The Unknown; In Broad Daylight

 

Okay, first up is the latest by Riley Sager, which was really good. 

Marin is an aspiring actress working as a waitress in New York. The only thing she's done is a commercial. Her agent sends her on a casting call for a part in a movie that's being directed by Ronan Peters, a renowned director, and starting two time Academy award winning actress Violet Wright. Marin doesn't think she stands a chance, but to her shock she lands the part. 

Ronan is a "method" director and wants the actresses to immerse themselves in the experience. The movie is a psychological horror based on a true story. In 1926, five women disappeared off an island known as New Avalon. One of the women, Daisy, kept a diary, and the screenplay is based off of that. Ronan wants the women to stay on New Avalon to bond and get in touch with their characters. 

The original five women were mystics or physics of some sort and Daisy's diary talks about "the Darkness" they communicated with during a seance, who gave the name of Azra. Their first night there, the 2026 women conduct a seance. One of the film crew becomes ill and the producer takes him back to the mainland on their boat. Only after they're gone does Marin realize that she had their cell phones and without a boat, they are trapped on the island. Then the actresses start disappearing one by one, in the same order as the 1926 counterparts they're playing. 

The twist at the end wasn't quite as twisty as some of his previous books, but it was still good. 

This one got better as it went along. I wasn't impressed with MacLean's writing style, and then I discovered he wrote a book a few years ago that I read and enjoyed about Charles Starkweather. Since this was his first book, I gave him a pass. His writing has improved since the 1980s. 

The small community of Skidmore, Missouri was terrorized for decades by Ken McElroy. McElroy raped and impregnated young teenage girls (and burned one father's house down when he dared object), stole with impunity, threatened people with intimidation tactics and guns, and actually shot a man, all without consequences. The police seemed helpless to do anything. McElroy knew how to skirt the edge of breaking the law, but then he got into an altercation with a much liked and elderly grocery store owner named Bo Bowenkamp. McElroy pulled a shotgun on Bo one night on the loading dock of his store. Bo's quick reaction saved his life, but he did end up in the hospital with substantial wounds to his neck. Unlike McElroy's other victims, Bo refused to back down and the case went to trial, where McElroy was found guilty. He was released on bond and continued to terrorize Skidmore until he was sentenced. 

One of his conditions for being out on bond was not to brandish firearms, and he did just that one day at the tavern in Skidmore, bragging about how he was going to kill Bo. Four men went and signed an affidavit that he'd broken the conditions of his bond and the hearing was set for July 10, 1981. The townspeople decided to form a caravan to show support for the four men as well as keep them safe during the drive to the courthouse, but when they showed up in town they learned the hearing had been delayed for 10 days. Frustrated, the men gathered at the Legion Hall to discuss what to do and they decided to keep an eye on him. Follow him everywhere. Patrol the backroads he used. In other words, use his own intimidation tactics against him. 

McElroy showed up in town and went to the tavern, and the men went in too. Estimates put about 60 men in the building. When McElroy and his wife, Trena, left, the men followed him out and surrounded his pickup. Some of the men went across the street to strategic locations. Someone yelled to shoot him, and shoot him they did. McElroy died in his pickup and sat there for over an hour until his brother heard what happened and called his lawyer, who called the local police, who claimed they had no knowledge of the incident but would go investigate. 

A wall of silence went up in Skidmore that day. Of the 45 or so witnesses interviewed, no one saw a thing. Everyone, even the mayor, claimed they heard the shooting start and hit the ground. No one was ever prosecuted, although there was a strong suspect that Trena named. No homes were searched and no weapons were ever found. Most of the residents shrugged and went "he's dead and gone. I don't know anything and I don't want to know". 

I can't begin to imagine the terror those townspeople felt, and the frustration and helplessness as the law and the courts failed them time and again. It's a wild story. There's a made for TV movie about it that came out in 1991 but of course you can't find the darn thing anywhere. It's too bad, it sounds like it was well done and had an excellent cast. 

Rest in Peace, Dolly

Rest in peace and love, Miss Dolly. You were a true legend, an absolute icon. 

Henry Tudor Must Die

 

What if Anne Boleyn really was a witch? That's the premise of this fun alternate history. 

On the eve of her execution, Anne is visited in the Tower by what she assumes is the ghost of Catalina de Aragon, Henry's first wife. Catalina brings her a bloodletting knife and a book of spells so she can save herself from the chopping block, then spirits her away to Marguerite d'Angouleme, who has started a movement known as the Hellebore Sisterhood. Turns out Catalina (or Lina, as she goes by now) did not actually die, but rather a nun who bore a striking resemblance to her. The nun was happy to take her place in her bed and pretend to be her so Lina would have a chance to live her life free from Henry. 

Marguerite is recruiting remarkable women from all over Europe to help advance women's rights and Anne and Lina jump in to help the cause. But the final goal never changes for Anne: Henry Tudor had to die. 

 

Crazy Rich Asians

 

Another one I was late to the party on, but it was super fun. I listened to it on audio during a long road trip and the narrator was fantastic. I'm actually really glad I listened to it instead of reading it, I think I got more out of it. 

Rachel and Nick live in New York and have been dating for a few years when Nick invites her to attend his best friend's wedding in Shanghai. Rachel is excited to go and meet his friends and family, but Nick fails to warn her that his family is rich. As in "crazy" rich. So are his friends. 

It's a whole different world for Rachel. Nick's family doesn't approve of her because she doesn't come from an acceptable family. Nick's old girlfriend is jealous and tries to drive Rachel away. Nick is scrambling to try to make it up to her and not doing the best job. 

I know absolutely nothing about how the 1% live, but it was fun to read about how opulent and over the top these folks are. I'm about halfway done with the next book, which I downloaded as soon as I finished this one 😊

Murder in Hollywood; Postmortem

 

All right, first up is "A Murder in Hollywood" about the murder of Johnny Stompanato. There really was no "untold" in this book, it just rehashed what we already knew, but Sherman did go into detail regarding Turner's early life (her father was murdered during a burglary when she was a little girl, which I didn't know). 

Lana Turner was a major star and a serial bride. She had already been married four times by the time she met Johnny, a shady guy with mob connections. Johnny was abusive and hit her, stalked her, refused to go away, showed up unannounced (and unwanted) on her sets. Just a garbage human being all the way around (although not quite as bad as hubby number four, Lex Barker, who sexually abused Lana's preteen daughter, Cheryl). 

Johnny was stabbed to death in Lana's bedroom one night, and Cheryl took the blame. I think by now most people realize Lana probably killed him and Cheryl copped to it because she was only 14, but who knows for sure? It was a quick read but yeah, sorely lacking on anything new. 

I wanted to like "Postmortem", I truly did. But unfortunately there were too many factual errors that kept me from enjoying it (and I hate using the word "enjoy" for these type of grisly true crime books, but I don't know what other word to use). 

Right off the bat, O'Neil claimed that the McDonald's in Des Plaines, Illinois, was the first one. No, not actually. The first McDonald's was in San Bernadino, California. The one in Des Plaines was the first that Ray Kroc opened, after he bought the business from the McDonald brothers (there's a whole story behind that). So that was misleading. Later on in the book she referred to Lizzie Borden as an ax murderer. Now, Lizzie is one of my OG true crime obsessions, so there are very few books I haven't read about the crimes in Fall River, and I don't believe she was guilty. That's not only just my opinion, it was also the official verdict of the jury when she was tried for the crimes: Not Guilty. So while O'Neil might *believe* Lizzie is guilty (an opinion many people hold), I don't think it's right or fair to say that without qualifying that Lizzie was tried by a jury who determined she was not guilty. 

Things like that really bother me, especially when the author is supposed to be a well-respected researcher. And where the heck was the editor? Why didn't they do anything? 

Oh well. Her story was actually interesting: O'Neil's mother is Kim Byers, the young lady working at Nisson Pharmacy the night that Gacy took his last victim, Rob Piest. Kim and Rob were friends, and Kim ended up being an extremely important witness for the prosecution for a few reasons. One was that Gacy tried to claim he never talked to Rob, but Kim testified that Rob told her he was going to talk to Gacy about a potential summer job that paid twice what he was making at the pharmacy. Secondly, Kim put a photo receipt in the pocket of Rob's parka (which he let her borrow, since she was working at the front counter and got cold every time the doors opened. It was December after all). That receipt and Rob's parka were later found in Gacy's house, but the receipt let the police get their initial search warrant. 

O'Neil's book wasn't trying to rehash the original crimes but rather discuss generational trauma and the trauma we as a nation have for events that enter the national psyche. That was interesting enough, if only she'd stuck to the facts in every part of the book instead of choosing what to be accurate about.