Axeman of New Orleans

I watched "American Horror Story: Coven" a few years ago, and they mentioned the famous Axeman of New Orleans (side note: I miss Jessica Lange something fierce). I was intrigued, I had never heard of this guy. Unfortunately there aren't very many books about him, at least none that my local libraries owned, so when I saw this one was coming out I was excited to get my hands on it. It was interesting, if not really so much about the axeman, but rather crimes that were attributed to him that he probably didn't commit. It's incredibly difficult, 100 some years later, to try to piece together what might have happened, especially considering the axeman's targets were Italian grocers who didn't speak English very well. Eyewitness accounts were all over the map as to what he looked like (they couldn't even agree if he was black or white). He was pretty bold: he'd use the grocers' own axes to attack them.

Comanche Moon; Los Angeles in the 1970s; Lincoln in the Bardo

I finished rereading "Comanche Moon" for the millionth time (approximately). I remember how excited I was when I bought this book and opened it up to the first page and saw Call and Gus's names. I raced through it, I didn't even care that it didn't match up to what McMurtry had written in "Lonesome Dove", it was just so much fun to read about Call and Gus again. I use Call's last line from the book all the time (and I'm sure it sums up how McMurtry felt about the whole thing): "It may be over, but it wasn't fun". Brilliant.

"Los Angeles in the 1970s" was a fun collection of essays about the City of Angeles in one of the strangest decades in recent memory. There was a remembrance from Steve Hodel, which I wasn't expecting, about a murder case he worked. He wrote a really interesting book about his theory that his father, Dr. George Hodel, killed the Black Dahlia. I read it years ago when it first came out (I own it, actually, he came to the B&N where I worked and I got a signed copy) and enjoyed it. I enjoyed most of the essays in this collection, too, they did a good job of bringing the time and place back to life.

I didn't enjoy "Lincoln in the Bardo" by George Saunders, it was really disappointing. It's gotten such good buzz, and I love reading about President Lincoln. When I heard this one was about him dealing with his young son, Willie's, death while he was in the White House, I put it on hold. At least it went quick, but there wasn't much story to it. There were whole chapters of snippets from other people's previously published works, discussing the party that took place the night Willie was dying, how Lincoln and his wife handled their grief, etc. The main story was about how Willie didn't realize he was dead, he was in the cemetery with all the other spirits who refused to acknowledge their deaths so they could move on to the next phase. Lincoln visits him and by entering his thoughts Willie learns he's dead and is able to move on. The end. Hmm. Well, like I said, it least it was quick so I didn't feel like I wasted too much time.

Will to Kill

Boy, did I enjoy the heck out of Mickey Spillane and Max Alan Collins' latest Mike Hammer mystery, "Will to Kill". So much so I stopped rereading "Comanche Moon" to finish it! Mike is out walking late one night when he spots half a body stuck in an ice floe in the Hudson. So Cal girl that I am, I had to look up what an ice floe is :) It turns out it's the body of a butler named Jamison, he worked for an old friend of Pat's named Dunbar. Chester Dunbar died three years earlier in what the investigating police called an accidental death (he had a heart attack and couldn't reach his nitro pills in time). Pat thought it was fishy then, but he didn't have jurisdiction, and now Jamison's weird death, which the police also determine was a bizarre accident, has Pat asking Mike to step in and investigate. Mike does, and travels to the Dunbar mansion to meet Chester's heirs: his two stepsons, Dex and Wake, his daughter Dorean, and his son Chickie, who is mentally unwell (my only beef with the book: supposedly it's set in 1965 and they call Chickie autistic, which they probably wouldn't have at the time, since it wasn't as prevalent or diagnosed back then as it is now). Dex and Wake are both awful human beings, more concerned with getting the car back that Jamison was driving than anything else. Mike is soon approached by each of the Dunbar heirs in turn to investigate something else: Dex is in up to his eyeballs in gambling debts and thinks the mob is after him and Wake is a closet homosexual who thinks his wife is trying to kill him. As if Mike doesn't have enough to investigate, then the local state trooper asks for his help with some missing teenage girls. Of course Mike is able to solve everything all in one fell swoop, because he's Mike Hammer and he's awesome. It was a lot of fun.

Lonesome Dove

I caught part of the TV miniseries a few weeks ago and ever since I've been itching to reread "Lonesome Dove", which is one of my favorite books of all time. Even though I've read it dozens of times, I still enjoy it, it's like visiting old friends. So, even though I have stacks of library books I haven't read yet, I spent my two days off rereading and visiting with my old friends, Captain Augustus McCrae and Captain Woodrow F. Call (did we ever find out what the F stood for? I don't think we did). I used to imagine, when I was younger, that if I ever had a son I would name him Augustus. I had a stuffed bunny I cared around as a teenager (I was a weird teenager) I named Woodrow after Captain Call. I still have the bunny, by the way, and I still love reading this book.

Jack and Norman

Back when Norman Mailer was writing "The Executioner's Song", he started a correspondence with an inmate named Jack Abbott, who's life story was similar to that of Gary Gilmore, the subject of his book. Abbot had spent the majority of his life in reform schools or prisons, often exacerbating a light sentence by breaking prison rules and getting additional time tacked on. Mailer was so impressed by Abbott's letters and the fact that he was self-taught that he championed his cause with the parole board and offered him a job if he was released. Abbott got out of prison and was unceremoniously dumped in a dangerous part of New York. He had a hard time adjusting to life out of prison, and Mailer found he was much more charming in letters than in person and started pulling away from him. For a while, though, Abbott was the toast of the New York literary set, publishing a well regarded book on prison life called "In the Belly of the Beast". Just as the book was set to be released, however, Abbott committed murder, brutally slaying a twenty-two year old man outside a restaurant and then fleeing. He went on the run and eluded capture for awhile, but was eventually caught and returned to prison, where he stayed until he committed suicide. It's a fascinating story, I'd vaguely heard about it (I read "The Executioner's Song" many years ago) and it was nice to get some backstory.

Dodge City; For This We Left Egypt?; Night Ocean

"Dodge City" by Tom Clavin was really great, I enjoyed it a lot, so much so that when I visited a new library a few days ago, I bought a bunch of used books in their bookstore on the Old West. It has reignited my passion for that era. Now if I ever get around to reading them is another story :0 At any rate, this one was fun, I learned a lot about Wyatt Earp, who I knew a little about, and even more about Bat Masterson, who I knew absolutely nothing about. There were some bits about Billy the Kid, Doc Holliday, and other notable miscreants sprinkled throughout. He had a very fun writing style, it was sort of snarky, sarcastic, darkly humorous, which made for lively reading.

A quick, fun spoof on the Haggadah (for those of you who don't know, a Haggadah is a book you use for your Passover Seder. You buy the same copy of each one for everyone at your feast, and they're usually pretty short). The Haggadah explains the Passover story, why the Jews fled from Egypt and why we continue to celebrate thousands of years later. The authors (including Dave Barry, one of my favorites) had a good time.

I checked out Paul La Farge's "The Night Ocean" because it was about H.P. Lovecraft, and he's always piqued my curiosity. I really enjoyed this one, I couldn't put it down. Charlie Willet is a nonfiction writer who loved reading Lovecraft as a kid. The book is told from his wife, Marina's, POV. Charlie finds evidence that Robert Barlow, a man who was purportedly a lover of Lovecraft's, is still alive, having faked his death in the 1950s. Charlie goes chasing him down and brings his story to light, publishing a huge book purporting "the truth" about H. P. Lovecraft. There are cracks in the foundation from the beginning that Charlie willfully ignores, hoping for the best, but of course after the book is published and becomes a huge hit, scholars start digging and discover Charlie has been duped, the man claiming to be Barlow is not actually Barlow. After Charlie's suicide (that happens early on in the book, Marina fills us in on what led him to do it) Marina is determined to get to the bottom of things herself and goes looking for Barlow and in the process, the truth about Lovecraft.

Game of Queens; Killer Instinct; All In; Bad Blood

Sarah Gristwood's book about the important roles that Queens played during sixteenth century European politics was well written, but unfortunately all the parts about Katherine of Aragon, Queen Mary, Queen Elizabeth, and all the other women in England was pretty repetitive for me based on all the other books I've read on the subject, so I had a hard time paying attention. The queens elsewhere were more interesting. I think I'm just a bit burned out on the Tudors right now, plus I was under a time crunch (due date, holds, couldn't renew it) so I didn't enjoy it as much as I normally would have.

Speaking of due dates and holds...this book was due back weeks ago and I've been waiting anxiously ever since I put it on hold. When it was finally returned, I dove into it (completely ignoring the stack of books I have that were due before this one, but oh well). Book two of the Naturals series picked up where book one left off. There is a killer on the loose who appears to be copying Dean's father's crimes. Talking to Daniel Redding doesn't get anyone anything useful. Because Redding had once captured and held the director of the FBI's daughter captive, he's a big priority. The Naturals figure out that the kills aren't a work of a copycat, but an apprentice and Redding definitely knows more than he's letting on.

I dove right into "All In" after finishing book two. Book three finds the team traveling to Las Vegas, Sloane's hometown. A string of bizarre murders has casino owners on edge. Sloane figures out the kills are following the Fibonacci sequence, and by hacking the FBI's database, she discovers unsolved murders following the same pattern going back for a century. They determine they are dealing with the work of a cult, who keeps recruiting members by forcing them to murder following strict guidelines. They also determine that Cassie's mom is being held hostage by the cult.

Apparently, from all my online digging, I've determined that "Bad Blood" is the fourth and last Naturals novel. Which makes me really, really sad. I'm hoping Jennifer Lynn Barnes will change her mind and continue to write them, but I understand if she doesn't. The team has found the cult that is holding Cassie's mom captive, now they just have to infiltrate it and rescue her. Easy, right? God, these books were so fun.