reading Archives

After the Eclipse: A Mother’s Murder, a Daughter’s Search

"Grief requires imagination: mental images of the one you've lost, of the world that would have been." Author: Sarah Perry Sarah Perry’s life is divided into the before and after. There was her childhood, imperfect but still eclipsed by love, and then there was her mother’s brutal murder and everything that came afterwards. After the Eclipse is Sarah’s memoir in which she relives the murder, the trauma, the blame and suspicion, and seeks answers. It’s not fiction – so don’t expect the gumshoeing aspect, the grand payoff, the whodunnit that ties everything together into a neat bow. Instead, expect the poignant, [...]

Frances Carden2025-05-06T09:51:39-07:00May 6th, 2025|Tags: memoir, read, reading, true crime|

Marguerite by the Lake

The Rise and Fall of a Dream Author: Mary Dixie Carter Marguerite is more brand than person. She lives in a stately home, perched on a cliff above a glistening lake. The grounds are expertly tailored, with Marguerite’s signature roses spreading rich perfume among the isles of flowers and trees, the winding paths, the breathtaking vistas. But is all this really Marguerite’s work, or is Phoenix, her gardener, the one truly responsible for the carefully executed vision, for the details that go into Marguerite’s Instagram posts and gardening books, for Marguerite’s unending success, for the fact that Marguerite is a by-word [...]

Frances Carden2025-05-05T11:44:13-07:00May 5th, 2025|Tags: fiction, mystery, read, reading, thriller|

To Kill and Kill Again

The Man Who Said He Did It . . . Did It Author: John Coston The “Missoula Mauler” was a serial sex killer of opportunity. During the day, he supposedly moved about his small, Montana town unnoticed: your average next-door guy. But when opportunity presented itself, he became a sadist with a penchant for ropes, rape, and murder. He targeted everyone from the girl next door, to a lost child, to a minister’s unfortunate wife, only meeting his end when his fascination with one potential victim went terribly wrong. I admit, I’d never heard of this particular serial killer before, but [...]

Frances Carden2025-04-21T13:59:58-07:00April 21st, 2025|Tags: book review, John Coston, Missoula Mauler, read, reading, To Kill and Kill Again, true crime, Wayne Nance|