Death in the Air

Death in the Air

by Kate Winkler Dawson

Hachette Books

Mentioned in literature and commemorated in art, the infamous London peasouper is a choking miasma composed of smoke and fog that has been a striking feature of the city for centuries.

In December 1952, a ridge of high pressure stalled over London. Cold fog blanketed the city. The smoke from industry, millions of domestic fires and the exhaust from vehicles merged with the fog until it became impossible to see more than a few feet. Smog invaded homes and businesses, theaters and cinemas. People began to die by the thousands. Those with respiratory conditions found it hard – then impossible – to breathe. Ambulances couldn’t find their way through the murk to reach those in need. Public transport was curtailed. Drivers abandoned their vehicles. Transport accidents increased and so did crime, as criminals took advantage of the obscurity. Hospitals across London became full to overflowing.

Not all the deaths were caused by the smog. John Reginald Christie, a mild-looking and somewhat creepy middle-aged man haunted the then-squalid Notting Hill area of London in search of women to kill. When the so-called Beast of 10 Rillington Place was eventually arrested six women, including his own wife, had fallen victim to Christie. 

When the fog lifted after four days, the published death toll of four thousand shocked the nation. The true total was known but hushed up for fifty years. In all, twelve thousand people died from the effects of the smog, yet the public of the time seemed more fascinated by the murders at 10 Rillington Place.

In Death in the Air, Kate Winkler Dawson draws upon archives, eyewitness and anecdotal accounts of the peasouper and serial killer that paralyzed a great city, to create an engrossing narrative about a largely forgotten episode in history which nevertheless led to two significant measures: The Clean Air Act, the first legislation in the world designed to deal with atmospheric pollution, and the trial of John Reginald Christie led to the eventual abolition of the death penalty in Britain.

Rating: Four Sushi Rolls

The Like Switch

The Like Switch: An Ex-FBI Agent’s Guide to Influencing, Attracting, and Winning People Over 
by Jack Schafer

A great book for writers, actors and any others who want to observe and note human behavior in their creations, especially non-verbal behaviors. It's amazing how little most of us think about how we are being perceived by others, and by changing a few of our non-verbal behaviors here or there, we can make friends and influence our boss for the better.

Former FBI Agent Jack Schafer worked in behavioral analysis and honed his skills in reading both non-verbal and verbal behaviors in a wide variety of individuals. So, when he gives down-to-earth advice, you can feel confident that it’s been field-tested and found true. And the sheer simplicity of effective human communications is astounding. The secret of how to make friends isn’t particularly complicated. Schafer notes it’s a simple formula: Friendship = Proximity + Frequency + Duration + Intensity. Couple that equation with understanding the basics of non-verbal communication—make appropriate eye contact, tilt your head, keep an open posture, give a genuine smile—and you’ll be making and keeping friends before you know it. By employing “The Golden Rule of Friendship” and practicing empathetic statements and mirroring body language, you will seem like a mind-reader to your co-workers and family members, and they will open up and feel honored to return the favor.

With tips for effective electronic communications and how to maintain long-term relationships as well, The Like Switch is probably the only reference on the topic of human interactions you’ll ever need.

Rating: 4 sushi rolls

Apollo: The Race To The Moon

Apollo: The Race To The Moon
Charles Murray and Catherine Bly Cox
Simon and Schuster
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You never know what rare gem you'll find on a old bookshelf. Apollo: The Race To The Moon is one such find. Published in 1989, it's still an excellent history of the Apollo program from its inception to its unfortunate early demise after the return of Apollo 17. For space history nuts like me, it's definitely a must-read. For anyone remotely interested in how the American "space race" began and the politics, organizational challenges and personalities involved, it is well worth it.

The men (and they were mostly white males, alas) who were tasked with fulfilling Kennedy's vision of "landing a man on the moon and returning him safely within the decade" were of a different breed. Driven, dedicated, single-minded, innovative, dynamic--you can't come up with enough positive adjectives to describe them. They started with little to nothing and had to invent an organization to build launch, mission and recovery systems to meet a seemingly unreachable goal in a very short period of time. 

We get to know the personalities that have become synonymous with Apollo and the space program--Max Faget, Jim Webb, Joe Shea, Gene Kranz, Chris Kraft, Werner Von Braun, among others. We feel their stress, their fears, their challenges. It was a time period and a place where the objective was more important than any one flight controller, scientist, astronaut, engineer or technician.

The Apollo program was truly  a time of team spirit and self-sacrifice for the good of the whole. Americans will probably never experience such an intense time period  to obtain such a lofty goal ever again.

Filled with fantastic facts, intriguing insights and introspective interviews, Apollo: The Race To The Moon will make you ask the pertinent question Apollo 13 astronaut Jim Lovell once asked: "When are we going back?"

Rating: 4+ sushi rolls

 

The Concert Pianist

The Concert Pianist
Judy & Keith
Devine Destinies Books
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Authors' web page

Thirteen year old Elizabeth Crenshaw has a very unusual gift--she can play the piano compositions of a murdered UCLA music student. In Judy and Keith's The Concert Pianist, the mystery of who killed student Lola Schumann after she leaves the bar where she plays piano takes a very interesting twist. Elizabeth's mom always wanted a piano, so she buys one at an auction. Elizabeth sits down at the keyboard and begins playing like a professional almost immediately.

Curious, Elizabeth looks inside the piano and finds a letter written by Lola. It says that she witnessed a drug-related killing and if anything happens to her, then she wanted to let someone know how her death came about. Elizabeth shares this information with Detective Gareth Lomas.  He investigates and discovers a dirty cop is covering up for the drug dealer who had Lola run over. Gareth is set up and kicked off the force, but he persists in his investigation, even at the cost of his own reputation as one of LA's finest.

The Concert Pianist is a short and intriguing murder-mystery with paranormal elements sure to entertain young adult readers.

Rating: 3 sushi rolls 

Fairy on the Christmas Tree

Fairy on the Christmas Tree
Lark Westerly
eXtasy Books
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Frances finds herself in a most unfortunate situation on Christmas Eve in Lark Westerly's romantic romp Fairy on the Christmas Tree. Her lover keeps making excuses for not paying his half of their holiday cruise, and finally he tells her over the phone he has to go to his so-called ex-wife's business dinner with the boss. Her patience with him at an end, in a huff Fran accidentally drops her cell phone into a pot of boiling custard on the stove. So much for a long, drawn out, sad good-bye. 

Fran decides to do her best to salvage her lonely holiday. She strikes out on her own to purchase a new angel topper for her grandmother's old artificial Christmas tree. But wouldn't you know it? There's not a single angel to be had in all of Sydney--amazing! Finally she meets a sympathetic shop assistant named Egbert who locates an old "fairy topper"  in the back room. Fran decides the price is right and what the heck? She buys it sight unseen and heads home with her dinner for one.

Grandma's tree looks sad after she decorates it with the old and tired decorations. Fran sighs and wishes she could be in Brisbane with her folks.  She opens the box, hoping the fairy topper will perk up her holiday, but it turns out to be just plain ugly. She wipes its freshly painted make-up off its face--odd that--and takes off its hideous pink gauze dress only to discover a  real live--and extremely randy--male fairy underneath. Niall tells Fran that her magic has made him ready to fulfill her every Christmas wish and then some... Let the loving begin!

Fairy on the Christmas Tree is a funny and fast read sure to please all who have ever wished not to be alone on a holiday, and to find that magical someone who can fulfill their ever secret pleasure. Fran is a heroine with pluck and determination, and she meets her match in the sexy and playful Niall Le Fay, a fairy with a saucy wit and a strong desire to please. Don't wait until December to enjoy this comedy-erotic-romance set Down Under.

Rating: 4 sushi rolls

A Friend of Mr. Lincoln

A Friend of Mr. Lincoln
Stephen Harrigan
Vintage Books

Author web site link

Amazon link

Imagine becoming a close personal associate of a world famous, almost god-like, historical personality. This is the intriguing premise of Stephen Harrigan's  A Friend of Mr. Lincoln.

A fictional character, Micajah "Cage" Weatherby, makes the acquaintance of a young and ambitious Illinois assemblyman, Abraham Lincoln. Cage, Lincoln and a group of other Springfield young men share a passion for poetry and discussing the important topics of the day--the Alamo, then the Annexation of Texas; the need for infrastructure improvement such as canals and railroads in the state and how to pay for them, and sometimes even the evils of slavery. Cage, as a published poet with abolitionist leanings, doesn't understand his friend's skirting the issue. He sees Lincoln as two-faced, trying too hard to please everyone so he doesn't risk losing his office or pulling the Whig party down. 

Cage feels Lincoln needs to take a stand on slavery, and he finds himself both surprised and disappointed when Lincoln helps free a captured run-away slave woman in court, yet he also goes on to represent a Kentuckian who insists his Black servants remain slaves and return with him after he manages his land in the free state of Illinois.

Perhaps what causes the most heated conflict between the two men is their respective love lives. Lincoln's heart seems inconsistent to Cage. After losing the love of his life early on, Ann Rutherford, Lincoln doesn't seem able to settle with any of the ladies of Springfield society who want to attach themselves to the up-and-coming lawyer/politician. One in particular, Mary Todd, seems determined to win Lincoln over. Cage and Lincoln's other friends see Mary as a danger to the sanity of their manic-depressive comrade when Lincoln finds himself deeply unhappy after becoming "engaged to be engaged" to the ambitious woman. After rousing Lincoln from a near death depression over the misunderstanding, Cage makes an enemy of Miss Todd and becomes off limits  after Lincoln marries Mary. 

Cage and Lincoln drift apart, but the mutual admiration for the talent and humanity in each other doesn't, even as the years pass and the onset of Civil War brings both men to the same conclusion: slavery must end.

A Friend of Mr. Lincoln evokes a strong sense of being a part of history, of breathing the same air of great men during their formative years. Harrigan does an excellent job of building believable and well-rounded characters, both real and fictional. The settings and details bring the 1830s through 1840s in Springfield, Illinois alive, giving modern readers insights into the customs, culture and politics of the time and place. It is a novel sure to please both history and Lincoln biography lovers alike.

Rating: 3.75 sushi rolls (a good read) 

Killers of the Flower Moon

Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI
by David Grann
Random House 
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If this book wasn't based on a true life tragedy of epic proportions, you'd swear you were reading a best-selling mystery-thriller it's so engaging. David Grann presents the people and the "culture of killing" that existed in Osage County, Oklahoma during the 1920s. His clear and unblinking style reveals the dark, racist underside of the early petroleum industry, and how far these men were willing to go to make their millions.

We come to know Mollie Burkhardt and her sisters as they are killed off one by one, and we feel her terror and anguish at the knowledge that some person or persons she trusts are exterminating the Osage for their oil headrights.

At one time the richest people in America, the Osage sat on top of the world's then largest oil reserves. From poor ranchers to practically millionaires overnight, the Osage were the envy of the white society that surrounded them. The law took away their rights to handle their own wealth, however. "Guardians" were appointed by federal judges to handle the finances of most Osage, since only whites were seen as "competent." This racist system guaranteed abuses and frauds against the Osage, but the final draw many whites who benefited from the system felt came when the Osage sued successfully to keep their mineral rights, which by the turn of the 20th century meant petroleum deposits.

An Osage couldn't sell or give his or her oil headright to a non-Osage, but if an Osage married a white who became his or her guardian, then he/she could inherit--and sell for hundreds of thousands of dollars--the Osage spouse's headright. Mollie and her sisters were each married (or formerly married) to white husbands. Mollie's older sister Anna was discovered shot in the head from behind. Then Mollie's mother died under mysterious circumstances, suspected to be slow poisoning, and then her younger sister Rita and her husband and maid were blown up along with their newly purchased home. The newly created "Bureau of Investigation" (the precursor to the FBI) under a new young and brash director, J. Edgar Hoover, finally stood up and took notice of the numerous murders of Osage oil headright owners happening in Oklahoma. 

In 1925, Hoover appointed Agent Tom White, a former Texas Ranger, to take charge of the case, which had been terribly mismanaged by earlier agents. White discovered there were many more than just Mollie's family members being murdered--possibly there were hundreds of Osage shot and poisoned in the time period 1915-1930, with many leads pointing to their trusted white guardians and spouses, upstanding members of the community. Sympathetic whites and the henchmen who pulled off the actual killings for their paymasters also met untimely deaths, proving that no one was able to escape the culture of killing once the Oklahoma oil rush began in earnest.

In the wake of the recent actions taken against Native American protestors of the Dakota Access Pipeline in North Dakota, Killers of the Flower Moon is a must-read book that demonstrates how the rich, predominately white male members of the petroleum industry are not above committing murder to obtain access to the petroleum resources they want. It is riveting true story about an ugly time period in American history that has been covered up for far too long.

Rating: 4+ sushi rolls (a great read)