Tag Archives: crime
** Devil in the White City by Erik Larson
I had liked In the Gardens of Beasts and I also liked The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America, in which the author weaves together the story of the building of … Continue reading
Filed under Non fiction
** The Autobiography of an Execution by David Dow
The Autobiography of an Execution is a true-life memoir of an attorney who defends death-row inmates, but it’s really a passionate argument against the death penalty — not, as the author strenuously argues, because some death-row inmates are indeed innocent … Continue reading
Filed under True story
** Operation Family Secret by Frank Calabrese
From one dysfunctional family to another — although surely readers will recognize this particular family as dysfunctional, as it is a mafia family where the men routinely extort, intimidate, and kill while Amy Chua’s highly educated and conventionally successful family … Continue reading
Filed under True story
The Poisoner’s Handbook by Deborah Blum
The Poisoner’s Handbook is a misleading title, since the book’s topic, as accurately portrayed by the subtitle, is really the genesis of New York’s toxicology lab and its founder, Charles Norris, who was the city’s first trained medical examiner starting … Continue reading
Filed under Non fiction
The Scarecrow by Michael Connelly
The Scarecrow is a thriller about an evil computer system administrator who tortures and kills women after using his position to spy on them. Will the heroic newspaper columnist, recently laid off but still working his last couple of weeks … Continue reading
Filed under Mystery
Zero at the Bone by John Heidenry
Zero at the Bone tells the story of a botched kidnapping by two alcoholic low-lives who, it seems, drank so much after they got the ransom that they fumbled into swift discovery and a very swift trip to the gas … Continue reading
Filed under True story
Cracking Cases by Henry Lee
Cracking Cases recalls five murder cases (including the OJ Simpson trial) that the author helped solve, or disprove, using forensic evidence. Alas, like Teasing Secrets from the Dead and How Not to Die, recently reviewed on this blog, Cracking Cases … Continue reading
Filed under Non fiction
Teasing Secrets from the Dead by Emily Craig
Teasing Secrets from the Dead is a memoir by a forensic anthropologist who covers her training (she was a latecomer to the field, starting as a medical illustrator and, most notably, a frustrated would-be physician) and describes a variety of … Continue reading
Filed under True story
Picking Cotton by Jennifer Thompson-Cannino et al.
Picking Cottonis the story of justice gone awry: a young woman is raped, picks her attacker in a lineup, and causes to send him to jail — but he’s really not her attacker, just someone who looks like him, and … Continue reading
Filed under True story
A Person of Interest by Susan Choi
A Person of Interest opens as Dr. Lee’s office mate receives a package in the mail that contains a bomb that shatters his and Dr Lee’s office. Dr. Lee, a mathematician who immigrated from China, is a solitary man whose two … Continue reading
Filed under New fiction
