The Wicked Boy by Kate Summerscale describes the life and crime of Robert Allen Coombes (1882-1949). The book is a journalistic overview of the crime and trial that followed but it also explores human behaviour. Yes, Coombes killed his mother but what moved him isn’t as clear-cut as it seems in the beginning of the story. At […]
Book Reviews
New book: Terror in Ypsilanti
A new book, Terror in Ypsilanti comes out this month about a string of murders in the late 60s. These murders took place in the Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti area of Southeastern Michigan. Women between the ages of 13 and 21 were abducted, raped, beaten, and murdered. After they were stabbed or strangled, their bodies were sometimes mutilated […]
The Second Girl by David Swinson
The Second Girl by David Swinson is the first in a series featuring retired cop Frank Marr. He is damaged like the cop in Swinson’s first book “A Detailed Man.” Marr is worse though. Marr is a junkie. Even when faced with a chained scarcely clad teen his mind drifts. Whether it is the pain in […]
Unearthing a serial killer
Unearthing a serial killer by D. Paul and K.F. McMurray is a thin book but make no mistake. It is filled with details that make this book stay in your mind forever. The book tells the story of murder victims Gary Stymiloski, Beverly Capone, Antonella Mattina, and given the wallet content of the killer, maybe […]
Laura Jean Ackerson (1984 – 2011)
Laura Jean Ackerson (1984 – 2011) was last seen alive on July 13, 2011. Her dismembered remains were discovered 11 days later in a creek about 60 miles south of Houston, Texas. She was 27 years old and had two young sons. Grant Ruffin Hayes and his wife, Amanda Perry Hayes, were each charged with first-degree […]
Dirty Old London by Lee Jackson
Dirty Old London by Lee Jackson brings to live the filthy Victorian age of raw sewage, cesspools, and rotting corpses. Jackson describes the battle between refuse collection for a profit and as a general matter of health. Each has its consequences for the economy (healthy workforce) so politics play a huge role in allocating money, […]
Damn his blood by Peter Moore
Damn his blood by Peter Moore tells us the story about the 1806 murder of Reverend George Parker that happened in Oddingley, UK. I happened upon this book while on vacation in London. We were in Waterstones, Islington, when I saw this book on the £0.99 cart. The woodcut and the different fonts on the […]
FBI Animal House by Pete Klismet
FBI Animal House by Pete Klismet, writing as PJ Kline, is an overview of the author’s time at the Academy. The book opens with what can only be described as your worst nightmare: you are on a case, you see movement, and by accident you shoot your own colleague. Pete uses this as an example […]
The Faithful Executioner by J.F. Harrington
The Faithful Executioner by J.F. Harrington describes the lives and careers of Heinrich and Frantz Schmidt as executioners. The book is filled with details and prints and is a joy to read if you love history. We go back to Germany in the sixteenth century. Heinrich Schmidt made a good living as woodsman and fowler in the town […]
The Devil in the Marshalsea by Antonia Hodgson
The Devil in the Marshalsea by Antonia Hodgson is a splendid début novel. I love it when an author can describe the filth dripping from the walls so that I get an instant itch and the urge to check my room for anything decaying. Antonia Hodgson’s work is murder for your eyes (you will exhaust them) and […]