Like vitamins, books are part of my daily requirement for a healthy life. I read every day, but only rarely does a book earn the 'Annie's WOW recommendation'. The Murder Room, by Michael Capuzzo, has earned it.
I recommend it to those few individuals with a certain personality type--you must have a stomach for murder (and all its accompanying unpleasantness), you must enjoy unsolved mysteries, and you must love a good character or two...or three.
If you are put off by graphic forensic descriptions--WARNING!!!--do not read this book. If you are put off by graphic psychological profiles (of extremely twisted minds)--WARNING!!!--do not read this book.
If you love to probe the workings of detectives and forensic psychologists; if you crave the satsifaction of a cold case finally solved...this book will satisfy!
The author is astonishing in all ways. His research is exhaustive--from biographical, to the investigative, to the very last details (even down to the weather on any given date)--I am one impressed reader. He has a delightful way with words, too..."The studio was very still. Far off he heard a sound like the sea breaking, but it was only the ceaseless pounding of cars on the expressway."
I was introduced to three distinct real life characters--Bender, Fleisher, and Walter--the founding members of the Vidocq Society. Their personalities came to life in the pages of The Murder Room in such a way that I found myself truly touched to 'know' them.
What makes a person, such as myself, intrigued by this dark work? Why am I so compelled to read and understand these things that should not exist?
I'm not a CSI hanger-on. It all started long ago, way before this modern trend of TV shows--Law & Order, CSI, Criminal Minds. I was a child who loved to read Nancy Drew and other mysteries. I quickly graduated to Mary Higgins Clark and any other whodunit that I could lay my hands on. When I was 14, I borrowed a comprehensive study of Jack the Ripper from the school library.
The book, a hardbound text, was my introduction to the depravity of the psychopath. My innocent soul was shocked by the gory serial murders. I couldn't stop reading, though. I felt this need to understand why a person would do such a ghastly thing. Crude photographs of the crime scenes, and reprints of the local newspaper's articles from that time were clues that I set out to analyze.
Never mind that I wasn't the first person to do so. The murders took place a hundred years before, and had been looked at countless times. No one had solved these crimes. No matter, I wanted to understand...
When I was a newly married woman of twenty one, my husband worked nights. He left at 3:00 in the afternoon and didn't return until sometime after 3:00 in the morning. I sat up most nights, reading about Ted Bundy or other serial killers. Most nights, I kept the lamp burning until he walked in, and only then could I relax and fall asleep. How stupid and silly I was, but I couldn't seem to help myself. I can't say how many times I heard strange noises in the night, my heart pounding with fear that I would meet one of the maniacs I read about.
Just lately I have discovered (and blogged about--see my earlier entries) that my great grandmother may have had a close encounter with H. H. Holmes, America's 'first' serial killer. There is now evidence that Holmes and Jack the Ripper are one and the same. A handwriting expert from London has verified that some of the Ripper's letters and Holmes' writing, through analysis, are one and the same. (How oddly appropriate that is in relation to my ghoulish pasttime.)
In the tapestry of life, there are threads that weave all over, but are still one thread. Imagine my surprise when one day several months ago, I began an online friendship with the great great grandson of H. H. Holmes. Who needs fiction when you have real life?
(I assure all my readers--Jeff Mudgett has not inherited H. H. Holmes' taste for torture. LOL. He is a kind, honorable man, as well as an epilepsy advocate and published author.)
SMILESxxxAnnie
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