The Devil and Sherlock Holmes by David Grann

Move over Sebastian Junger and Jon Krakauer, you’ve got competition.  David Grann is my new favorite adventure story writer.  In the first book I read by Grann, he traced the steps of the bold explorer Percy Fawcett who set off in the Amazon looking for the lost city of gold.  The Lost City of Z was a deceptively simple story that grew to include not only a re-thinking of the anthropology of the dense Amazonian jungle but a survey of this history of exploration and cartography – when Fawcett and explorer of the old school met the new technology-enhanced expeditions.  I’ve recommended it to everybody.

Now comes The Devil and Sherlock Holmes, which is a compendium of Grann’s stories from his work as a journalist, mostly from the early 2000s.  In it you meet famed Holmes/Doyle scholar Richard Lancelyn Green and what he may or may not have done for love of the brilliant detective and Frédéric Bourdin, often called the human chameleon for his ability to transform himself into teenagers.

Grann has made unique choices in the people he chronicles for these stories and he draws the reader in to their complicated lives.  Green, for instance, lived and breathed Doyle and Holmes and through Grann’s storytelling I could almost enter into the mania.  Its an esoteric world with adherents of Holmes who disregard Doyle and even question his authorship.  It might not venture into Crips and Bloods territory but the warfare is intellectually fierce.

In a more conventional story of gangland, Grann details the rise and partial fall of the Aryan Brotherhood. For those who might not know it, the AB is a prison gang who killed, stole and intimidated even those charged with guarding them. They began as a white supremacist group, bands of white prisoners united against those of other colors.  They weren’t satisfied with this and soon controlled drugs and prostitution and power just like their “free” world counterparts did.

These stories were by turn entrancing, enlightening, mysterious and sad.  Read the story of  Trial by Fire, the story of Todd Willingham who was put to death by the state of Texas for the murder by fire of his children.  Only did he do it?  Was he indeed guilty?

Grann doesn’t always draw conclusions but he does leave the reader with something to think about.  Order this through Lake-Mendocino-Sonoma libraries here.

~mel

A Twisted Faith by Gregg Olsen

I have just finished  A Twisted Faith by Gregg Olsen.  I finished it in two days, reading almost non-stop.  Yeah, this true crime lover thought it was that good.

A Twisted Faith is a true story about a youth minister who heard or said that he heard direct words of God through Rick Joyner's prophecies of the late nineties. He then worked actively to fulfill these prophecies and others as he thought they applied to him. After his wife died, and even before, he manipulated several women into believing they were a part of a prophecy and their involvement with him would lead them closer to the will of God.

Olsen's writing is without sensation and dispassionate, relating the story clearly and with sympathy, it seemed to me, for all parties.  Having long been a member of pentecostal churches and having been familiar with Joyner's prophecies, I could hardly put the book down.   The pastor/minister, Nick Hacheney, used Joyner's words and other more direct prophecies (as given to particular members of the fellowship) to ultimately destroy lives, including his wife's, and to help destroy their community church.

To me, the most interesting character of the book was Sandy Glass.  She was a prophetess and the church's secretary for a time.  Her involvement is to date not totally known.  Since she didn't interview with the author, she remains opaque and mysterious.  Is she guilty, complicit or a victim?  Let the reader decide.

I recommend this book highly for any true crime lover, or one who loves explorations of religion gone awry.  As I am writing this, Annette Anderson, one of the main people profiled in the book is answering posts here.  Part of what is so remarkable about the internet is that this type of interaction can occur.

I've just ordered another of Gregg Olsen's books.  I'm impressed with his writing.

If you are interested in this book, and you are from Lake, Mendocino or Sonoma Counties, you can order it here.

~mel

The Monster of Florence

I like Douglas Preston. I like him especially when he’s writing with his co-author Lincoln Child in what apparently is called the Agent Pendergast series.

I like true crime books. While I may quibble with Ann Rule’s canonization of victims, I’ve read everything she ever wrote. I like Capote’s In Cold Blood far more than Breakfast at Tiffany’s and think Mikal Gilmore’s Shot in the Heart is one of the best true crime books ever written, next to Norman Mailer’s The Executioner’s Song. I think Gilmore's book is better than the more celebrated book by James Ellroy: My Dark Places. And there's your nickel tour of literary true crime.

Given all that I was very intrigued that Douglas Preston had written a true crime book with co-author Mario Spezi called The Monster of Florence.

The Monster of Florence is about a serial murder case that is not much known of here in the States. The Monster killed seven couples between the years 1974 and 1985 while they were what we shall euphemistically call “parking” in and around the environs of Florence, Italy. The FBI even provided a psychological profile to the Italian authorities. This book details the private investigation and reporting by star journalist Mario Spezi and Douglas Preston’s involvement with him and their run-in with the official investigators.

As occasionally happens, the authors become part of the story – Preston was indicted and Spezi actually arrested during their hunt for the truth. The book is their stories as well.

I categorize true crime books into three main types, depending on the result of the investigation. The first type are those many of us aficionados are used to: culprit is found and prosecuted. The second type, typified by the various books about the Black Dahlia or Jack the Ripper are what I call “I know who did it” books where a solution is supposed or proved but not legally. The third type are the ones with no solution.

The Monster of Florence is of the second type. Preston and Spezi are sure they know who did it but it remains legally unproven. Furthermore, I am not sure I agree with their conclusions. They are intriguing and plausible but possibly not convincing. Some of the leading investigators disagree with them, as well.

It is not what I'd call literary true crime. Still, I highly recommend this book. I finally found out the difference between the Italian police (civil) and the caribinieri (military) and how the two do and don’t work together. I learned much about the history of Florence, some about its vital role in the gestation of the Renaissance, and some about its labyrinthine legal system. In a brief section Preston mentioned the connection to the more recent case of with interestingly similar lines of inquiry by the Italians.

There's a waiting list for it so order it soon. See if you agree with the authors.