5 comments about Too Late to Say Goodbye: A True Story of Murder and Betrayal.

1. This was a pretty good true crime story - one where you can't believe people think they can get away with anything. It also shows you how much some people can be concerned with themselves only - and if anything interferes with that ...watch out! It wasn't the best true crime I have ever read but the pages went by fairly rapidly.



2. I am a huge Ann Rule fan and this was another well-spun, although sad story. Ann writes about true crime in novel fashion, which makes it absorbing to read.



3. Read it while on an extended hospital stay and it made the time pass quickly. Another good Ann Rule yarn...however, someday I'd like to read a story by her where the husband loves the wife and isn't some obsessive killer! : )



4. I have read most of Ann Rule's true crime books, and she has indeed authored a great many books. 'Too Late to Say Goodbye' is one of her latest efforts and, I'm glad to say, one of her better efforts too. It is about a dentist who murders both his girlfriend and, fifteen years later, his wife in a similar fashion and is, thankfully, ultimately brought to justice. Ann Rule obviously prepared well since 'Too Late...' is very detailed. And the book is deceptively well structured (the accounts of both murders are largely interwoven throughout most of the book to highlight the similarities).
   
   The book doesn't earn five stars because the nature of the crimes in 'Too Late...' are not quite as convoluted or are heinous compared to what is found in other Ann Rule books. And I was disappointed not to be entertained with any sort of courtroom drama. On the plus side, I found this book to be less 'gushy' in flowery descriptions of the victims, or their kids, or anything which Ann Rule can blather on about in hopes of making the crimes sound even more heinous than they are. Is murdering a beautiful woman with adorable children any more tragic than killing an average woman with brats??? It's a bit irrelevant.
   
   
   Bottom line: a entertaining slice of true crime drama. Recommended.



5. This tale of two murders is truly amazing. I didn't know anything about this case before I picked this book up, and there were a couple of plot developments that almost took my breath away. But while the saga is spellbinding, the storytelling is just so-so. Every aspect of the lives of those involved are explained in great detail. Much of the investigative process is examined closely, too. Then, it seems, once Dr. Bart is put in jail, boom-boom-boom, time is telescoped, everything happens in a matter of pages, and The End. As workmanlike as Ann Rule's work is here, she deserves applause for the careful way she depicts Dolly and Jenn. It would have been easy to sensationalize certain aspects of both women's lives, but Ms. Rule instead chooses respect and compassion.

5 comments about Thunderstruck.

1. This is a well-written narrative linking two strands of turn-of-the-century history - the invention of the wireless, and the conviction of Hawley Crippen for the murder/dismemberment of his wife. If anything, I found this book to be even more engrossing than Larson's similarly stereopticon-structured book, "The Devil in the White City."
   
   As in that book, we get two converging views here of a bygone era. As different as that gilded age was from ours in many respects, you might be surprised to find some remarkable parallels. For example, I was amazed to read how Victorian travelers were subjected to intense searches when they passed through customs in many countries. The threat then was deemed to be, not from Middle Eastern terrorists, but from anarchists. Of course! I'd forgotten about anarchists. Italian travelers were especially suspect of having anarchic ideologies and therefore of trying to smuggle concealed bombs and weapons onboard. So despite his growing renown as inventor of the wireless, Marconi often came under special scrutiny in transit.
   
   Larson evokes other aspects of the Victorian/Edwardian age very well, with its sooty fog, its penchant for séances, its mesmerized lecture hall audiences.
   
   Chapters are short, easy to read, making for a close-grained juxtaposition - of what Marconi was doing, then what Crippen was doing. The only brief problem here is that the two narratives fall out of synch for a time, with Crippen getting well ahead of the consolidation of the technology making wireless communication possible.
   
   My only other criticism is that I wish more pictures had been included. There are some. But when, for example, Larson describes a picture showing Crippen seated in among a bevy of white-clad tea-party ladies, with his thick glasses and impassive expression making him look like "a ventriloquist's dummy" - I wanted to see that picture!
   
   Larson does paint such good pictures with words though, that actual photos might often be superfluous. When for instance he describes Crippen's early years (he was actually born, not in England, but in Coldwater, Michigan) Larson tells how the older men in town would gather around the stove in Philo's drygoods store - to relive their Civil War exploits. Larson says their conversations, though often repetitious, were always filled "with exuberance and gore." What a good phrase - "exuberance and gore."
   
   As Larson pointed out in one of his in-person book-signings though - the irony of this whole history is that Crippen was in most ways the better man. Outside of that one aberration of murdering his wife, he in general treated women much better than the womanizing, indifferent Marconi did. That's another one of the surprises you'll get reading this excellent, highly recommended book.



2. With his previous book, DEVIL IN THE WHITE CITY, Erik Larson minted a fresh way of telling history: weaving together a well-known event in American social history with a now forgotten tale of true crime from the same era in such a way that both strands reflect and reveal much about one another. In that book, it was the creation and exhibition of the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, a celebration of the Industrial Age and the technology age that would become the 20th century and a serial killer on the loose, preying on fair-goers. In his new book, THUNDERSTRUCK, it's not so much a weaving together as it is a collision between Guglielmo Marconi pushing for the world acceptance of his wireless technology and an international manhunt for a murderer.
   
   The first thing you should know is, this is highly readable stuff. Larson has done significant research with the chapter notes and bibliography to prove it but his text reads with the ease of a well-tuned novel. The second thing you should know is, that for at least three-quarters of the book, you are left thinking, but how are these two stories ever going to pull together, except for what each reveals about the late 19th and very early 20th centuries? Larson leap-frogs the story strands at a head-turning pace but they are out of kilter, with the crime tale gaining time on the technology story. That said, when one catches up with the other, there is a big payoff, not only for the London police but for the driven Marconi as well.
   
   Larson manages to make the story of an engineer and his technological invention interesting. He fully realizes the cast of characters. He invites wonder as he trots out details, like Marconi's competitor Nikola Tesla using the word "television" in 1900. The London forensics team of 1910 makes as much of technology with similar results as today's television crime scene investigators. It is the use of the wireless telegraph by ships at sea, however, to snare the unsuspecting murderer while the world listens in that is truly amazing.



3. I enjoyed this book for its historical take on Marconi and even more for its story of the murderous Dr. Crippen. If you haven't read Larson's Devil in the White City I'd recommend that book too, its even a little better than this book.



4. Thunderstruck, by Erik Larson, reviewed by Sandy
   
   Once again Erik Larson manages to weave two seemingly unrelated stories into one compelling and suspenseful narrative. A work of non-fiction, Larson paints a graphic picture of England between 1900 and 1910, during the short reign of Edward VII. The beloved Queen Victoria is dead, the memory of Jack the Ripper still sends shivers up the spine, new inventions create both fascination and fear, and there is the threat of war against Germany.
   
   Against this backdrop, Guglielmo Marconi brings his wireless invention to London and begins the long process of proving the validity of wireless telegraphy, finding funding, and attaining his goal of sending wireless messages across the Atlantic. There are many competitors with greater scientific background than Marconi, and he has made some enemies who would delight in seeing his comeuppance. This alone would make a fascinating story, but the addition of a murder mystery heightens the suspense.
   
   Hawley Crippen, trained in homeopathy, has come to London to further his career in the development of patent medicines. His bugged eyes accentuated by thick glasses and his gentle, soft-spoken manner make him a man easily passed over. His wife, Cora, having unsuccessfully pursued fame in musical shows in America, eventually joins him in London. She takes the stage name of Belle, and again tries her hand a variety shows. A large, voluptuous woman, her public demeanor is one of great cheer and friendliness. Few are aware of her bouts of unreasonable anger directed at her husband. When Belle suddenly disappears, her friends doubt the story Crippen gives, and once Scotland Yard gets involved, a murder victim is discovered - or rather, various parts of. What remains cannot be identified as male or female, but there are clues. Could this be Belle? Is it possible that the meek Crippen is capable of such a methodical and thorough dismemberment?
   
   And how on earth do these two stories become one? Read for yourself. This a book you want to buy and pass on to friends.



5. I've come to watch for Larson's books as I've enjoyed his past histories. This one came highly recommended, but it wasn't as good an entry as his other books.
   
   The book looks at a murder that occurred in the late Victorian Era in England, and the impact that the advent of the wireless had on closing this case. Larson spends a good amount of time giving the background of both the people involved in the murder, and the development of the wireless by Marconi. Marconi's work and attitude are interesting, as he really wasn't a scientist, but rather a tinkerer/inventor who managed to create something that proved vital to the communication needs of the world. Unlike Edison, who invented a variety of things most of his life, Marconi only did the one, and he didn't try to understand the science behind it...and that cost him.
   
   The work done by the police in England was phenomenal. It's important to appreciate the amount of sheer dogged investigation that was done to bring Crippen back to stand trial. In our current world where everything must be immediate (like processing DNA on CSI), we forget how much time and effort was spent by both policemen and physicians in proving a case.
   
   The book was a bit confusing, as one chapter would be on Marconi's work, and the next on Crippen and his wife. But the 'timing' of each chapter would be off. Larson would have to go back to explaining how the technology of the wireless was achieved, while the Crippen case would run ahead. A bit disconcerting...
   
   Karen Sadler

5 comments about Smoke, Mirrors, and Murder: And Other True Cases (Ann Rule's Crime Files).

1. I love Ann Rule, and this new book is another very good one. Could not put it down. Would highly recommend.



2. Ann's insights on the Winkler case alone make this worth the purchase. But add into the mix the stories of several relationships gone bad, and you have a textbook of warning for women AND men. A great collection of shorter cases - not that the cases themselves are less important - but I do like this format because I can fit the reading into a busy mom's schedule.



3. This is the latest book in Ann Rule's True Crime Series. The Writings are not up to her usual High Standards. In each of the cases covered it seems the villian is all bad and the victim is all good, which is not the usual case in real life. The best story is in the last one covered, which is "The Minister's Wife". The latter is the story of the Minister's wife from Tennesseee who shot him in the back "in self defense". I was not aware that part of the reason for problems in the marriage is that she fell for one of these Nigerian inheritance schemes. I still find it hard to understand (As Ann Rule does)how anyone could believe that a complete stranger would give you thousands of Dollars. But I guess financially desperate people do desperate things. However the depiction of "The Minister's Wife" (for some reason) created sympathy for her (in me.) I was glad that she served a very short sentence, and was released. One of the things that made these cases unappealing is that most of them occurred many years ago, when life was so much different here in the USA. (No internet, PCs or Cell Phones.)



4. Rule's normally top-notch, formulatic TC books are always thrilling to read; this one, however, is limp and left me feeling cheated. No, it's not hasilty written; but rather open-ended. Rule has never before left her readers without an explanation, an outcome. Chapters such as "The Truckers' Wife" ask us to speculate on "Spontaneous Human Combustion" and never offers alternative theories, and very little investigation. As true crime, I was simply left unfulfilled.



5. This is the first Ann Rule book that I have read.
   She includes 7 cases that stretch from 1960 to the most current, the Winkler murder case.
   
   The most intriguing for me was the oldest case. "The Antique Dealer's Wife" where Raoul Guy Rockwell undoubtedly murdered and dismembered his wife and step-daughter. He got away with it despite the dogged determination of the lead detective.
   
   I found the case of Dorothy Jones a bizarre,unsolved mystery. There are two possible explanations and many reasons for believing either was the cause.
   
   The chapter on the Winkler case leaves some questions unanswered.
   There is no doubt that Mary Winkler killed her husband. The circumstances are unclear or at least,unproven.
   
   "Smoke,Mirrors,and Murder" reads like a crime novel with both solved and unsolved murder cases. This is one of the better books in the true crime category that I have read to date and I can understand why readers like Ann Rule as an author. She's an excellent writer!

No comments about The Monster of Florence.

5 comments about In Cold Blood.

1. After seeing the movie, "Capote", I knew I had to read Truman Capote's book "In Cold Blood", a book I never before had the desire to read. I was struck by the almost unpeakable saddness bordering on rage that I felt over the wanton and utterly senseless murder ot the Clutter family. It is a deeply affecting book, so much so that it interrupted my sleep more than a few nights!
   
   Having read the book and viewed the two recent films on the subject, I can certainly understand why "In Cold Blood" was the last book Capote ever wrote. He burned himself out having become so emotionally involved that the whole thing consumed him.



2. This book was received before the cut off date. It came in good condition and I would do business again with this person.



3. Without a doubt one of the best books I have ever read. Engrossing, compelling, and expertly written, Capote completely engulfs the reader into the world of the two killers, the innocent family they killed, and the town that lived through it. At some points I couldn't put the book down. A definite masterpiece and classic.



4. i feel like the people who gave it one star totally misunderstood what the book was supposed to do. its kind of hard to explain what capote's intention was with the book- as it is with a lot of his writings and that is what makes his storytelling so addictive to me- the details that go unnoticed by everyone else matter or make a difference to him. i picked this book up one day while i was sitting bored at my mom's kitchen table looking through the sunday ads at around noon when i looked over at her book case and there this book was. i ended up staying at the table reading the book until the sun went down! page after page!! i don't know where other 1 star reviewers got that he "humanized" the murderers- whatever that means..criminals- even barbaric ones are still human- and one person actually said the characters weren't interesting enough. i feel like they missed it completely- nancy embodied simplicity. there was no complexity to her. complexity of characters does not always equal a good book. she was a small town girl- with an honest hard working family- this book made me feel like i knew the clutter family personally-i felt like i had heard mr clutter talk before- and at the end of the book- i had several tears in my eyes- and im not an emotional bookreader- i actually said a prayer for the family-what they went through was brutal and capote painted the scenes for me with words in a way, i feel, no other author could... read the book.



5. Strange to think how, in this post-Manson, post-9/11 world, Capote's account of murder in rural Kansas can still have such emotional resonance and power.
   
   Where to begin with praise for this work. The writing is sublime. Capote's style is economical yet profoundly evocative. He manages to convey so much of the people, the places, the events and the emotions without an excess of prose.
   
   Having leaned some of the back story thanks to biographies and recent films, I am amazed at Capote's light touch - how he allowed the characters and events to bring out the story. True, an author always leads the reader's eyes to particular events and impressions. But Capote's deft compositional choices deepen the narrative and bring forth greater complexity and emotional facets. In some instances, he seems to share only portions of what he knows or suspects leaving the rest to the reader's intelligence and imagination. Given today's seemingly insatiable desire to be shown every lurid outrageous detail, I doubt that a contemporary "true crime" author would have written this story with the same level of restraint.
   
   Of course, the most fascinating, and the most controversial, aspect of In Cold Blood is the characterization of the murderers: Perry Smith and Richard Hickock . Were they brutal killers? Without question. Were they complex human beings as well? Yes. And that is the most disturbing aspect of this book for many readers - being shown the faces of evil and feeling empathy as well as horror.
   
   I've read criticisms that take Capote to task for being sympathetic towards the murderers or for having an anti-capital punishment bias. There may be some truth in that, but I believe that readers are given ample opportunity to make up their own minds. Smith and Hickock's human sides are often brought forth, but they are even more frightening and monstrous for that. With the executions, Capote notes some of the troubling and ambiguous aspects that are inevitably part of the process when the state puts an individual to death.
   
   Of course, hanging over the tragedy of the story is the tragedy of it's writing. In the opening chapter, Capote notes "four shotgun blasts that, all told, ended six human lives". He couldn't have known that he would also become a victim as his obsession with the project and more specifically with Perry Smith would precipitate an early end to his literary career and a downward spiral into self destruction.

5 comments about The Darkest Night: Two Sisters, a Brutal Murder, and the Loss of Innocence in a Small Town.

1. Author Ron Franscell captures a moment in time that burns itself into the reader's heart, mine and soul. He accomplishes the impossible by making a 35-year-old tragedy excruciatingly real just as though it is happening today in the reader's own home town.
   
   From his eloquent description of a jury on page 88 to his brutally honest appraisal of Wyoming's prison system on pages 267 and 268, this writer makes no apology for wearing his heart and his emotions on his sleeve. He emphasizes how both he and the town of Casper, Wyoming were forever changed in one dark night by one unforgiveable act.
   
   The proof that Ron Franscell is a master of his craft is one paragraph on page 199 where he speaks of victim Becky Thompson. He describes this courageous young woman: "She died because she had already been murdered many years before. She fell from such a height that it took nineteen years to hit the bottom. She was crushed beneath something bigger than she was." Writing just not get any better than that.
   
   There was only one disappontment in the book and that is the fact that the author does not include a readable copy of poem by artist Michael Carr that is pictured with his "urban petroglyph" on the canyon walls under the Fremont Canyon Bridge. I would like to know what it says.
   
   This book reminds me a great deal of "Justice Waits" by Joel Davis. Both authors were directly affected by the murders they wrote about and both men are superb writers.



2. I was expecting this book to be like the hundreds of other true crime books I've read. There's a formula out there and they rarely waiver. The author takes us down his own memory lane into one of the most brutal and eventually heartbreaking crimes in history. Long on story, short on numbing details, you'll learn about the terrifying night two sisters spent at the hands of brutal sociopaths and the justice system that spared their lives. The conclusion was painful to think about and difficult to imagine. Kudos to the author for writing such a lovely testiment to these two victims.



3. Possibly the best true crime book I have ever read. Kept me turning pages until the very end. Would like to read much more from this author.



4. I will never understand peoples way of thinking! Why murder someone to spend the rest of your life in prison or worse. I have a temper don't get me wrong but I have never wanted to kill anyone. I feel sorry for those girls all those years ago.



5. very sad story, very upsetting and heartbreaking. It reads well and flo's good, one section with alot of legle mumble jumble that is neither here nor there, I just wanna know if the creeps are still in jail in plain terms. But overall the writer did such an awesome job making you feel as if you were there, alot of work on his behalf.

5 comments about The Innocent Man.

1. I was disgusted with the poor writing, awkward telling of the 'story', and just about everything else. I literally threw it in the trash.



2. After lying unread on my bookshelf for over 9 months, I finally got around to reading John Grisham's latest offering and first work of non-fiction - "The Innocent Man".
   
   Growing up on a steady diet of Erle Stanley Gardner and in love with Perry Mason, it was but natural that I become a fan of John Grisham's legal works of fiction. But other than "Skipping Christmas" which was moderately interesting, his non-legal fiction did not excite me at all. So I wasn't sure what to expect with his work of legal non-fiction.
   
   Fortunately it was interesting reading for the most part except the botched trial that got really slow and repetitive. Since this was a true story and Grisham was using actual court transcripts, he had to keep it so, but could have edited it a bit to make it crisper. Maybe all the legal serials we watch - The Practice, Law & Order, Boston Legal and others of their ilk have gotten me to expect snappy, sharp detective work, logical but persuasive arguments by counsel and crisp closing statements. The way the case was handled was completely slip shod and pathetic and makes you wonder at the possibility of truly getting justice unless you are in a TV serial.
   
   Little wonder that a libel suit was filed against John Grisham on 28, September 2007, by Pontotoc County - Oklahoma, District Attorney Bill Peterson and Gary Rogers, a former Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation agent.
   
   This true story, is remarkable for the fact that the main accused Ron Williamson who was framed by the law enforcement team of Pontotoc County was not just a "white" man, he was a semi-FAMOUS "white" man.
   
   Ron Williamson was a local hero on the baseball field and was also the 41st pick in baseball's 1971 amateur draft, a second-round selection by the Oakland Athletics. Due to poor performance, he did not hit the big time but he was still quite a local celebrity when he was accused as the murderer of cocktail waitress Debra Carter.
   
   His co-accused Dennis Fritz had nothing to implicate him except that he and Williamson were occasional "drinking buddies". Ironically Fritz's own wife had been murdered 7 years ago.
   
   The police used forced dream confessions, convicted felons as snitches and witnesses, junk science and other dubious means to get them both convicted. Williamson got the death penalty which automatically set a series of appeals in motion while Fritz got a life sentence.
   
   Through his incarceration, Williamson deteriorated physically and mentally despite the efforts of some good hearted souls until the Innocence Project - (basis for the serial In Justice) helped get them both acquitted after 12 years on the basis of the new technology - DNA testing.
   
   Grisham read Williamson's obituary when he died (5 years after being released) and was inspired to research and write this book.
   
   I started out reading the book, knowing that the main accused was innocent (could the title have been more descriptive?). Grisham wrote the book, knowing that Williamson was innocent. But even someone who didn't know some of the data presented here in hindsight, could have seen that this was a wrongful conviction. And it appalls you that even though the case came up for appeal multiple times, each person upheld the original wrongful conviction.
   
   Hence Grisham seems to have achieved his major goal in writing this novel.
   
   "If you believe that in America, you are innocent until proven guilty, this book will shock you.
   If you believe in the Death Penalty, this book will disturb you.
   If you believe the criminal justice system is fair, this book will infuriate you"



3. This is not a real book. It is a long detailed story about something that happened. Very boring. It is not a typical Grishem book. It is more like a long exhausting magazin artical. You will find an everage of 15 names in each page. In some, I was counting 28. Now think about it, a page full of names. It get realy confusing some times.
   I hardly made it to page 200, and from then on, just flip quickly through the pages, to get the general Idea of what will happen.
   Sham... Sham.. Sham. Glad to see that 17 other people gave only a single point to the book.
   I have the feeling that the book was Co-Writen, by others for Grishem. Co-Writers, that made the veriuos investigation, and their reports, were added to the book, almost as is.



4. Someone suggested I read this book because of my strong opinions about the criminal justice system. She felt that I'd like it, but I browsed through the book, and although sometimes the language is repetitive, I bought my first audio book hoping it would be more exciting to read this way. Indeed, it was. While I'm reading the reviews that say this book is "boring," the criminal justice system locking people up from big words and blood tests that I'm not convinced are 100%; the government not giving any money or even an apology to those who were wrongly convicted; and the way prisoners are treated in the prison system makes this book relevant and interesting. I didn't even need to hear the author's note to know this book was based on a true story. I hear stories such as this one time and time again, and I'm glad that Grisham pointed out within this read how rare it is to find White men who are accused incorrectly of crimes such as this, but how typical it is for minorities or the poor to constantly be accused and convicted with little or no sympathy for those who really are innocent. I read reviews saying they were bored with Ronnie's depression and alcoholism, but imagine giving up 12 years of your life for a crime you did not commit, being bipolar, and prison guards making fun of you through the night in addition to the government not letting you have the correct medication.
   
   While I do wish there was a cleaner conclusion, the truth of the matter is that many crimes like this remain unresolved, and this is why the government is so set on pinning the first person that looks a little funky. I enjoyed this book a lot. Thanks John!



5. John Grisham has written masterful novels in the past, but this surely is not one of them. I looked forward to reading this, being it was a Grisham story, but was sorely disappointed. Don't believe all the hype on the cover, it's an utterly boring read. Half-way through, I skipped to the end. This will definitely be one for the used bookstore pile....

5 comments about The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America.

1. A fascinating journey behind the World's Columbian Exhibition in 1893. Even non-history buffs will be amazed by stories behind popular attractions like the ferris wheel, the "name-dropping" of everyday goods that were introduced to the world for the first time at the fair and the struggles of heroes like Daniel Burnham and the villainous H.H. Holmes.



2. Go back to the 1893 World's Fair that changed America. The Devil and the White City, a novel by Erik Larson, takes the reader back to the time of the World's Fair through the eyes of two remarkable men - Daniel H. Burnham and H.H. Holmes. Daniel H. Burnham was a brilliant architect who was forced to overcome many obstacles to construct the 1983 World's Fair. H.H. Holmes on the other hand was a serial killer masquerading as a charming doctor while leading his victims to their death in his World's Fair Hotel, complete with a crematorium and a gas chamber. Erik Larson accomplishes what he set out to do, telling a tale with such drama and mystery that readers will find themselves double-checking to be sure they are not reading a highly imaginative novel. Although readers might find parts of Burnham's story slow at times or H.H. Holmes sinister activities grotesque, this can be easily overlooked by the vivid descriptions, great sentence flow, a nail-biting suspense story, and a terrific supporting cast that includes Thomas Edison, Buffalo Bill and Susan B. Anthony. It is no surprise that Erik Larson was nominated for a National Book Award for The Devil in the White City. He is also a former features writer for Wall Street Journal and Time Magazine, where he is still a contributing writer. Larson has also taught non-fiction writing at various colleges and seminars and has spoken to audiences from coast to coast. The magical appeal and disturbing dark side of 19th century Chicago are both revealed through Larson's masterpiece. The enjoyment of this story is only heightened by the fact that the story is true.



3. I found "The Devil in the White City" to be a truly amazing book to read. I expected that the portion of the book dealing with the serial killer, H. H. Holmes, would have been fascinating, and that ended up being true. Reading about the diabolical operation of this man, who had no moral problem murdering women who loved him and small children who had done nothing to harm him, was shocking and kept me turning pages.
   
   I was surprised to find, though, that the descriptions of the construction of the World's Fair were just as compelling and suspenseful. I was astounded at the obstacles Burnham and the other architects were faced with, and the ways in which they consistently were able to make unthinkable things happen in a nearly impossible timefame.
   
   The research of this story was impressive, and I liked the details making clear the issues that would have faced the building industry at the time, things such as difficult access to clean water, that wouldn't be a thought in the minds of workers today.
   
   The events and especially the names dropped into this story, from Helen Keller to Walt Disney to Mark Twain to Susan B. Anthony, made me feel this fair took place in a truly magical time for the United States. It was hard for me to put this book down, and the contrast between Holmes' story and Burnham's story made this tale both horrifying and uplifting.



4. For history buffs and mystery afficienados this is a super book. It is a non fiction book about the Chicago World's fair and the serial killer who preyed on the citizens of Chicago. I found it extrememly interesting.



5. The author narrates two parallel stories: the struggle to create the Columbian Exposition of 1892 and the progress of a serial killer who preyed on women who were drawn to Chicago by the fair. Larson shifts back and forth between these two threads, parceling out his information in such a way that every chapter ends with a cliff-hanger.

2 comments about The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher: A Shocking Murder and the Undoing of a Great Victorian Detective.

1. This is a wonderfully done true crime story of a murder in England in 1860. If that were all, we'd have an eminently enjoyable book. But this is also a social commentary and a history of the early detective story: you'll learn how and when the words "clueless" and "sleuth" entered the language, for example. You have a horrible murder of a 3-year-old boy in a manor house in the country. The outside doors, windows, and gates are all locked--and also, unusual for us nowadays, many of the interior doors were locked as well--preventing access to the larder, cellar, drawing-room, etc. So suspicion perforce falls upon the family and servants. This is before the days of forensic science--so it isn't even clear whether the child was killed by stabbing, throat-cutting, suffocation, or drowning. The local constabulary in this west England area are inadequate to the task in what very quickly becomes a sensationalist case, and so a detective from London is called in to investigate.
   
   Detectives are new, only a couple of decades old, as are detective stories. Detective-Inspector Jonathan Whicher is Scotland Yard's best investigator (at the time, there weren't all that many). The child's family is not very well liked in the area, and the family itself has many unsavory secrets--including insanity. Summerscale relates Whicher's detective work and his growing fixation upon a 16-year-old sister. But what makes all of this particularly enjoyable is how Summerscale relates the sensationalism in the press, the plethora of theories as to the murder, the coming-forth of outsiders to confess, the initial belief in Whicher's abilities (followed by growing disbelief). There are wonderful descriptions of the detective novels of the time--including ones with female detectives--the public appetite for these stories, and the additions to the language (you'll see where clue/clew comes from). The child's nanny slept in the room with the child, who was taken during the night. Charles Dickens was one of the numerous people who put forth the theory that the child had discovered his father in bed with the nanny and had been killed to prevent him telling Mama. Actual solutions, however, were not readily forthcoming.
   
   Whicher fell out of favor in the public eye--but he did pop up again in the other sensational case of the era--the Tichborne Claimant. (Hopefully, Summerscale will turn her prodigious talents to that case next). So what you get here is a fascinating view of the early days of detectivedom (if that's a word), the detective in fact and fiction, and the public's taste in literature. The book reads like a good detective novel, with well-portrayed characters: there are arrests, trials, maps, drawings, and photographs. A great book indeed!



2. We always think of detectives and crime-solving as things that have gone on for centuries. In actual fact, Edgar Alan Poe invented the detective story in 1841, and the next year the British set up their first detective police to solve crimes where the criminal wasn't immediately apparent. For much of the 19th century these individuals were essentially making it up as they went along, and dealing with a variety of public prejudices (bobbies originally had to wear their uniforms all the time, to avoid corruption and the possibility of them sneaking up on someone) and strange practices to invent, as they went along, the craft of crime-solving.
   
   In 1860, 18 years after the detective department was founded (they had offices in a square in downtown London known as Scotland Yard, hence the name) a young boy was killed in rural England. His throat was cut rather viciously, and he was thrown into a privy. The house in which he lived with his family was very large, and since the doors were locked, it seemed inevitable that the killer must be either a family member or a servant. After two weeks of inexpert investigation, which solved nothing, the local police petitioned London to send a Scotland Yard detective. The one they got was one of four Detective Inspectors, Jack Whicher, who according to the author was one of the original detectives who essentially invented his craft. His assistant, "Dolly" Williamson, went on to be superintendent of Scotland Yard during the `70s and `80s.
   
   Whicher settled pretty quickly on who he believed was the culprit, but he was unable to obtain a confession and had scant physical evidence. He made an arrest, but the family closed ranks, and ultimately there was no immediate conclusion to the killing. This destroyed Whicher's career. He wound up retiring from the police a few years later, and worked intermittently as a private detective in later years. Eventually he was vindicated, and the case wrapped up, but he was never reinstated.
   
   I enjoyed this book immensely. So much of what the author recounts found its way into detective novels of later years that it's amusing, to say the least. The characters are interesting, and so are their fates. I enjoyed this book immensely, and would recommend it to anyone interested in true crime.

5 comments about Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith.

1. I am serious that the History of the Mormon church is years of material for Saturday Night Live.
   Couple of ideas for skits:
   Joseph Smith (founder of the LDS) is married and after a few years his eyes start wandering, so he tells his wife God has told him to take on more wives. The wife is mad and threatens to take on more husbands, Joe doesn't like that, so he tells his wife that God told him that if a wife takes on another man she will go to hell for ever ! Nice.
   
   The locals don't like Joes unfaithfull ways, and drag him out of his bed, into the woods at night with the plan to castarate him - they even had a doctor along. Once Joe is stripped naked, and spread eagle the doctor can't go thru with it, and instead they beat Joe up badly and then tar and feather him.
   
   Currently, various Fundemnetalist mormon church off shoots all have a leader that claim to be ' the mighty and strong one' - that is the guy who is immortal and will be present during the second coming ( or something like that) - well the followers all flip out when their annoited immortal leader dies.
   
   The book covers a double homicide that took place in 1984. The two brothers that commited the crime are arrested, and after one beats the other one while in the same cell, they are put in adjacent cells. some days pass and one brother tells the other brother that God told him that he needs to kill him. So they discuss the best way to do the killing, and decide to have the one to die back up to the bars while the other one strangles him to death. They then proceed to follow thru the plan.
   
   Mormons might feel picked on by this book, but I see it as a book about religion, and what it does to people. There are Mormons that are completely nuts, just like the 9/11 moslem bombers.
   
   Krakauer writes this book in a similar style to Into the Wild. He mentions a couple other books about the LDS which I plan on reading.



2. I am fascinated with different religious sects and I must admit that the Mormon Church has always seemed to be founded on bizarre circumstances by some questionable characters. This book kept my interest and the history of the founders was interesting and disturbing. I soon became confused with the geneology of the family members of the FLDS in Colorado and Utah. No wonder genealogy is so important to the Mormon's how else could the keep up with their blood lines.
   
   I don't think that it is fair to paint todays LDS members with the same brush as the FLDS and the early "church" which I think the author is attempting to do. Unfortunately, the majority who are good citizens with a strong (admirable) sense of family are tainted by the few whackos who make all the news.



3. This book is a must read for anyone interested in reading a non-biased historical account of the Latter Day Saints. The parallel of events which occurred in the development of Mormanism as compared to the development of Islam are of a striking similarity.
   
   Jon Krakauer is truly an amazing author and story teller.



4. Although I am only 30 pages into this book, which takes place primarily in Arizona, the details of previous raids on FLDS compounds are shockingly similar to what is currently happening in Eldorado, TX--including how the press is presenting this group as being persecuted for their religion when in fact, the FDLS is guilty of heinous crimes against its female members, who are little more than breeding stock. What FLDS members present to the networks and media may not be at all what goes on behind those locked and closed doors. Read this book.



5. I have read a lot of books on Mormonism that this is one of the best. That's because the author choose to wrap the story of Mormonism around some of it's best known and most gripping triumphs, tragedies, atrocities, and scandals.
   
   I listened to the Audiobook and, frankly, I could hardly wait to drive to work so I could get through just another chapter. I can't recommend this book highly enough.
   
   Other Audio Books on Mormonism that I have enjoyed include:
   
   Leaving the Saints: How I Lost the Mormons and Found My Faith
   
   Secret Ceremonies
   
   Other books on Mormonism that I recommend include:
   
   The Pattern of The Double-Bind in Mormonism
   
   No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith
   
   The Mountain Meadows Massacre
   
   Beyond Mormonism : An Elder's Story
   
   Mormonism, Mama & Me
   
   Who Really Wrote the Book of Mormon?: The Spalding Enigma
   
   Mormonism 101: Examining the Religion of the Latter-day Saints
   
   Mormonism Unveiled: The Life and Confession of John D. Lee, Including the Life of Brigham Young