I chose these books because a theme in my writing is standing up, and being a champion for things that get forgotten â books, music, events, people. Also, for anyone who has done investigative reporting, the sense is always like youâre going down a rabbit hole and penetrating a dark, undiscovered country. Also â and I donât think many people know this â I was an English Lit major in college at the University of Toronto. In my early days I did a lot of reading, on a disparate field of interests.
Linda Wolfe is a throwback to the way true crime used to be written and should continue to be written. She was an old-school investigative reporter with an endlessly inquisitive mind and a keen sense of storytelling. Wolfe died just before the Covid pandemic broke, her passing went largely unnoticed. Sheâs chiefly known for her book about Robert Chambers, Wasted: The Preppie Murder about the 1986 Central Park strangulation murder of Jennifer Levin. The Professor and the Prostitute is a great, lurid title, and this series of essays are fascinating portraits of behavior and psychology. Included is one of her most famous pieces originally penned for New York Magazine, The Strange Death of the Twin Gynecologists about Stewart and Cyril Marcus, made famous in the David Cronenberg film, Dead Ringers.
Ten accounts exploring the psychological forces that drive affluent people to destroy themselves and others focus on a New England professor's obsession with a prostitute, the drug-related deaths of twin gynecologists, and other cases
The Canadian Connection is an expose of the mafia in Canada and its implications for international crime operations. It was first published in French in the mid-1970s and immediately went on to become a national bestseller. There was a time in Quebec when you couldnât turn the page of a newspaper without seeing an ad with an order form urging you to buy this âShocking! Chilling!â book that revealed âNames! Dates! Locations!â Jean-Pierre Charbonneau is today considered one of the godfathers of Quebec writings on organized crime. The Canadian Connection is largely forgotten in English-speaking Canada and widely unknown to the rest of the world. It is essential reading for anyone with an interest in the history of the mafia, and connections to the New York Five Families of organized crime.
In his father's jail, young Albert finds what he's always wanted: a teacher who understands him. But some lessons exact a terrible price. When brilliant murderer Edward Rulloff is imprisoned in Ithaca, he offers Albert an education most boys in 1846 could only dreamâŚ
Youâre probably picking up a theme here - I love an underdog, books that go largely unnoticed. Ron Rosenbaum spent most of his career writing for The Village Voice, Esquire, Vanity Fair, and many others. The Secret Parts of Fortune is a collection of some of his best stuff. Someone described Rosenbaum as âone part intellectual and one part private eye,â and these essays will definitely lead you down a rabbit hole, taking you places youâve never even considered to venture. My point of entry was A Killing in Camelot, about the unsolved murder of Mary Meyer, an artist and Washington socialite who turned up murdered on a D.C. canal towpath in 1964. As the title suggests, there is a Kennedy connection â isnât there always.
One part intellectual and one part private eye, Ron Rosenbaum takes readers into "the secret parts" of the great mysteries, controversies, and enigmas of our time, including:
the occult rituals of Skull and Bones, the legendary Yale secret society that has produced spies and presidents, including George Bush and George W. Bush.
the Secrets of the Little Blue Box, the classic story of "Captain Crunch" and the birth of hacker culture.
the "unorthodox" cancer-cure clinics of Tijuana.
the Great Ivy League Nude Posture Photo Scandal.
the unsolved murder of JFK's mistress.
Also including sharp, funny cultural critiques that range fromâŚ
Thatâs right, a cookbook. Julian Armstrong was the long-time food editor for The Montreal Gazette, Quebecâs largest English-language newspaper. I lean heavily on this book to re-connect with my French heritage. What I love about A Taste of Quebec is its economy â one page, a short description, a list of ingredients with measurements, and a small insert telling you where the recipe originated and a little about that region. Thatâs it, on to the next page. Unlike online recipes â which can be convenient â there are no ads or long narratives about the authorâs personal and complicated relationship with fennel.
The Blue Prussian is a spellbinding story told by Blake OâBrien, a beautiful, young executive with a globetrotting career. Blake returns to her native Manhattan from San Francisco after escapingâor so she thinksâher marriage to a dashing man who turned out to be a prince of darkness. She had beenâŚ
âTo call Going After Cacciato a novel about war is like calling Moby Dick a novel about whalesâ. So wrote The New York Times about Tim OâBrienâs acclaimed anti-war tale of a soldier going AWOL during the Vietnam War. Haunting and psychedelic â the protagonist falls into a tunnel and winds up in Paris â Going After Cacciato is easily one of my favorite works of modern fiction. I tried to work a Tim OâBrien quote into my own book â I think the line, âthe thing about remembering is that you donât forgetâ - but securing the rights proved too prohibitive (though I do use a lot of Lewis Carrol).
Winner of the National Book Award, 'Going After Cacciato' captures the peculiar mixture of horror and hallucination that marked the Vietnam War, this strangest of wars.
In a blend of reality and fantasy, this novel tells the story of a young soldier who one day lays down his rifle and sets off on a quixotic journey from the jungles of Indochina to the streets of Paris.
In its memorable evocation of men both fleeing from and meeting the demands of battle, 'Going After Cacciato' stands as much more than just a great war novel. Ultimately it's about the forces ofâŚ
In fall 1978, teenager Theresa Allore went missing near Sherbrooke, Quebec. She wasn't seen again until the spring thaw revealed her body in a creek. Shrugging off her death as a result of 1970s drug culture, police didn't investigate. Patricia Pearson started dating Theresa's brother, John, after Theresa's death. Though the two teens went their separate ways, the family's grief, obsession with justice, and desire for the truth never left Patricia.
In 2001, John had just moved to Chapel Hill, North Carolina when the cops came to the door. They determined that a young girl had been murdered and buried in the basement. Unable to rest without closure, he reached out to Patricia, an accomplished crime journalist and author, and they found answers more alarming than they could have imagined.
To Do Justice is the first book in the White Winter Trilogy. The other books are To Love Kindness and To Walk Humbly. The Trilogy follows the same set of characters through eight tumultuous years in their lives and in the history of the world. To Do Justice startsâŚ
It didnât begin with Donald Trump. When the Republican Party lost five straight presidential elections during the 1930s and 1940s, three things happened: (1) Republicans came to believe that presidential elections are rigged; (2) Conspiracy theories arose and were believed; and (3) The presidency was elevated to cult-like status.