The Poisoner's Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York by Deborah Blum

Completely forgetting why my friend thought of this book during a conversation, and then remembering we talked about it because we were talking about distilling alcohol and how you can't drink the first or last bits because methanol and then no breathing

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Aaaaaand we're talking about the Spanish flu and wearing masks...Whelp it has been 100 years.

336 Pages

Stay Sexy and Don't Get Murdered by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark

I listen to the My Favorite Murder podcast religiously, so of course I picked up their book! It serves as a duel memoir of the podcast hosts and discusses their ups and downs in dealing with alcoholism, eating disorders, general anxieties, and how they learned to begin to heal themselves. From listening to the podcast, I had heard outlines of a lot of their life stories, but this book delves deeper into their lives and how they became murderinos (people who are obsessed with true crime).

SSDGM

Rating: 4/5

Pages: 304

The Innocent Man: Murder and Injustice in a Small Town by John Grisham

Ron Williamson grew up in Ada, Oklahoma, and intended to be a Major League baseball player. But when his dream fell apart, he began drinking too much, and got into drugs and women. Then one night a cocktail waitress was raped and killed not far from Williamson's home. He and a friend were arrested, tried, convicted, and sentenced to death as the result of an aggressive and flawed investigation.

The Innocent Project got involved, and eventually, through the use of DNA, both were cleared of the murder. After eleven years on death row, at one time being five days from execution, Williamson suffered psychological damage.

Grisham details the failings of the criminal justice system.

458 pages

The Love Pirate and the Bandit's Son: Murder, Sin, and Scandal in the Shadow of Jesse James by Laura James

The Love Pirate and the Bandit's Son: Murder, Sin, and Scandal in the Shadow of Jesse James by Laura James

When Zeo Zoe Wilkins was murdered, it was the talk of Kansas City. She certainly wouldn't be missed, but that didn't mean people weren't curious about her fate. Especially since the son of Jesse James, Jesse E. James, could somehow be involved.
Zeo came to Jesse seeking a lawyer and he agreed to take on her case. Six weeks after Zeo's murder, Jesse suffered a mental breakdown. Author Laura James seeks to prove that was no coincidence.

320 pages.

I'll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer by Michelle McNamara

I'll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer by Michelle McNamara
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book definitely held my attention. It discusses the serial rapist turned murderer called the Golden State Killer, a term coined by the author of this book. Sometimes I struggled with the rough transitions, but those are allowable and understandable, considering the author died before she finished researching and writing this novel, which meant the job of pulling it together and publishing it fell to others.

Once you settled into a section, the writing evened out. It was just the switch between chapters that sometimes threw me for a loop, like I had to resettled back into the story, or like I was suddenly being presented with a new story. In some cases, I was, since different chapters discuss about different events and victims.

Some part of me both hates and loves reading about a true crime unsolved mystery. It’s frequently uncomfortable, but piecing together clues and considering new angles is always engaging.

The crimes themselves are graphic, but the presentation of the stories and evidence is never gratuitous or over-dramatized. It’s presented as simply and almost clinically as possible, so as not to become anymore upsetting than necessary, while still remaining true and accurate.

Pages: 328

True Crime Addict by James Renner

  The author delves into the bizarre disappearance of Maura Murray. He spends way too much time talking about himself than the actual mystery of Maura and I was left more confused than when I started the book. 

Rating: 1.5/5

Pages: 300

True Crime Addict: How I Lost Myself in the Mysterious Disappearance of Maura Murray by James Renner

True Crime Addict: How I Lost Myself in the Mysterious Disappearance of Maura Murray by James Renner

James Renner has a history of losing himself in seemingly unsolvable crime cases, beginning with the disappearance of Amy Mihaljevic when he was 11-years-old. The case would leave a lasting impact on him and he would grow up to become an investigative journalist. After losing his job, Renner would become totally consumed by the case of Maura Murray, a missing 21-year-old nursing student at UMass. How did she manage to vanish without a trace after wrecking her car on Wild Ammonoosuc Road? Why did her family and friends seem to want the case to receive as little attention as possible? In Murray's case, there are more questions than answers, and the few answers given only lead to more questions.

280 pages.

The Innocent Man: Murder and Injustice in a Small Town

 The Innocent Man: Murder and Injustice in a Small Town
by John Grisham
Pages: 360
Rating: 4 out of 5

John Grisham’s first work of nonfiction is an exploration of small town justice gone terribly awry.

In 1982, a 21-year-old cocktail waitress was raped and murdered, and for five years the police could not solve the crime. For reasons that were never clear, they suspected Ron Williamson and his friend Dennis Fritz. The two were arrested in 1987 and charged with capital murder. Dennis Fritz was found guilty and given a life sentence. Ron Williamson was sent to death row.

John Grisham takes you through the suspects' previous lives, the crime and the court case as well as the fight to exonerate them.

Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann

Very interesting! I had never heard of these events and the conspiracy just got bigger and bigger. Definitely recommend if you are into true crime or history.

Rating: 4/5

Pages: 359

I'll be Gone in the Dark by Michelle McNamara

A look into the Golden State Killer's horrific attacks on women and couples in 1970/1980s California. Michelle writes with a lot of sympathy and respect for the victims while doing her best to track down the nefarious man responsible for so much pain.

Rating: 4/5

Pages: 352

I'll Be Gone in the Dark by Michelle McNamara

This memoir of Michelle McNamara’s obsession with the Golden State Killer was interesting, but hard to follow at times. I think this mainly had to do with the author’s sudden death before the book was finished resulting in it being pieced together from her notes and files. There is a clear difference between the parts Michelle wrote and the posthumous section. Michelle’s engrossing retelling of the details of this serial killer, rapist, and burglar is well written. The disjointed timeline adds an additional challenge to keeping track of the many people and places. I found myself revisiting the map at the beginning of the book often. If you are interested in an in-depth analysis of a psychopath, read Michelle’s book. If you just want to know how the GSK was caught, this is not the book for you. Reader be forewarned: The boldness with which the GSK attacked will have you double and triple checking your windows and doors every night before bed. 352 pages.

Deaths on Pleasant Street: The Ghastly Enigma of Colonel Swope and Doctor Hyde by Giles Fowler

Deaths on Pleasant Street: The Ghastly Enigma of Colonel Swope and Doctor Hyde by Giles Fowler

No one in Independence, Missouri found the circumstances to be overly suspicious when the wealthy Swope family, benefactors of Swope Park in Kansas City, fell ill with typhoid in 1909. People began to whisper, however, when three members of the Swope family died. When news broke the matriarch of the family had accused her son-in-law, Dr. Bennett Clark Hyde, of triple homicide, as well as introducing typhoid to the Swope mansion, society and the media couldn't get enough of the juicy story that would become the "trial of the century."

251 pages.

The Midnight Assassin: Panic, Scandal, and the Hunt for America's First Serial Killer by Skip Hollandsworth
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Summary: In the late 1800s, the city of Austin, Texas was on the cusp of emerging from an isolated western outpost into a truly cosmopolitan metropolis. But beginning in December 1884, Austin was terrorized by someone equally as vicious and, in some ways, far more diabolical than London's infamous Jack the Ripper. For almost exactly one year, the Midnight Assassin crisscrossed the entire city, striking on moonlit nights, using axes, knives, and long steel rods to rip apart women from every race and class. At the time the concept of a serial killer was unthinkable, but the murders continued, the killer became more brazen, and the citizens' panic reached a fever pitch.

Before it was all over, at least a dozen men would be arrested in connection with the murders, and the crimes would expose what a newspaper described as "the most extensive and profound scandal ever known in Austin." And yes, when Jack the Ripper began his attacks in 1888, London police investigators did wonder if the killer from Austin had crossed the ocean to terrorize their own city.


I found this book to be very interesting. I enjoy all things crime, I am sure that some find that strange. I find it interesting to learn about how things happen, and how crazy it is that people can get away with this stuff.

View all my reviews

321 Pages

The Devil & Sherlock Holmes: Tales of Murder, Madness, and Obsession by David Grann

The Devil & Sherlock Holmes: Tales of Murder, Madness, and Obsession by David Grann

Journalist David Grann has compiled short pieces of investigative stories he has written over the years, and the end result is his book, The Devil & Sherlock Holmes: Tales of Murder, Madness, and Obsession. The title is misleading, however: only a few of the stories deal with murder or madness; most deal with some manifestation of obsession, and Sherlock Holmes rarely factors in. Despite this, the stories are well-written and most will be able to find a tale or two that interests them. One standout story includes "Mysterious Circumstances," about the suspicious death of Richard Lancelyn Green, one of the world's foremost Sherlock Holmes scholars not long after Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's personal papers were put up for auction. "The Chameleon" is another story of note, which details the life of Frederic Bourdin, a con artist whose specialty lies in impersonating teen boys. Two stories were especially tragic: "Trial by Fire," featuring the story of Cameron Todd Willingham, who was sentenced to death row for arson and homicide, only for investigators to later find evidence that may have exonerated him, and "Which Way Did He Run?," detailing the story of a NY firefighter who, after dealing with amnesia, was left wondering if his actions on September 11, 2001 were those of a hero or a coward.

404 pages.   

"A Deadly Secret" by Matt Birkbeck

The subtitle of this true crime book is "The Bizarre and Chilling Story of Robert Durst."  I recently viewed "The Jinx", a documentary about Durst and the 1982 disappearance of his first wife, Kathie, and I wanted to know more about the case.  This book seemed to be the most in-depth and was first published in 2002; the edition that I read was updated in March of 2015, after "The Jinx" had aired on HBO.

However, this is not just about Kathie's disappearance but also about the murder of Morris Black, a Texas drifter killed and dismembered by Durst in 2001.  The author interviewed the major players in both cases, including the police, private detectives, Kathie's family and friends, prosecutors, and witnesses.  He does a thorough job of going through details and using them to show that Durst is a sociopath.  The only quibble I have is with the way the author uses quotations of conversations for which he wasn't present nor were recorded.  Durst is currently being held in Louisiana on an illegal firearms violation but has been charged in California with the 2000 death of his friend Susan Berman.  That case is also covered in the book.  299 pages.

Outlaw Tales of Missouri: True Stories of the Show Me State's Most Infamous Crooks, Culprits, and Cutthroats by Sean Mclachlan

(Posted for Paul Mathews)

Missouri never had to settle for average gunmen when they had Jesse James and Cole Younger to call its own.

Audio:  3 hrs. 52 min.
Print:  176 pages

Savage Harvest: A tale of cannibals, colonialism, and Michael Rockefeller's tragic quest for primitive art by Carl Hoffman

Before I read a review of this book in the St. Louis Post Dispatch I had never heard of Michael Rockefeller or of his mysterious disappearance!  Rockefeller (yes, one of those Rockefellers!) graduated from Harvard and decided to travel to New Guinea to collect primitive art for his father's new museum, On November 17, 1961 he and a Dutch anthropologist were stranded at sea, without a radio, while traveling by boat to a remote area of the region, .  Rockefeller decided to try to swim to shore and was never seen again. At the same time, the Netherlands was battling Indonesia in the U.N. for control of the territory.  Hoffman carefully constructs the case that the Dutch authorities covered up Michael Rockefeller's death because it would have damaged their claim to the U.N. that New Guinea was a civilized region under their control.  A fascinating look at what happens when a primitive culture is misunderstood. 322 pages.

Black Mass: The True Story of an Unholy Alliance Between the FBI and the Irish Mob by Dick Lehr

(Posted for Paul Mathews)

Two men grew up in South Boston. Decades later they meet again, one is in the Irish mafia and the other the FBI. A deal is cut and Jim Bulger is an informant but is involved in extortion, intimidation, assassination and drug trafficking for twenty years with law infractions on his record.

Audio:  14 hrs. 50 min.

Print:  424 pages

Zodiac, by Robert Graysmith

Graysmith recounts his own and police investigations into the Zodiac killings, most of which occurred in San Francisco in the late 60s and early 70s. Though a mystery with no solution is something akin to an itch that can't be scratched, I found the story interesting and hard to put down.
audio: 10.5 hours
text: 355 pages

The monster of Florence, by Douglas Preston and Mario Spezi

Preston recounts the actions he and Spezi took to investigate the murders and mutilations perpetrated by "Il Mostro", who was used in part to build the character of Hannibal Lecter. Neither the authors nor the police discover who committed the crimes, but enough of the mystery was recounted to make it interesting. It is also offered some quirky details of life and culture in Tuscany and Italy, including an surprise peek into the voyeur subculture of Florence.
audio: 9.75 hours
print: 322 pages