Weekly reading thread: May 8-14

I've been on a non fiction run this week:

First up was The Art Detective: Fakes, Frauds, and Finds and the Search for Lost Treasures by Philip Mould.

This is one of the guys who does the British TV show "Antiques Road show". He tells various interesting anecdotes of his life as an art dealer. I thought it was interesting however the title of "art detective" was overstating it a bit, it made the book sound far more dramatic & international than it really was. Still I enjoyed the stories and gave it 3 stars.

Next was Law & Disorder: The Legendary FBI Profiler's Relentless Pursuit of Justice by John E. Douglas, Mark Olshaker. I've read all of Douglas' books so far (he is one of the original FBI agents that developed 'profiling'). He writes about famous cases that he has been involved in and gives us the real story. This book is revolves round the death penalty and looks in detail at certain cases where it's been incorrectly applied and others where it's been justified. he also uses the example of the Salem witch trials and compares it to modern day cases that had devil worship claims as part of the motive. It's also always very interesting when he goes through the details of a case how the facts are often very different to what we see reported in the media.

I gave it 4 stars.

This was new in the library so I thought I'd give it a go The Red Parts: Autobiography of a Trial by Maggie Nelson. In 1969 there was a serial killer active in Michigan and a 19yo college student Jane was presumed to have been murdered by him. However the killer was never caught. In this book written by her niece the police suddenly link someone to her murder via new DNA evidence and 35 years later he is put on trial. This looks at the details of the trial and the impact Jane's death had on her family all this time later.  I thought the true crime aspect was interesting, however there was also a lot of diversion into the author's own life which wasn't that interesting or relevant (and I hate it when people describe their dreams).

Not one I'd recommend and I gave it 2 stars.

I'm currently listening to Twisted Triangle: A Famous Crime Writer, a Lesbian Love Affair, and the FBI Husband's Violent Revenge by Caitlin Rother. You might remember this from news stories in the 1990s involving author Patricia Cornwell.

Margo Bennett is in the FBI when she meets and marries another agent Gene. After being happy for awhile and having two kids she starts to realise the Gene is a bit of a con man & thief. Gene has met and is friends with Patricia Cornwell and he introduces her to Margo...eventually the two women have a short affair. When Margo decides she wants a divorce Gene flips out and becomes irrational and violent...he beats, tazers and kidnaps his wife.

I haven't finished yet but it's scary that this man was in the FBI, he's a total psycho and has already tried to kill his wife twice.

I remember bits of it as it happened as I used to be a big fan of Cornwell's books. I can't remember how it all ended though, so will have to wait and see.

That seems to be a lot of books! but they are all fairly short, much shorter than my normal fiction reads (listens)