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Thursday, June 27, 2013

True Crime Adventures

     Want some edge-of-your-seat reading selections? And they’re true, not fiction! Here is an assortment of some recently published true crime books.

     The Annals of Unsolved Crime, written by Edward Jay Epstein, expands on over thirty mysterious deaths from the nineteenth century through the present, most of which the average reader thought were resolved. Chapters range from Abraham Lincoln to John F. Kennedy’s assassinations, the purported suicide of Marilyn Monroe to the murder of JonBenet Ramsey, the murder of O.J. Simpson’s ex-wife to that of Amanda Knox’s roommate, and more. The author examines each case thoroughly, presenting what is known and unknown, considering alternate theories where they exist, and identifying when the case is not yet resolved.

     Murder on Long Island: a Nineteenth-Century Tale of Tragedy & Revenge, written by local historians Geoffrey K. Fleming and Amy K. Folk, is the story of a revenge murder set in 1854 Cutchogue. James Wickham, a wealthy farmer and his wife Frances, were murdered by Nicholas Behan a disgruntled employee, who killed them with an axe while they slept. The book follows Behan’s capture, trial, conviction and hanging.

     Fatal Friends, Deadly Neighbors and Other True Cases, written by Ann Rule, is volume 16 of Ann Rule’s Crime Files. Rule is a prolific crime reporter with many books to her name; this collection of cases focus on recently committed murders where the attacker is a loved one.

     Echoes of my Soul is the story of the murder of two young New York City career girls in 1963, and how a young black man with an IQ of less than 70 was wrongly accused of the crime by police. Author Robert K. Tanenbaum presents this story of how assistant D.A. Mel Glass assiduously searched for the real killer, and exhibits crime scene photos and trial transcripts to complete the story.

     Waiting to be Heard: a Memoir is written by Amanda Knox, the American college student studying abroad in Italy, who was accused of the murder of her British roommate. We hear Amanda’s version of events leading up to the crime, the investigation, police interrogation of her, trial and conviction, her four years in an Italian prison, appeals process and the overturn of the conviction in 2011. Of course, there will be more to follow as Knox’s acquittal recently was overturned by Italy’s highest criminal court; there will be a retrial.

Monday, June 24, 2013

Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal

Mary Roach is an intrepid reporter and author of several popular science books on such topics as cadavers, the afterlife, sex, and space travel. With Gulp, the reader is given a tour of the entire alimentary canal, focusing on its functions of eating (enhanced by the senses of taste and smell), digestion and elimination. Ever the investigator, Roach interviews the scientists who research the assorted subdivisions of these functions; and is able to present the facts in a comprehensible style and with a humorous touch. Find out the answers to such questions as: “why doesn’t the stomach digest itself?”, “can constipation kill you? did it kill Elvis?”, “does saliva have curative properties?” and more.