My Review (5 stars out of 5) This is a collection of David Sedaris’s best stories. From the absurd and the bizarre, to the touching and profound, we learn about his family, his relationships, and his often-hilarious insights into the human condition. I’ve read several of this author’s books already so, unsurprisingly, some of these…
Category: biographical
‘Bluebird and the Dead Lake’ by John Pearson
My Review (5 stars out of 5) Following Donald Campbell’s 1964 attempt on the world land speed record, John Pearson spent several weeks with Campbell and his team in Australia’s remote outback, waiting for conditions on the saltpan of Lake Eyre to meet the standards required for a successful record attempt. Aiming to hit speeds…
‘Supper with the Crippens’ by David James Smith
My Review (5 stars out of 5) Dr Hawley Harvey Crippen and his wife, Belle, lived in a rented house at 39 Hilldrop Crescent. Following supper with two of their friends, Crippen appears to have poisoned his wife and cut up her body, burying her under the cellar floor. Moving his mistress, Ethel le Neve,…
‘The Poisonous Solicitor’ by Stephen Bates
My Review (5 stars out of 5) In 1922, solicitor Major Herbert Rowse Armstrong was tried and found guilty of killing his wife by poisoning her with arsenic. Hanged for her murder, the case caused a scandal not only in Hay-on-Wye where he lived but across the whole country. My first introduction to this story…
‘Catch Me If You Can’ by Frank W. Abagnale with Stan Redding
My Review (3 stars out of 5) (Audiobook) In the nineteen sixties, American Frank W. Abagnale, while utilising several aliases, became one of the cleverest con men the world has ever seen. Posing as an airline pilot, a doctor, a lawyer, and sociology professor, he forged thousands of cheques, stayed free of charge in hundreds…
‘Manson’ by Jeff Guinn
My Review (5 stars out of 5) How did ex-con and delinquent Charles Manson entice young people to join his ‘family’ and persuade them to commit murder? In this well-researched biography, Jeff Guinn interviewed childhood friends, cellmates, Manson’s own sister and cousin and even members of the Manson Family. Placing Manson firmly in the context…
‘A Passion for Poison’ by Carol Ann Lee
My Review (5 stars out of 5) In post-war Britain, teenager Graham Young developed an interest in poisons. Reading and researching everything he could about his soon-to-be obsession, the fourteen-year-old landed himself in court after trying out his experiments on people. Charged with poisoning a schoolfriend and members of his own family, he was diagnosed…
‘Pretty Evil New England’ by Sue Coletta
My Review (5 stars out of 5) Exploring murder in nineteenth century New England, crime writer Sue Coletta tells the stories of five female serial killers – Jane Toppan, Lydia Sherman, Nellie Webb, Harriet E. Nason and Sarah Jane Robinson. Delving into their individual backgrounds, she looks at the events that drove these women to…
‘Biko’ by Donald Woods
My Review (5 stars out of 5) Activist and founder of the Black Consciousness Movement, Steve Biko was hounded by the South African authorities for his outspoken views on apartheid. Detained, arrested, banned and beaten by security police, Biko died on 12 September 1977. Daily Dispatch editor Donald Woods had become a close friend of…
‘Fred and Rose’ by Howard Sounes
My Review (5 stars out of 5) (Audiobook) Over a period of several years, Fred and Rose West murdered a series of young women, burying many of the bodies under their own house at 25 Cromwell Street, Gloucester – their victims including one of their own daughters. Other bodies were discovered buried at the Wests’…
Colin Garrow 