“Nonetheless, he found it possible to look at the man beside him without anger—with, rather, a measure of sympathy—for Perry Smith’s life had been no bed of roses but pitiful, an ugly and lonely progress toward one mirage and then another.” – – – I remember being gobsmacked by this book when I read it for the first time six years ago, and now upon re-read, I find it’s just as good. In fact, it’s one of those books where the satisfaction comes not from […]
A Monstrous Nightmare
In 2000, writer Douglas Preston moved his family to a villa in Tuscany so he could work on a new mystery that would take place in Florence. Soon after, he discovers that a clearing near his new house was the scene of a gruesome double murder. The murder was attributed to the Monster of Florence, a serial killer who targeted young couples and was still at large. Preston abandons his novel and begins working on a nonfiction work about the Monster, teaming up with Mario […]
How to (Not) Get Away With Bank Larceny
I saw a trailer for a movie called Masterminds and something about it seemed familiar, beyond the usual familiarity of derivative comedy. I looked it up on Wikipedia and discovered the movie was based on a true story, a story I had entertained myself with while bored at work in 1999. A little more research led me to the book, Heist, written by Jeff Diamant, a journalist who had covered the case for the Charlotte Observer. Heist is about the 1997 Loomis heist in Charlotte, North […]
I’m the most cold-hearted son of a bitch you will ever meet.
The title is a quote from Ted Bundy, but it could apply to Joshua Wade. Ice and Bone is a report of the murders of Della Brown and Mindy Schloss, committed by Joshua Wade in Anchorage Alaska between 2000 and 2007. I’m not the most objective person to review this book because I knew Della Brown and Joshua Wade. Not well, but in passing and had met them several years apart. I met Della working for a victim’s advocacy group shortly before she was murdered. […]