Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Interred With Their Bones by Jennifer Lee Carrell
"The evil that men do lives after them, The good is often interred with their bones."
Julius Caesar - William Shakespeare
Kate Stanley, an expert in "occult Shakespeare," has chosen to leave the academic life for the theater. While she's directing Hamlet at the Globe Theater in Stratford, her old mentor, Roz, makes a dramatic appearance asking for Kate's help. Before she can do more than give Kate a wrapped package, Roz is murdered.
When Kate opens the box, she finds a clue that begins an international treasure hunt for one of Shakespeare's lost plays. As Kate travels from country to country, she's followed by a string of grusome murders, the police, and a killer who's planning a terrible death for her.
If you enjoyed The Da Vinci Code, Interred With Their Bones should be on your reading list.
Monday, March 10, 2008
Portrait of a Killer by Patricia Cornwell
The Mystery Lovers will discuss Portrait of a Killer - Jack the Ripper: Case Closed by Patricia Cornwell on Tuesday, March 12, at noon in the downstairs meeting room.
Who was Jack the Ripper? That's the question that crime lovers have been asking for over 100 years, and the answers have ranged from England's royal family to a poor Polish lunatic. Now Cornwell takes us to London's Whitechapel area of the 1800's and tries to prove that the notorious serial killer was Walter Richard Sickert, a student of Whistler's and a successful artist.
Cornwell spent a great deal of money trying to make her case. She considered Sickert's works "revelatory," and purchased several of his paintings, destroying one in the hope of finding evidence. The science she used - from mitochondrial DNA to watermark experts - is fascinating. While she isn't always able to prove her theory, Cornwell makes a strong case with circumstantial evidence.
Was Sickert guilty of the Ripper murders? We may never know for certain, but Cornwell's book is gripping with its lessons in science and history and Sickert's biography. Readers must decide for themselves if Sickert is guilty or not guilty.
Subscribe to Posts [Atom]