REVIEW: The Tattooist of Auschwitz

The Tattooist of Auschwitz
Author: Heather Morris

The Tattooist of Auschwitz is based on the real-life experiences of Lale Sokolov, a Slovakian Jew who was sent to Auschwitz Concentration Camp during World War II. He worked as a tattooist at Auschwitz-Birkenau camps tattooing identification numbers on thousands of prisoners held there. He witnessed violence, death and horrors over the three years he spent in captivity. Lale learned to use his position to sneak extra food and purchase items like chocolate from villagers living nearby. He also fell in love while a prisoner and used his relationship with Gita to give him the strength to survive.

This is a disturbing yet beautifully heartwarming story. I listened to the audio book version...and was totally mesmerized by the story from the start. Narrated by Richard Armitage, the audio book from HarperAudio is just under 7.5 hours long. Armitage reads at perfect speed and has a nice voice. His acting skills are apparent. He put a lot of emotion into his performance. All in all, a wonderful listening experience.

I have read that they are adapting this book into a film or television show. I will definitely watch it! I hope they remain true to the source, as this story is beautiful. The author interviewed Lale Sokolov over a three year period before his death in 2006. Her book is based on those interviews.

Full stars from me. This book is wonderful!

REVIEW: The Stones, The Crows, The Grass, The Moon

The Stones, The Crows, The Grass, The Moon
Author: Walter Kirn

The Stones, The Crows, The Grass, The Moon is the third story in the Missing Collection from Audible/Amazon Originals. This tale is the story of grief and wonder Author Walter Kirn experienced following the death of his mother. Kirn and his brother had to make medical decisions for his mother when she was in a coma. She had a Living Will that expressed her will to die if she was incapacitated, but Kirn still had to sign the medical papers to ok the use of morphine and other drugs that allowed her to slip away. It was emotional and heart wrenching. He felt responsible....guilt, sadness, anger....  And he kept having recurring images of a Native American holy place pop up in his head. They had been talking about visiting it before his mother's death. He took his family there after suffering with the mental anguish of ending his mother's life...and it helped to heal him and his family.

Lovely story! Very emotional and mystical. I have never had to make end of life medical decisions for a loved one....but I can see how it would be traumatizing, even if there was a DNR, living will or other legal paper stipulating that's what the person wanted. I can only imagine that sense of responsibility and guilt adding to the top of grief and loss. But, there was a sense of hope, forgiveness and healing in Kirn's story as well. Overall, a lovely listening experience.

The Missing Collection gathers six stories about accepting loss. I've listened to two of them so far. Both enjoyable. I will be working my way through the rest of the collection bit by bit. The stories are emotional and raw.....and I can only handle a bit of that at one time. They are all short, easy length stories....under two hours. I hope they are all as enjoyable as the first two I've listened to. So far, Kirn's tale of the loss of his mother and how it affected him is my favorite of the collection. This was a sad, but spiritual, story. Loved it! Full stars from me.

REVIEW: Rampage

Rampage
Author: Harold Schechter

In an age where mass shootings seem to dominate the news, the story of the man often referred to as the father of the modern mass murder was an interesting and disturbing one. In 1949, Harold Unruh finally cracked after years of simmering frustration and anger. He picked up his Luger pistol, walked out into his Camden, NJ neighborhood and gunned down 13 of his neighbors. He kept diaries listing his frustrations and anger. His homosexuality was often the cause of gossip and verbal abuse by neighbors as it was not accepted behavior at the time. He felt ostracized and victimized because he lived with his mother and was unemployed. Nobody thanked him for his service in WWII, nobody asked him if he was okay....he felt they all laughed at him behind his back. Until the day he reached his limit....and calmly, methodically walked through the streets shooting people.

Rampage is the final story in the Bloodlands Collection, a collection of six true crime stories. This one definitely had me thinking about present day events as Unruh's story unfolded. He kept diaries of the enemy soldiers he killed during the way, methodically listing information about the kill and how their bodies looked, etc. Then he came home from war....obviously mentally strained by the experience....and received no mental health care. He endured bullying about his inability to keep a job and his homosexuality. And then killed those who he felt victimized him. He was a ticking time bomb for years. And nobody noticed. Or, nobody cared. Or even worse....maybe everyone figured he was a worthless enough person that his rage, hurt, mental illness didn't matter. Maybe they felt he was defenseless...so an easy target? Who knows....   But it is undeniable that Harold Unruh's ramage through the streets of Camden that day in 1949 started a slide down a very slippery slope that we still deal with today. Gun violence. Mass shootings. Rage, victimization, and mental illness do not mix well with guns.

I found this story interesting, informative and disturbing. I had never heard of Harold Unruh before I listened to this audio book.  I thought the problem was a more modern issue....but it's been around a long, long time. Soldiers came home from the world wars broken men......and re-entered society with no mental health care to help them deal with what they experienced and did during war. Yikes. My father fought in WWII and refused to talk about it. He told me very few stories, but mostly said it was too horrific to discuss. As I listened to this story, I wish my father had been able to talk to someone about his experiences so that he could get that weight off him. It was obvious the experience had a huge emotional impact on him...but he was unable to even speak of it.

All in all, an informative, interesting story. Very thought provoking. It talked about Unruh's crime, his arrest, and incarceration in a mental asylum. After listening to these six true crimes stories by Harold Schechter, I'm definitely going to read more of his writing. He has written other true crime novels about notorious killers H.H. Holmes, Ed Gein and Belle Gunness. I think I need a bit of a break before delving into his other stories though....I need to read some light fiction before venturing into the dark again. I have his book about Belle Gunness waiting on my TBR list for when I'm reading for more.....can't wait to read it!

REVIEW: Panic

Panic
Author: Harold Schechter

The United States was paralyzed by The Depression when a series of child murders incited a national panic about killer pedophiles. Reports from the FBI in the media about these cases riled the downtrodden masses into hysteria about supposed huge numbers pedophile sex criminals targeting American children. Turns out, those types of crimes, while scary, terrifying and horrible, were not increasing in number at all, but the public was in a particularly vulnerable state and susceptible to hysteria and fear.  Panic, part of the Bloodlands Collection from Audible/Amazon Originals outlines some of the child murder cases that incited the fear about pedophile sex perverts in 1937.

The Bloodlands Collection gathers six true crime stories by Harold Schechter. Schechter is also the author of several true crime novels. I listened to the audio version of Panic. The audio is just over 1.5 hours long, so an easy, short listen. Steven Webber narrates. He reads at a nice even pace and has a good voice. Even with my partial hearing loss, I was easily able to understand and enjoy the entire audio book.

I found Panic to be interesting, informative and poignant even after the passing of 81 years. Sensationalized reporting in the media can still incite emotion, panic, and fear in the public even now. And, with the instant news feeds of the internet age, the spread of news reports -- sensationalized, true, false and otherwise -- is lightning quick. I found myself comparing the scare of 1937 to present day panics as I listened. Some things never change. Public sentiments can still be manipulated by the media. In some ways it's even worse now than 80 years ago as information is passed so much faster now, often times with no fact checking whatsoever.

Another great listen in the Bloodlands Collection! I have enjoyed each story. I'm definitely going to check out some of Harold Schechter's other writings.

REVIEW: Death of a Cad

Death of a Cad
Author: M.C. Beaton

Death of a Cad is the second book in the Hamish Macbeth mystery series. Macbeth is the village constable in Lochdubh, Scotland. He's got a bit of a thing for the daughter of a local wealthy resident, Priscilla Halburton-Smythe. Imagine his disappointment when she brings home a fiance, a playwright from London with all the personality of a dead fish. Upper Class Twit basically. Priscilla's parents are glad to see their daughter not making goo-goo eyes at the local constable and settling down to a marriage within her own class, so they throw a party for Henry Withering. The upper crusties gather to meet the fiance. One of the guests, Captain Bartlett....a total womanizing cad....ends up dead. At first it appears to be an accident.....but then it becomes apparent that someone shuffled Bartlett off the mortal coil with extreme prejudice. Murder.  So.....which upper crustie is a killer??

I love the Hamish Macbeth series mostly because Hamish reminds me of the Scottish version of Columbo. Everyone thinks he is a bumbling, lazy, stupid village bobby.....but he is actually very observant and skilled at his job. While everyone else is observing social lines and graces, he's out looking for clues. For Hamish it's more important to find out who killed Captain Bartlett than to suck up to the local wealthy residents of Lochdubh. I was shocked at how they talk about how lazy and stupid he is when he is still in the room!! I found myself disliking Priscilla.....she uses Hamish when it suits her and teases him....then abandons him with she needs to kiss her family's asses to keep her money. Ick. He would be better off with another woman. Let her marry off to someone like the awful playwright she hooked up with to please her parents.....LOL....

I listened to the audiobook version of the story. The audio is just over 5.5 hours long and narrated by Antony Ferguson. Ferguson's voice and acting are perfect! He reads at a nice steady pace....and his accent is sublime! I have partial hearing loss but was easily able to hear and understand the entire book. All in all, a great listening experience!

There are 33 books in the Hamish Macbeth series. I have a lot of reading to do! M.C. Beaton also writes the Agatha Raisin series.

REVIEW: The Whole Cat and Cabdoodle

The Whole Cat and Caboodle
Author: Sofie Ryan

This series has been on my TBR pile for a long time. I'm so glad I finally brought it to the top of the stack and started reading!

Sarah Grayson makes a living from finding, refinishing/repurposing and reselling items in her shop, Second Chance. In this first book in the series, she also gives a second chance to a stray cat. She names him Elvis. :) When her elderly friend Maddie doesn't show up for a class she's giving at the local community center, Sarah and Elvis go to check on her. Maddie is fine....but the man sitting at her patio table is not. He's dead. And not from natural causes. Maddie is immediately the top suspect in the murder, but turns out her friend was hiding a life of crime and deceit. There are several people who might have wanted to see the cad and trickster dead. Sarah is determined to discover the killer's identity and clear her friend's name.

All in all, a great start to a cozy series! I love Elvis the Cat! Sarah is a great main character. She's intelligent and feisty when necessary. The story has a nice mix of humor and mystery. There were plenty of twists, suspects and investigation to make the story interesting. It kept my attention from start to finish.

I own the physical book, but opted to listen to the audio book version. Narrated by Marguerite Gavin, the audio from Tantor Audio is just over 8 hours. At first I found the narrator's voice a bit too nasal and annoying, but was still able to get invested in the story. Gavin reads at a nice even pace....I just didn't like her voice. I have partial hearing loss, but was still able to hear and understand the entire audio book.

There are five books in this series so far, with a sixth coming out in 2019. Sofie Ryan is a pseudonym for author Darlene Ryan. She also writes cozies under the name Sofie Kelly (Magical Cats series -- one of my favorites!).

REVIEW: Bones Behind the Wheel

Bones Behind the Wheel
Author: E.J. Copperman

This series never fails to make me smile and even laugh out loud. E.J. Copperman does a great job of mixing mystery and humor. Bones Behind the Wheel, the tenth book in this series, is no exception. I loved every word of this new book in the Haunted Guesthouse series!

Alison's life is going great...she's remarried, running her guesthouse, loving life...she doesn't have time for murder investigations and dead ghostly detectives. But her resident spirit, Paul Harrison, is having none of that. When an old buried Lincoln Continental is uncovered behind the guesthouse, a skeleton is found inside, belted in behind the steering wheel. And at the very bottom of the hole....something sparkly that might be right at the core of the crime.When Alison is reluctant to help her resident ghost detective solve the case, her husband Josh jumps in to assist. Oh no! A decades old cold case, whizzing bullets, and mayhem make this a fun cozy read...

This series is so much fun! I am never disappointed. Poor Alison....she hoped to retire from helping Paul solve crimes....only to have her new hubby jump in on the game. :) Ya win some....ya lose some. :) The mystery moves along at a steady pace with lots of investigation and funny moments. All in all, a great addition to this series!

As usual the cover art is great! Very eye catching!

E.J. Copperman also writes several other cozy mystery series including the Mysterious Detective, The Asperger's Mysteries (which he co-authors with himself as Jeff Cohen), and Agent to the Paws mysteries.

**I voluntarily read an advanced readers copy of this book from Crooked Lane Books via NetGalley. All opinions expressed are entirely my own.**