WWW.WEDNESDAY

 

 

WWW. WEDNESDAY asks three questions to prompt you to speak bookishly. To participate, and to see how other book lovers responded, click here. 

PS I no longer participate in WWW.WEDNESDAY via that link because her blog won't accept Blogger comments. I mention this only to save you the frustration I experienced trying to link up.

1. What are you currently reading? Agatha Raisin and the Witch of Wyckhadden by M.C. Beaton. The 9th book in the series finds our girl Aggie on holiday. She went to at a seaside resort out of season, thinking it would be a relaxing retreat but instead she's bored. Everything around her is old and dull – the decor as well as the other guests. Then she meets the village police commissioner. Could this be a new love interest for Agatha? It gets complicated when the sleepy community suffers its first murder in decades, and of course Agatha, the outsider, is viewed with suspicion.

 

What I love about this series is how real Agatha is. She can be vain and vulnerable and she makes me laugh. While she sometimes annoys me, I can't help rooting for her. 

 

2. What did you recently finish reading? A Murder in Hollywood: The Untold Story of Tinseltown's Most Shocking Crime by Casey Sherman. A sensational real-life scandal: The aging movie queen calls the police because her dead gangster lover is bleeding on her bedroom carpet, and her teenage daughter admits to wielding the knife that killed him. It's impossible to overestimate what a big news story this was in 1958, and it's still jaw-dropping stuff today.

Lana Turner's sordid story gets an in depth treatment here. I read it quickly and learned a few new things about both Lana and mob boss Mickey Cohen, who was involved up to his eyeballs. 

But I really hated the writing. Sometimes Lana puffs her cigarette nervously, other times she takes deep drags. Who made note of her every cig more than 65 years ago? Bugsy Siegel makes a point over a meal in his breakfast nook as he butters his roll. Are you sure, Casey Sherman? Do you know for a fact Bugsy didn't slather jam on his toast or bite into a cheese danish? This crap not only made me roll my eyes, it took away from the gravity of the story. A woman was terrorized, a man was murdered, a teenage girl was scarred for life. It shouldn't be treated like a lurid Lifetime movie.

3. What will you read next? The Spellman Files by Lisa Lutz.