Book #166 of 2019: The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America by Erik Larson This nonfiction book is partly about the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair, and partly about the serial killer H. H. Holmes, who operated his infamous ‘murder castle’ nearby during that same time. Both …
Tag Archives: true crime
Book Review: Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt
Book #137 of 2019: Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt An evocative travelogue of late-twentieth-century Savannah that could use greater structure throughout. The introduction of a certain true crime element around the midpoint adds some focus to the back half, but before then I kept wondering where this narrative was …
Continue reading “Book Review: Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt”
Book Review: Furious Hours: Murder, Fraud, and the Last Trial of Harper Lee by Casey Cep
Book #126 of 2019: Furious Hours: Murder, Fraud, and the Last Trial of Harper Lee by Casey Cep This is practically three books in one, and while I appreciate the overall effort, I do feel like the project weakens as it goes along and doesn’t quite tie together as closely as I would like in …
Book Review: I’ll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman’s Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer by Michelle McNamara
Book #80 of 2018: I’ll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman’s Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer by Michelle McNamara The day I picked up this book, police in California announced that they had finally made an arrest in the cold case of serial rape and murder described within its pages. I’ve put …
Book Review: The Fact of a Body: A Murder and a Memoir by Alex Marzano-Lesnevich
Book #229 of 2017: The Fact of a Body: A Murder and a Memoir by Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich This book is partly a true-crime story about a child molester and murderer, and partly the author’s attempt to work through the sexual abuse that they themself experienced at the hands of their grandfather growing up. Because of …
Continue reading “Book Review: The Fact of a Body: A Murder and a Memoir by Alex Marzano-Lesnevich”
Book Review: Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI by David Grann
Book 208 of 2017: Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI by David Grann A creepy true-crime account of the serial murders that plagued the Osage Indian Nation in the early 20th century, as outsiders sought to gain access to the tribe’s lucrative oil business. The investigation into …
Book Review: Missoula: Rape and the Justice System in a College Town by Jon Krakauer
Book #69 of 2017: Missoula: Rape and the Justice System in a College Town by Jon Krakauer A tough read about five women in Missoula, Montana who were raped by members of the local college football team and faced incredible difficulty in bringing their rapists to justice when the athletes were protected by police, university …
Book Review: The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher: A Shocking Murder and the Undoing of a Great Victorian Detective by Kate Summerscale
Book #92 of 2016: The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher: A Shocking Murder and the Undoing of a Great Victorian Detective by Kate Summerscale A fascinating look at the real-life murder mystery that gripped Victorian England twenty years before Jack the Ripper and helped usher in the modern age of police detectives. Jack Whicher’s deductions were …
The Lesser Joke: book reviews and more 