Category: Books I Love

Born Trump: A Book That Explains A Lot

I just can’t help myself. I’m a sucker for any newspaper or magazine article, or column, or book that attempts to explain why the Trump Family is the way it is. In other words, why   Trump and his “spawn” — the older ones anyway — are so cringeworthy (to put it kindly,) or so despicably detestable, if you just want to tell it how it is.

 Born Trump (subtitle, Inside America’s First Family) goes a long way towards providing an answer for why most of us feel like taking a shower after watching them on TV news, or reading their Tweets. The book by Vanity Fair senior reporter, Emily Jane Fox is not just a breezy, gossipy read. Sure, it entertains, but it also informs as to why this new First Family is “uniquely suited for the second decade of the 21st century and its fame-obsessed, money-hungry, voracious 24-hour cycle of a culture.” Continue reading “Born Trump: A Book That Explains A Lot”

Amateur Online Sleuths: How They Work & Do They Help Solve Crimes?

Call them online sleuths, web detectives, or sometimes armchair vigilantes. These days apparently, they are everywhere, and you, too, could be one so long as you have a desktop or laptop computer with a connection to the Internet, and a passion for true crime — especially for unsolved homicides. Continue reading “Amateur Online Sleuths: How They Work & Do They Help Solve Crimes?”

Hunting A Serial Killer: One Woman’s Astounding True Crime Story

I have something in common with Michelle McNamara the author of the “astounding” true crime best seller, I’ll Be Gone In The Dark: We have both hunted serial killers who terrorized quiet neighborhoods, and brutally killed women in various parts of California four decades ago.

My “hunt” took place over the course of one night in 1978 when I joined a Los Angeles detective on patrol with the task force searching for the Hillside Strangler –a serial killer who claimed the lives of ten women in the Los Angeles area between 1977 and 1978.  I was on assignment at the time for the London Evening News in which my article about the search (see photo) appeared. Continue reading “Hunting A Serial Killer: One Woman’s Astounding True Crime Story”

Dan Rather At Palm Beach Book Festival: (Most) Leaders Are Readers

You may have heard the expression “readers are leaders.” It happens to be a favorite one of my husband’s. Well, at this year’s Palm Beach Book Festival, author and journalist, Dan Rather kinda stood that saying on its head.

Commenting on the many world leaders he has met during his long career as a journalist and news anchor, he says from the stage of the Palm Beach County Convention Center: “Not all readers are leaders, but all leaders are readers.” Continue reading “Dan Rather At Palm Beach Book Festival: (Most) Leaders Are Readers”

Was CNN Anchor First To Reveal President’s “Love Child” In Her Novel?

Have you heard the one about the President, the housekeeper and the love child? Well, if you haven’t caught up with the news yet, that’s the story for which the National Enquirer tabloid paid a Trump Tower doorman $30, 000 — only to kill the story dead, reportedly because David Pecker, Enquirer publisher and Trump buddy, wanted to protect Trump just before the 2016 presidential election. Continue reading “Was CNN Anchor First To Reveal President’s “Love Child” In Her Novel?”