. His career wasn't as glamorous as Hudson's, but he had a good time and was able to invest in horses and antiques. It sounds like he lived a pretty full life and had some happiness, which is really all any of us can hope for. 

How to Make a Horror Movie and Survive

 

This was a fun one. Max Maury always dreamed of being a horror movie director, and in the early 80s he got his wish, directing the "Jack the Knife" series. The third movie has just come out and is a success, but Max isn't happy. He thinks horror should be truly terrifying, and audiences are getting immune to it and finding his movies funny instead of scary. 

He comes across a camera that belonged to director Arthur Golden. Golden shot a horror film with it in which most of the cast and crew were killed in a freak helicopter accident. Max quickly discovers the camera is more powerful than it appears and decides to use it to shoot the most epic horror movie of all time. 

I can't say too much else without giving away all the good stuff, but it was a fun ride. I was surprised to see reviews for this book are pretty mixed online and a lot of people who read it hated the characters and found them unlikeable. I personally didn't feel that way, although I could see how one could. I enjoyed it, and I'm looking forward to reading more of DiLouie's works. 

The Perry Mason Book

 

Wowza. Clocking in at over 2,000 pages, this book is the not only the most comprehensive guide I've ever seen to Perry Mason, it's the most comprehensive guide I've seen ever, about anything. Obviously a labor of love, Davidson researched everything Mason and catalogued it, from the books and original TV show, to comics, the early movies, the TV movies, and radio shows. This was published before the recent HBO series that ran for two seasons, but other than that, it was very complete.

And very interesting. He did a great job of summing up the books and shows without spoilers (something I struggle with quite a bit when I discuss the books on this blog). He gave us some fun behind the scenes tidbits about Gardner, the TV show, and everything in between. It was well worth the effort, I really enjoyed it. 

Prairie Man

 

Not only did I love the "Little House" books as a kid (they're honestly the first books I remember ever reading), I loved the TV show. I'm a little too young to remember when it was brand new, but I watched the reruns (there are so few things I can say I was too young for, so I enjoy it when I can). Who didn't love Almanzo? Blond, blue eyed, tall, good with horses. Seemed like a genuinely nice guy. 

Turns out Dean Butler is like that in real life, too. Or at least he claims to be, but I believe him. He seemed very sincere. 

I had to find an old episode of "The New Gidget" online to see it. I vaguely remembered watching it as a kid. My gosh, it was so 80s it was almost painful. But it was fun. He's done a lot of work behind the camera over the years. It was a nice, quick, nostalgic read. 

James

 

I really enjoyed this one. "Huckleberry Finn" told from the point of view of Jim, the enslaved man. Jim has taught himself reading, writing, and elocution, and holds classes to teach the youngsters how to talk properly around the white folks. In private with each other they use proper grammar and diction. 

Jim hears he is going to be sold, so he runs away and hides out on a nearby island. Huck ends up there, too, after faking his own death. They head out on the river for an adventure. 

I haven't read Huck Finn in a long time, but I think this book stuck pretty close to that story. 

Ultimate 70s Collection

 

I normally love these sort of books that collect information about events and popular culture during a past decade. I would have loved this one more if I'd been able to read it. Seriously, between the -0.5 font and printing black text on a navy background, I found myself squinting, using flashlights, and a magnifying glass on some text before I just gave up in defeat. The entire six page spread on Atari was black text on a dark brown background. I wonder if anyone who put the book together realizes that people who remember the 70s are in their fifties and forties now? Increase the font and try to make it as readable as possible. Good grief. 

That being said, the parts I could read (black text on white backgrounds) were very interesting. I remembered some things, but not everything, and it brought back a lot of fond memories. 

Talented Mr. Ripley

 

I started watching "Ripley" on Netflix (which is really good, by the way), and decided I needed to read the book before I finished watching the show. 

Thomas Ripley is a low-key con artist living in New York and posing as a collection agency in order to deceive people into sending him money. He runs into Herbert Greenleaf at a bar. Herbert is the father of an acquaintance of Ripley's, Dickie Greenleaf. Dickie has gone off to Europe and shows no signs of returning home. Herbert hires Ripley to go find him and convince him to come home. 

You cringe for Ripley a lot in this book, because he's super awkward and doesn't do anything right, yet he somehow manages to make it work and come out on top. He wasn't particularly clever, just lucky and quick on his feet. The suspense lies in whether or not he's going to get caught in his lies and deceptions. I won't spoil it, but there are sequels, so you can make of that what you will about the ending. 

Middle of the Night

 

Riley Sager's latest was great. Ethan's best friend, Billy, disappeared in the middle of the night out of the tent in Ethan's backyard where the 10 year olds were camping. He was never found. The police didn't have a lot of suspects, and the case went cold.

Thirty years later, Ethan is still plagued by nightmares about that night. He's recently moved back into his childhood home after his parents have relocated to Florida. Ironically, all of the original homeowners (other than Billy's parents) are still in the neighborhood. 

Told in alternating chapters between 1994 and 2024, there are plenty of Sager's red herrings and unexpected twists and turns. It had a satisfying conclusion. 

Lowdown Road

 

This was so much fun! 

It's 1974 and cousins Chuck and Dean are on the run from Texas with stolen marijuana, headed for Idaho where Evel Kneviel is planning to jump his motorcycle over a canyon. Hot on their tails are the drug dealer whose weed they stole, a crazy lawman from Texas who's angry they killed his mistress, and a pissed off biker that Chuck puked on after downing a gigantic steak.

If you're looking for a happy ending, this one's not for you. But if you like nonstop violence and situations where everything that could go wrong does, then you'll enjoy it. 

The House that Horror Built; The Canceling of the American Mind

 

This was a fun one. Harry is a single mom living in the Chicago area with her teenage son, Gabe. After the pandemic shut down the restaurant where she worked, she felt lucky to land a job cleaning house for Javier Castillo. Castillo is a horror movie director and has a house full of memorabilia and props, including a rather creepy costume from one of his movies that seems to move on its own. Harry is about to be evicted from her apartment (the landlord sold it to a developer) and is panicking about finding a new place she can afford. 

Harry is a really good mom. She doesn't want to worry Gabe and she sacrifices everything to make his life better. Which is why she reluctantly accepts Castillo's offer for her and Gabe to move into his big house temporarily. 

Castillo has a dark backstory: his son was wanted for questioning in a young lady's murder, and he disappeared, along with Castillo's wife. Castillo fled L.A. and moved to Chicago. Harry is convinced the house is haunted. The pacing on this book was super slow until almost the very end, but other than that I enjoyed it. 

It seems like no one is immune from Cancel Culture. A seemingly minor mistake made decades earlier as a teen can come back and destroy your life. It's a scary thought. I wish there were better solutions then just "raise your kids not to run to adults to fix everything" and "wait it out". I have no solutions, but I'm holding out hope someone does. 

Demon of Unrest

Sadly, I didn't love this one as much as the last few by Larson. It was still good, just a little disappointing. It felt like he was really reaching at times. 

Larson looks back at Fort Sumter and how the Civil War officially began. He describes events leading up to Lincoln's election, how the North and South started splitting apart long before 1860. President Buchanan, who preceded Lincoln, had a few opportunities to do something and instead decided to ignore the turmoil and let the new guy deal with it. Which he did, of course, and quite well. The most striking figure in the story is Major Anderson, who held the fort against all odds. It was, without a doubt, one of the saddest stories I've read, knowing the outcome and how many lives were lost. It was a shame that the South couldn't be persuaded to peaceably free the ones they'd enslaved. 
 

Mecca

 

I heard author Susan Straight speak at an event and was intrigued by the excerpt of this book that she read out loud. It sounded very interesting, so I checked it out. It was pretty good. 

Motorcycle CHP officer Johnny Frias rescued a woman who was being assaulted back in 1999. He ended up killing the abuser, but the woman took off before he could say anything to her. He buried the body and discovered the woman left behind her purse. He tried a few times to deliver it to her, only to be thwarted. 

Twenty-one years later, it's 2020 and the pandemic hits. Johnny is still with the CHP, helping his dad out in the canyons of Southern California, where he and all his friends grew up. There were a lot of threads woven together in this story, including the woman who Johnny rescued. I really like Straight's writing style, she's very descriptive without being repetitive. She is coming out with a sequel to this book, so something to look forward to!

Princess of Las Vegas

 

I enjoyed Bohjalian's latest, the "Princess of Las Vegas". Crissy is an impersonator at an off-strip hotel called the Buckingham Palace, and as you might have guessed, she recreates Princess Diana. Her younger sister, Betsy, is a social worker in Vermont who just adopted a thirteen year old foster kid named Marisa. Betsy's new boyfriend, Frankie, is into cryptocurrency and convinces Betsy to move to Las Vegas with him. 

Betsy and Crissy aren't exactly close, despite the fact that they look alike (this fact was overemphasized, so I knew it would come into play later on in the book, and it did). Frankie is in deep with some dangerous people and he needs Betsy's help to stay out of it.  Unfortunately that means framing Crissy. It was interesting, didn't delve too much into the nitty-gritty of crypto (which I have no desire to know more about), and had a satisfying ending. 
   

First Lie Wins; House of Lincoln

 

Two excellent fiction books. "First Lie Wins" was a twisty thriller about a woman named Evie--only Evie isn't her real name. Her real name is Lucca, and she works for a man she's only spoken to on the phone named Mr. Smith. Mr. Smith sends her to steal things from people, and she's very good at it. Her latest mark is a man named Ryan. Ryan is good looking and charming and has a big secret of his own--he deals in blackmarket goods through his trucking company. 

Evie is doing well with Ryan, they've moved in together and she's trying not to develop real feelings for him when a woman who could be her twin shows up in town and introduces herself as Lucca. She has Evie's backstory. Evie quickly realizes that Mr. Smith is setting her up to take a major fall and she has to act and think quickly to beat him at his own game. It was a lot of fun and I really enjoyed it. 

"House of Lincoln" was told from the point of view of a young lady named Ana, who is a Portuguese immigrant in Springfield, Illinois, in the 1850s. She works for Mary Lincoln and gets to know Abraham and admires him greatly. She has a front row seat for the presidential election in 1860 and is heartbroken when he's assassinated. 

The title of the book is a bit of a misnomer, since it was more about Ana and continues after both Mary and Abraham are gone. She and her husband, Owen, live in Springfield. After Owen dies, she's left alone to witness the challenges that black people still experience in the late 1800s and early 1900s, including a riot in 1909, where an elderly black man was lynched. It was well told and interesting. 

Death Comes Too Late

 

A book of short stories. Some were pretty good, others were just meh. One of the stories that really stuck out to me was about two high schoolers who love to play arcade games at a local pizza place. One of the boys was very poor, so his friend comes up with a way to give him $10 in quarters for his birthday without the other boy knowing it came from him. It backfires, unfortunately, when the owner of the pizza place jokes that he must have robbed someone to get all that money. One of the workers sees the young man angrily flinging quarters all over the street and decides to rob the arcade games and pin it on him. It had a really tragic ending. Well, to be fair, most of them did. 

Bless Your Heart

 

This was a really fun one!

The Evanses have operated a funeral parlor in a small Texas town for generations. Ducey, Lenore, Grace, and Luna bury the dead with dignity, but they also have another role: putting down the "restless dead".

The restless dead are a zombie/vampire hybrid type of monster. When someone is killed by a restless dead, they rise again, and the Evans women stake them through the heart and burn the bodies. 

People are starting to die at an alarming rate and in horrific ways, and the Evans ladies realize something bad is coming. They need to find it and dispatch of it quickly before it wipes out more of the town. 

It was great and super gory, reminding me of Bentley Little. I'm looking forward to Ryan's next book!

Once a King; Close to Death

 

I was really excited for this book: a memoir of King Edward VIII, in his own words, written during his time in Paris after WWII. But jeez, was it boring. I think he was so concerned with not saying too much that he really didn't say anything at all. There was a little bit of interviews with Wallis, and she was a little more forthcoming but not by much. It was honestly pretty disappointing and didn't give us any new information about Edward. 

On the other hand, Anthony Horowitz never disappoints. The fifth Hawthorne book find Anthony writing about an old murder, since Hawthorne isn't working on anything new. 

In 2014, a man was murdered in a small community by a crossbow. There was no shortage of suspects: every one of the neighbors hated him. His kids were terrors, he blocked access to the shared driveway, and he was planning on putting in a swimming pool, ruining a shared garden space. The neighbors call a meeting to air their grievances, only Giles (the pain in the butt neighbor) doesn't show up. 

Six weeks later Giles is found dead, a bolt from a crossbow in his neck. Two days after that, the neighbor who owned the crossbow is found dead in his car from an apparent suicide. The police decide that the neighbor killed Giles, then himself out of guilt. Hawthorne isn't so sure. Turns out he's right, of course. It was very twisty and had a lot of good red herrings as well as a terrific ending. I couldn't put it down. 

Finlay Donovan Rolls the Dice

 

The fourth Finlay Donovan book was pretty good. Vero's "friend" (a.k.a. love interest, even if she won't admit it) Javi has been kidnapped by some of Feliks' goons and taken to Atlantic City, so off they go to rescue him. Steven, Finlay's ex-husband, insists on going (actually, it worked out--he got stuck watching the kids the whole time so Vero and Finlay could look for Javi). Finlay's mom rounds out the group, and her sister and her sister's love interest end up joining them, as well as hot cop Nick and crooked cop Charlie. 

Dead bodies in bath tubs, an overweight dachshund named Kevin Bacon, a missing Aston Martin with a flash drive worth $14 million, and a persistent book agent round out the action. Finlay and Nick do get to spend some quality time together, as do Vero and Javi (once they rescue him). Most of the bad guys ended up dead and order was restored to the universe. "No more dead bodies!" Vero and Finlay vow once they get home. So naturally the police find a dead body in her neighbor's back yard. 

Married with Children vs. the World

 

I loved "Married...with Children". I watched it when it first aired when I was a kid with my dad, who really loved it. Rewatching it as an adult I realize how much of the raunchy humor went over my 10 year old head, but I found it to still be absolutely hilarious. 

It's hard to remember a time when there were really only three major channels with some local programming. A brand new network was a big deal. Fox launched with "Married...with Children" as its flagship series. It wasn't an instant hit, but since Fox didn't have anything else going for it, they kept it on the air. Ironically, an irate woman in Michigan who protested the show and threatened to boycott the sponsors helped launch its success. People tuned it after hearing the outcry and found it funny, so they kept watching. I attended a sub-par, Christian in name only private elementary school, and one day our teacher had us write protest letters to Fox regarding "Married...with Children". She wanted us to put how disgusting and inappropriate it was and how we would boycott all the sponsors. Since I loved it (none of my other classmates were allowed to watch it, so they didn't know), I instead wrote a glowing letter telling Fox how great it was and hoped it would stay on the air forever. My teacher was not thrilled, but hey, it's still America, last time I checked. If you don't like the show, change the station. If you don't like the book, put it down and get a different one. But you can't take away other peoples' rights to watch/listen/read whatever they want. Can you tell this is a topic I'm pretty passionate about, especially with all that's going on in libraries right now? 😊

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.