I've read Rebecca (1938) by Daphne Du Maurier. It is a great book of suspense. I read it as part of the BBC book list that I was reading from when I started this blog. (I should get back to that.) I'm not sure why, but I stopped there with Du Maurier. I didn't think, "That... Continue Reading →
I recently gave a lesson to the youth in my church and to get their attention, I asked them if they liked a good mystery. I showed them a slide with some of my favorite mystery novels. However, when I created this slide, I realized that I haven't read many mysteries lately. I voraciously read... Continue Reading →
When you’re a child who loves to read, there’s a lot of pride in being able to read what your parents are reading. It is a rite of passage to read a “grown-up” book. While I technically read Little Women by Louisa May Alcott and The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck in late middle... Continue Reading →
I have an urge to go on a psychopathic murderer reading binge. I often find myself reading books of the same ilk in succession; some of these themes have included the Holocaust, African American nonfiction, and Joyce Carol Oates’ books. Now, after reading Erik Larson’s nonfiction book The Devil in the White City (2002), I... Continue Reading →
I still remember the day in June 2002 when our local news reported the disappearance of Elizabeth Smart. We live in a suburb north of Salt Lake City, where Elizabeth lived, and the state community immediately rallied around her family and searched frantically for her. She had been kidnapped at knife-point from her Salt Lake... Continue Reading →
What would you do if your child had committed a crime as serious as murder? What if that child denied it and you believed him? This is the premise of William Landay’s book Defending Jacob (2012). Andrew Barber is a district attorney, handling a case of a boy in his son’s class found murdered in... Continue Reading →
I got a slow start on The Wife, The Maid, and The Mistress (2014) by Ariel Lawhon, which kept me from fully getting into the book until I had time to really sit down with it. I tried to read it a few minutes at a time before bed, but I was too tired and... Continue Reading →
I listened to Gone Girl (2012) by Gillian Flynn. I never wanted to get out of my car, but alas, I had to. I read this one because a friend, Cyndi, and my sister, Haley, suggested it to me. They both gave me the warning that it was full of foul and dirty language, so... Continue Reading →
While driving on the winding highway through Sardine Canyon, an area sparse of houses besides the occasional farm and dilapidated, weather-beaten barn, I listened with aching suspense as the murder of the Clutter family was relayed to me via book on CD. I travel this road twice a week for school, and the mountainous surroundings... Continue Reading →
The Bookshelf of Emily J. 