August 21, 2014

Sharon Tate and the Manson Murders by Greg King

SharonTateFormat: Hardbound
Pub. Date: 2000
Type: Non-Fiction, True Crime, Biography ~ Library Book
Pages: 320
Read: 8/20/2014
Rating: Liked it ♥♡

On August 9th 1969 Sharon Tate – the actress and wife of Roman Polanski – was brutally murdered in her Los Angeles home, along with her unborn son and four others.

While I have listed this book as True Crime, it is really more a biography, it just happens to be the biography of a person who was horribly murdered.

The synopsis on Goodreads, besides having a typo in it says the book is about “the search for the killers, the sensational trials and the history to their 30 year imprisonment.” It is that and so much more. It is a detailed and comprehensive biography of Sharon Tate’s life. Her childhood, her formative years. One thing emphasized is her drive to become a ‘star’, we also read of her great beauty, her wonderful personality and deep love for Roman Polanski. Also how excited she was to become a mother, something that would never happen.

Greg King’s account is so detailed and expertly covered that by the time we get to August 9, 1969, we feel as if we know Sharon. We can almost feel her pain and fear as she realizes she is about to die. It makes an event that some of us may have only viewed in a historical capacity personal. He also goes into the fear that spread through Hollywood and Los Angeles after the murders. He gives a mini history of Manson and the family, minor coverage of the trial and what has happened with the perpetrators and the victim’s families.

Two things I noticed about the book (physical copy), Charlie’s face is superimposed on Sharon’s bodice, I didn’t notice this before someone mentioned it in another review, it is not that noticeable on my book. Also the author and one reviewer mentioned crime scene photos, these were not in my copy of the book, which I got from the library. This is just a heads up that you might see some disturbing pictures if you get this book. Like I said they were not in my book so I can’t say for sure.

Also, I did some additional research into what has happened to the Manson family:

Susan Atkins has died, 9/24/2009 of brain cancer. She tried to get a compassionate release and was denied. She died in prison.

Patricia Krenwinkel is still in prison, her next parole hearing is in 2018.

Leslie Van Houten is still in prison, she has been denied parole 20 times.

Charles ‘Tex’ Watson is still in prison, he is next eligible for parole in 2016.

Bruce Davis was denied parole 27 times before being granted parole, only to have it denied by Governor Jerry Brown.

Bobby Beausoleil is still in prison. Davis and Beausoleil were convicted in the murders of Gary Hinman and Donald Jerome “Shorty” Shea.

I got some of this information from a website: Charles Manson Family and Sharon Tate-Labianca Murders. It appears to be very accurate and well maintained. Also I searched for an organization that Charlie founded “ATWA”, it stands for “Air Trees Water Animals”, they have a facebook page and a website. On the webpage with their mission statement is a link “Manson” where he is described as a “political prisoner” with a link to his website. You can go there and donate to his defense fund because he was wrongfully convicted, he never killed anyone. I also have some prime real estate in Florida for sale and a bridge that connects Brooklyn to Manhattan. I’ll give you a real good deal on both.

Posted by on August 21, 2014 in 2014, Biography, Historical True Crime, History, Memoir, Non-Fiction, True Crime and tagged , , , , , , , , , , .

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August 17, 2014

Bad Wolf by Nele Neuhaus

Bodenstein & Kirchhoff #6
badwolfFormat: Hardbound
Pub. Date: 2012
Type: Fiction, Foreign ~ Library Book
Pages: 416
Read: 8/9/2014
Rating: Liked it ♥♡

This story starts slow, with the body of a sixteen-year-old girl being discovered on a river bank. The police are unable to identify her, but when a popular TV reporter is attacked, raped, and locked in the trunk of her own car, what seems to be an unrelated crime turns out to be the link to solving the murder.

This story builds slowly, Nele Neuhaus get all the characters in place so you get to know them. She also builds on the personal relationships and back story of the main characters. Since not all the books are available this gets confusing at times. I tended to skim over them. The actual mystery was pretty straightforward. It was one of those where you knew what was going on but the interesting thing is who was actually doing it, and all these little side threads, how do they fit in? The ending was not really a surprise, but getting to the end was an interesting ride.

Posted by on August 17, 2014 in 2014, Crime Fiction, Fiction, Foreign, Mystery, Novel, Series and tagged , , , , , , .

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August 9, 2014

Snow White Must Die by Nele Neuhaus

Bodenstein & Kirchhoff #4
SnowWhiteMustDieFormat: Hardbound
Pub. Date: 2010
Type: Fiction ~ Library Book, Translated from German
Pages: 384
Read: 08/07/2014
Rating: Liked it ♥♡

Nele Neuhaus is a best selling author in Germany, only two of her books have been translated into English so far. I hope that all are, but not too soon as I have many books to read. These books distract me from my scheduled reading list.

When police detectives Pia Kirchhoff and Oliver von Bodenstein begin investigating an attempted murder of a woman pushed from a pedestrian bridge onto a car driving underneath, they discover her son has just been released from prison for the murder of two seventeen-year-old girls. Could there be a connection to the current attack? They travel to the small village where the victim lives to find out and encounter a wall of silence. Getting nowhere in the village, other than finding out Tobias Sartorius is hated by virtually everyone in the village, Kirchhoff begins reading the old case file for leads.

In a small village, everyone knows everything about everyone, but many are determined to keep it to themselves. Then another young girl disappears. The police are in a bind now because the villagers are ready to take matters into their own hands.

There is a lot going on in this book, the investigations, problems between investigators, personal problems. Ms. Neuhaus does a good job of weaving all those factors together while not losing sight of the main storyline, the disappearance of the young women.

Posted by on August 9, 2014 in 2014, Crime Fiction, Fiction, Foreign, Mystery, Series and tagged , , , , , , .

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August 9, 2014

Dark Places by Gillian Flynn

darkplacesFormat: eBook
Pub. Date: 2009
Type: Fiction ~ Library Book
Pages: 349
Read: 7/19/2014
Rating: Was O.K.

This book was included in the download with Sharp Objects, that is why I read it even though I swore I wouldn’t read any more Gillian Flynn.

The murder in this book happened 24 years before the story starts and the murderer is behind bars. The Day family was massacred and seven-year old Libby testified against her brother, Ben, resulting in his conviction. Since then Libby has been living from relative to relative, paying her expenses with money raised through charity and a book deal. Now the money is running out and Libby is not qualified – or doesn’t want to – work. These circumstances lead to her contacting a group willing to pay for her to appear at a “Murder Convention”, what she is not told, this group believes Ben is innocent. They want Libby to help them get him released from prison. Libby doesn’t like thinking about that day, she calls the memories “Dark Places”, but she needs – wants money, so she agrees to contact, her brother, her father and others to find out the truth.

The story is told from two different points of view, Libby’s in the present, first person narrative, and in the past, the day of the murder third person narrative, told from differing points of view. So you know you’re going to find out what really happened. There is a twist at the end though.

Libby is not a sympathetic character, she is also not ‘strong woman protagonist’, she is whiny and manipulative, she doesn’t see any reason to be a responsible adult, I don’t remember if she got therapy after the murder of her family, but she is definitely a damaged person. Much like Camille is in “Sharp Objects”, Libby however, makes no attempt to get better, just spends time blaming everyone else for her problems. Another offering that didn’t thrill me.

Posted by on August 9, 2014 in 2014, Crime Fiction, Fiction, Mystery, Novel and tagged , , , .

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July 31, 2014

Living as A Writer: A Note to my Friends

Reblogging this because this is advice I need to follow. Some good points I SHOULD remember.

Ken Kuhlken's avatarNovelist Ken Kuhlken's Blogs

A week ago, I mentioned to my friend Annie that my latest novel would be out soon. She asked if I meant to give her a copy. Now, it’s not the first time I’ve been asked that question. Not hardly. But this time, my patience faltered.

I said, “Come on, I have to spend a couple years writing the book, deal with the publisher and all, and spend countless hours marketing, and then I’m supposed to give the book away?”

She said, “Well . . . ”

Had I felt slightly ornerier, I would’ve asked, “Should I read it for you too?”

After she left, I wondered, if I were rich, would I give copies to all my friends? Maybe not. I mean, when author friends of mine have new books, I prefer to buy them, in honor of their accomplishment.

Then, yesterday, an email arrived: “Congratulations on your new…

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Posted by on July 31, 2014 in Uncategorized.

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July 24, 2014

Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn

STRONG LANGUAGE IN THIS REVIEW

SHarpObjectsFormat: eBook
Pub. Date: 2006
Type: Fiction ~ Library Book
Pages: 272
Read: 7/18/2014
Rating: Was O.K.

After I read Gone Girl, which left me kind of cold, I don’t think I even wrote a review about it here, I said, “NO MORE GILLIAN FLYNN”. As you can see I didn’t stick to that. I got a sample, it intrigued me, and so I got the book. From the library, because if I had actually paid money for this drivel I would be fucking pissed. Some spoilers in review

The story is told from the viewpoint of Camille Preaker, who is a reporter and mentally ill, totally messed up by mommie dearest who never liked much less loved her. Camille is a cutter, except she doesn’t just cut, she carves words into herself. So fresh from this environment and just out of a mental hospital, Camille is sent back to her whack job of a mother by her boss. Of course at this point in the book, he doesn’t know how deranged Camille’s family is. And Camille is not ready to let the world know she has words written all over her body. She even convinced a guy to have sex with her clothes on.

Camille is just there to cover the story, but in the way these things happen in books, she ends up working to solve the crime, not just report on the family and the victims relations with their family and others. And she figures it out, except she’s wrong. I was wrong too.

In Gone Girl, the main female character is a MEAN GIRL, in this book, Camille is not a MEAN GIRL, but we get the idea that she was one in high school. Her mother and half-sister are devious and manipulative and spiteful and venomous. I raced through this book, mainly because I had to find out the ending, but I can’t say I enjoyed it.

Posted by on July 24, 2014 in 2014, Fiction, Novel and tagged , , , , , .

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July 24, 2014

Protected: Murder Behind the Badge by Stacy Dittrich ~ Updates from the web

This content is password-protected. To view it, please enter the password below.

Posted by on July 24, 2014 in 2014, Non-Fiction, True Crime and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

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July 24, 2014

Murder Behind the Badge by Stacy Dittrich

True Stories of Cops Who Kill

MurderBehindtheBadgeFormat: Hardbound
Pub. Date: 2010
Type: Non-Fiction, True Crime ~ Library Book
Pages: 320
Read: 7/15/2014
Rating: Liked it ♥♡

As a child I was always told if I was in trouble or lost to find a policeman. The police are there to help you I was told. In most cases that is true, but sometimes the emotional strain of dealing with the worst society has can wear down an officer until he or she slips into criminal behavior, some even going so far as to commit murder.

This book contains 18 stories of cops who killed. Not in the line of duty shootings, murders. The motives are varied. Some of the names were familiar to me and might be to you: Drew Peterson, Charles Oswalt, Lawrencia “Bambi” Bembenek, Richard DiGuglielmo, Craig Peyer and Gerard Schaefer. Some I know from my true crime reading, some from watching TruTV and one because it happened near to where I live.

Dittrich provides a foreword with her thoughts about 3 cases she is unsure of, this doesn’t affect her writing style or delivering the facts in an unbiased manner. She also stresses that the majority of law enforcement uphold the law, of course it only takes running into one bad one to ruin your day, just saying.

The accounts are short, no in-depth history of the participants lives, just enough to tell the crime and what happened after. I googled the names to see if there was any updated information available. Realizing some people may not want to see that, I have put any updates in a separate post that follows this one, and it is password protected. The password is in the tags.

So if you like your true crime short and sweet (so to say, not that murder is sweet) you will enjoy this book, the writing is concise, the stories are fascinating.

Dittrich profiles, among others:

• New Orleans cop Antoinette Frank, who brutally murdered three innocent people, including a fellow officer.
• Canton, Ohio police officer Bobby Cutts Jr., who murdered his former girlfriend when she was nine-months pregnant.
• California highway patrolman Craig Peyer, who pulled over San Diego State college student Cara Knott over a frivolous traffic violation, then murdered her.
• Columbia, Missouri officer Steven Rios, who slit the throat of his gay lover, after he threatened to tell everyone of their relationship.

Posted by on July 24, 2014 in 2014, Non-Fiction, True Crime and tagged , , , , , , , , .

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July 22, 2014

Bitch on Wheels by Gregg Olsen

The true story of a murderous wife and her mountain man lover
This title was previously published in the US as Confessions of an American Black Widow.

BlackWidowFormat: eBook
Pub. Date: 1998, 2013
Type: Non-Fiction, True Crime
Pages: 287
Read: 7/5/2014
Rating: Really liked it ♥♡

This book was originally published in 1998 under the title “Confessions of an American Black Widow”, it was re-released in 2013 as an e-book with the title “Bitch on Wheels”. I have the 1998 version in paperback, the 2013 version as an ebook, mainly because I didn’t realize they were the same book. M. William Phelps wrote a foreword for the ebook version, a fact I find appropriate since I was reading his book at the same time I was reading this.

We come into the story at the death of Sharon Nelson’s third husband, we then go back in time to her first husband, who Sharon didn’t kill, apparently she decided it was better if her exes were dead. She had her lover kill husband number 2 and 3, while at the same time keeping his as her lover. He didn’t seem to want to marry Sharon, of course that would have meant leaving his wife.

BlackWidow2Gregg Olsen does his usual stellar job. His in dept recounting of the lives of the people involved makes one feel like they know them, yet his detailed reported doesn’t drag and is his style of writing is very readable. Gregg Olsen could re-write the phone book and I would read it. Well maybe not. My only complaint was the order the account was told was rather confusing, we kept going back and forth in time. Still a worthwhile read.

Posted by on July 22, 2014 in 2014, Non-Fiction, True Crime and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , .

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July 16, 2014

Death Trap by M. William Phelps

DeathTrapFormat: eBook
Pub. Date: 2010
Type: Non-Fiction, True Crime ~ Kobo Book
Pages: 464
Read: June 19, 2014
Rating: Really liked it ♥♡

On February 16, 2002 authorities responded to the report of a fire, they arrived to find a burned out car with two bodies in the trunk. It was Alan and Terra Bates, they had been murdered by Alan’s ex-wife, Jessica McCord and her husband, Jeff McCord, a police officer in Pelham, Alabama. Jessica wanted full and permanent custody of their children, without having to comply with the court ordered visitation allowed to Alan, she had already spent time in jail for disobeying the judge, and Jessica was used to getting what she wanted.

Incredibly detailed account of the lives of the involved parties, Phelps details the long custody battle, Jessica’s total disregard for the court and her manipulation of the children to paint herself as the good mom and Alan the evil abandoning father. Phelps brings the facts to life and we get to know the people through his research and in-depth interviews and correspondence with friends, family and even Jeff McCord. I recommend this book.

Posted by on July 16, 2014 in 2014, Non-Fiction, True Crime and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

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