NOVELS BASED ON REAL-LIFE CRIMES

 

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Halloween Freebie - I don't read horror books because nothing is scarier to me than the horrible things real people can do to each other, and I'm interested in ghosts, mysterious disappearances, and murder year-round.  I chose novels based on real-life crimes ; some novels feature a real-life protagonist directly involved in the crime, other books use real crimes as the basis for a fictional story...

Alias Grace - Margaret Atwood

ABOUT - Canadian murders from 1843

TRIVIA TIDBIT - The mini-series was written by Sarah Polley, who played legendary kid lit heroine Ramona Quimby

BUtterfield 8 - John O'Hara

ABOUT - The murder of party girl Starr Faithfull

TRIVIA TIDBIT - Elizabeth Taylor did not want to appear in the film. She won a Best Actress Academy Award for the role.

Double Indemnity / The Postman Always Rings Twice - James M. Cain

ABOUT - Two novels by the same author about the same case

TRIVIA TIDBIT - Both films are two classics of film noir and are two of the best examples of that genre

The Lindbergh Nanny - Mariah Fredericks

ABOUT - The kidnapping of Charles Lindbergh jr., one of the most famous crimes in history  from the perspective of his nanny, Betty Gow

Trivia Tidbit - The Lindbergh kidnapping inspired the plot of Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express

The Murderess - Laurie Notaro

ABOUT - Winnie Ruth Judd, The "Trunk Murderess" (be advised this one is gruesome)

TRIVIA TIDBIT - Judd escaped the asylum where she was incarcerated several times, and was found after several years working as a maid for a family

The Girl from Greenwich Street ~ Lauren Willig

ABOUT ~ Elma Sands (The Manhattan Well Murder)

TRIVIA TIDBIT ~ Pre-dual A-Hams and Aaron Burr were attorneys for the defense 

 

The Girls ~ Emma Cline

ABOUT ~ a lonely young girl makes a friend...who then commits murder with a group of fellow hippies (based on the Manson Family murders)

TRIVIA TIDBIT ~ Victim celebrity hairdresser Jay Sebring was a contestant on the game show To Tell the Truth

The Girl in the Green Dress ~ Mariah Fredericks

ABOUT ~ The murder of gambler Joseph Elwell

TRIVIA TIDBIT ~ Joseph Elwell was well connected socially due to his love of Bridge

The Guest In Room 120 ~ Sarah Ackerman

ABOUT ~ The murder of university founder Jane Stanford

TRIVIA TIDBIT ~ Jane Stanford survived a first attempt on her life a short time before her murder

 

Little Deaths ~ Emma Flint 

ABOUT ~ Alice Crimmins

TRIVIA TIDBIT ~ Alice Crimmins' story is the first episode of Once Upon a Crime (which is my #1 dream series reboot)

The Mystery of Marie Roget ~ Edgar Allen Poe

ABOUT ~ Mary Rogers (The Beautiful Cigar Girl)

TRIVIA TIDBIT ~ Poe moved the story to Paris to serve as a sequel to The Murders in the Rue Morgue

See What I Have Done ~ Sarah Schmidt

ABOUT ~ Lizzie Borden (my personal true crime queen)

TRIVIA TIDBIT ~ Lizzie Borden was an ardent member of her local WCTU

10 MOST RECENT BOOKS ADDED TO MY TBR

  

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I have a hard time planning my reading. Instead:

10 Most Recent Books Added to My TBR

At Last ~ Marisa Silver

Two strong matriarchs are at odds after their children marry

The Book of Kindness ~ Stephanie Butland

I loved Stephanie Butland first two novels and I'm sure this one will charm me

Buckeye ~ Patrick Ryan

The indomitable duo of Anne Patchett and Nemo van Devender told me to read Buckeye. I do what those two tell me to without question

A Crown of Stars ~ Shana Abe

I must wait til February  2026 for this, but Shana Abe + 🛳 (The Lusitania) = me 👩‍🏫 (why isn't there a "this book is so good I cannot put it down!!" emoji?)

Daughter of Egypt ~ Marie Benedict

Lady Evelyn Herbert, daughter of Lord Carnarvon, traveled with her father and Howard Carter to uncover the tomb of King Tut.  Their family estate was Highclere Castle, aka THE Downton Abbey

Julia: A Novel Inspired by the Extraordinary Life of Julia Child ~ Heather B. Moore

I love anything that tells of Julia Child.  Now I'm craving Boeuf Bourguignon and gateau Reine de Saba

L.A. Women ~ Ella Berman

This one is based on Eve Babitz and Joan Didion, two powerful literary frienemies

The Last Spirits of Manhattan ~ John A. McDermott

Spoooooky ghosts partying down in an old hotel? Yes please a jillity-illian times

The Moonshine Women ~ Michelle Collins Anderson 

History covered up the fact that most bootleggers during prohibition were women

The White Octopus Hotel ~ Alexandra Bell

I'm not sure if I will like this, but I'm going to see what I think 

LITERARY CANDLES

 

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BEAUTIFUL LITTLE FOOL 

SCENT PROFILE : BEAUTY AND MONEY 

(PINK CHAMPAGNE / DAISIES)

"I hope she'll be a fool - that's the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool."

(The Great Gatsby ~ F. Scott Fitzgerald)

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BEE CHARMER 

SCENT PROFILE : FORBIDDEN LOVE 

(HONEY / FRIED GREEN TOMATOES)

"When Idgie had grinned at her and tried to hand her that jar of honey, all these feelings that she had been trying to hold back came flooding through her, and it was at that second in time that she knew she loved Idgie with all her heart."

(Fried Green Tomatoes ~ Fannie Flagg)

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BREAK THEIR HEARTS

SCENT PROFILE : BROKEN PROMISES (WEDDING CAKE)

"Break their hearts, my pride and hope, break their hearts and have no mercy!"

(Great Expectations ~ Charles Dickens) 

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FALL IN LOVE WHENEVER YOU CAN

SCENT PROFILE : SORROW AND MAGIC  (ROSEMARY AND BLACK PEPPER)

"There are some things, after all, that Sally Owens knows for certain: Always throw spilled salt over your left shoulder. Keep rosemary by your garden gate. Add pepper to your mashed potatoes. Plant roses and lavender, for luck. Fall in love whenever you can."

(Practical Magic ~ Alice Hoffman)

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LIKE PEOPLE IN NOVELS 

SCENT PROFILE : REPRESSED EMOTIONS

(PAPER / YELLOW ROSES )

"We can't behave like people in novels, though, can we?"

(The Age of Innocence ~ Edith Wharton)

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LITTLE GREY CELLS 

SCENT PROFILE : MYSTERY

(BELGIAN HOT CHOCOLATE)

"If the little grey cells are not exercised, they grow the rust."

(Hercule Poirot ~ Agatha Christie)

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ONLY CONNECT 

SCENT PROFILE : CLACISSIM / EDWARDIANS vs. VICTORIANS (TEA IN AN ENGLISH GARDEN)

"Only connect the prose and the passion, and both will be exalted, and human love will be seen at its highest. Live in fragments no longer"

(Howards End ~ E. M. Forster)

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PLEASE LOOK AFTER THIS BEAR 

SCENT PROFILE : MARMALADE SANDWICHES (ORANGE MARMALADE) 

 "A wise bear always keeps a marmalade sandwich in his hat in case of emergency"

(Paddington ~ Michael Bond)

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THIS MOMENT IN JUNE  

SCENT PROFILE : ANTICIPATION (FRESH CUT FLOWERS)

"Mrs Dalloway said she would buy the flowers herself"

(Mrs. Dalloway ~ Virginia Woolf )

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WE ARE SO HAPPY

SCENT PROFILE : SISTERLY LOVE

(SUGARED BERRIES AND TEA)

"I put it in the sugar."

"I know. I knew then." 

"You never used sugar."

(We Have Always Lived in the Castle ~ Shirley Jackson)