A Life in Death by Richard Venables

A behind the scenes look at how victims of accidents and natural disasters are identified, from the perspective of a British police officer.

Detective Inspector Richard Venables has helped identify thousands of bodies all over the world, piecing together fragments from tsunamis, transport and other disasters to return victims to their loved ones.

I have a fascination with this subject matter which goes back many years to reading a book about facial reconstruction from skeletal remains, covering historical figures to the last unidentified person from the 1987 King’s Cross fire (finally given his name back in 2004). Of course not only can I not remember the name of the book, I can’t find it on my shelves so you’ll have to take my word for it that it was absolutely worth reading.

Anyway, I regularly pick up books on the subject whenever I see them, and was particularly interested in this one because of its focus on UK disasters as well as, of course, the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami which led to the deaths of an estimated 230,000 people.

One of the most interesting aspects of the book for me at least, was the amount of detail Venables goes into in recounting the development of DVI policies and procedures. I don’t know whether it’s because I was a civil servant for thirty years and heavily involved in writing guidance documents myself, but I appreciated his descriptions of how he and colleagues learned from each of the events in which they were involved, trying to make things more efficient and easier for the people involved in the DVI (Disaster Victim Identification) process, as well as the families who had lost loved ones. It wasn’t a perfect system but what is when humans are involved?

Some of the events he talks about hit home to me, especially the London bombings in 2005. One of my friends was on the tube train which exploded at Russell Square, and our office (which was within easy walking distance from that station and Tavistock Square where a double-decker bus exploded) was on lockdown for several hours. My friend was thankfully not physically hurt, and the impact on all of us lasted a very long time.

But the event that obviously had the greatest long-term effect on Venables was the tsunami. He worked in Thailand for many weeks on the difficult task of identifying people who had drowned in the disaster, with the heat and the effects of salt water on the remains adding to the difficulty of the task. His affection for Thailand and its people comes across very clearly.

I found it an informative read but a bit unbalanced, not sure how much of the author’s personal life to include. But I would still recommend it if this is a subject that speaks to you. Or is it just me?

This was my second read for #20booksofsummer20

My Week – 15 May edition (just a wee bit late)

Looking back at last week where I managed to both do some reading and get out into the big wide world….

What I finished:

I managed two this week, a bit of entertaining true crime and an engrossing mystery

Alice Diamond and the Forty Elephants: Britain’s First Female Crime Syndicate by Brian McDonald

I was listening to an episode of the Dirty Sexy History podcast hosted by Jessica Cale (well worth a listen if you are interested in stuff that is a bit outside the mainstream history we mostly get taught) when this book was mentioned, and remembered that I had picked up the Kindle edition some time last year. It’s a very entertaining, extremely detailed and fast paced dive into mostly female criminality in south London, with some social history thrown in and lots of dodgy male offenders as well. I really liked it but the title is a bit misleading as we don’t get to Alice until we are quite far into the book, and what we do get was clearly insufficient for some reviewers on Goodreads who expected a full biography of the lady herself.

The Twyford Code by Janice Hallett

I really enjoyed Hallett’s first novel (The Appeal, which I didn’t review but should have because it was just excellent) and if anything this is even better. The narrative device this time is the use of transcriptions of voice recordings made by our protagonist Steven, who is recently out of prison and has become obsessed with trying to solve a mystery from his childhood – the disappearance of his teacher after a school outing where the investigated clues in the works of Edith Twyford, an out-of-fashion children’s author based loosely on Enid Blyton. Almost everything we read comes from Steven’s perspective and we are in potentially unreliable narrator territory here; I won’t say more because watching it all unfold is part of the joy of the book. The clues are all there for the reader to solve, and now that I know how things turn out I am almost certainly going to read it again to find the clues I missed. I really recommend this if you want something a bit different, and am looking forward to what she might do next.

What I’m currently reading:

The Fall of Paris has gone onto my Set Aside for Now stack; I will definitely be going back to it later in the year.

Girl 4 by Will Carver – this is the first novel from Carver who has become one of my favourite authors, largely due to his excellent DS Pace trilogy (which I loved so much and intend to read again). This is the first in a series of novels involving a police detective, January David, who specialises in very violent crimes. This first tale is a serial killer targeting young women (which is what they do) with the first victim hitting very close to home for our protagonist. I’m just over a third of the way in, so shall say no more.

Unmasked by Paul Holes – the cold case investigator whom I first came across via Michelle McNamara’s excellent I’ll Be Gone in the Dark (as mentioned here) and numerous mentions on the My Favorite Murder podcast , as well as his own investigative podcast with Billy Jensen, The Murder Squad. I have only just started this and it looks like a mix of cases he has worked on and the impact his career has had on his family and so far so good.

New books worth mentioning:

In honour of finishing the TV adaptation Slow Horses and the publication of the latest Slough House novel Bad Actors, I treated myself to all of Mick Herron’s series in one fell swoop. Will bereading the fifth entry in the series very shortly.

Last week I mentioned Under the Banner of Heaven which I had just finished, and had an interesting conversation with Kathy at Simple Tricks & Nonsense where she recommended Heaven’s Ditch about the building of the Erie Canal and religious stuff around it; now ordered and awaiting its arrival.

Most of this week’s book spend was focussed on the Book God’s birthday list, so my recommendation will be out of sync for the next wee while.

Other stuff:

So this week I finally got back to Sadler’s Wells, my favourite venue for all things dance, to see the Northern Ballet perform Casanova. I had such a good time; the costumes and sets were gorgeous and a quick glass of prosecco at the interval added to the fun. But oh, so many people on public transport were not wearing masks (I was fully masked the hole time) and that did make me feel uncomfortable, especially on the Tube which on the way home in particular was so crowded. This is how it will from now on I suppose….

Until next time I hope you are all well and have a great reading week!

My Week – 8 May edition

A quick look back at what turned out to be a very quiet week in which nothing much happened but somehow I still needed to sleep a lot…..

What I finished:

Only one book this week but it was totally absorbing. Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer came to my attention because I saw that there is a TV adaptation starring Andrew Garfield (I may already have mentioned this somewhere) and I am one of those people who (where possible) likes to read the book before watching the film/TV series.

My only exposure to Mormonism was via a deep and abiding love for The Osmonds (don’t judge!) and the occasional knock on the door from missionaries looking for the Latter Day Saints church (temple?) in my little corner of Paisley.

This book kicks off with a particularly nasty murder of a young woman and her little daughter and goes back and forward between the case and a history of fundamentalist Mormonism, with particular reference to polygamy. The book is around 20 years old so of course excludes the recent stuff about Warren Jeffs (ugh – more about him later). I found it deeply fascinating and disturbing and beautifully written and would recommend if you have an interest in the subject.

What I’m currently reading:

I have almost finished Alice Diamond and the Forty Elephants, and am about a third of the way through The Twyford Code, but haven’t made much progress on The Fall of Paris; I mentioned all of these books in my last post and I’m trying very hard not to start anything else until I have finished at least two of these.

What have I bought?

The Queen’s Consort by Steven Veerapen – the fateful second marriage of Mary Queen of Scots as seen from Darnley’s perspective. I’ve always thought he was a bit of a drip but am open to being persuaded otherwise….
The Abbey Close, also by Steven Veerapen – any synopsis which starts out “Paisley, 1542. As the armies of Henry VIII and James V prepare for battle, Catholic exile Simon Danforth must decide his loyalties” is a must read for me.
Love, Sex, Fear, Death by Timothy Wyllie – the Inside Story of The Process Church of the Final Judgment states the subtitle, a cult I know very little about but it was mentioned in the afterword to Adam Nevill’s Last Days (which I finished recently – thoughts here) so I thought why not?
When Men Become Gods by Stephen Singular (possibly one of my favourite author names, a bit like Stephen Strange without the chaos magic), this follows on from Under the Banner of Heaven which I reviewed above, and tells the horrendous story of Warren Jeffs and his fundamentalist cult. One to be read in small doses I think.

Stay safe and I’ll see you in my next post!

My Week – 26 September edition

It has been a very quiet week chez Bride, partly because I’ve been feeling a bit under the weather and consequently lethargic, which has meant watching YouTube videos and sleeping. That also means not much reading, though I did manage to finish The Eleventh Day which I mentioned in my post last week.

I’m still currently reading The Black Angel which I also mentioned last week; I think I’m about a third of the way through and continue to enjoy. I have also started Perversion of Justice by Julie K Brown, the investigative reporter who broke a lot of the Jeffrey Epstein stuff and has now pulled it all together in book format. Like everyone else I’ve picked up a lot of the stuff surrounding Epstein’s awfulness, and being a Brit of course there is the whole Prince Andrew situation, but I mainly picked this up after listening to a podcast called Chasing Ghislaine which I can recommend. The whole thing is just so ugh.

Long-time followers will know that there isn’t a true crime subject that I will not follow, so it will come as no surprise that I’ve been enjoying Only Murders in the Building which pokes gentle fun at our obsessions with such things and has a good mystery to boot.

A few books came into the Bride’s home this week, the two standouts being the Audible Sandman Act II (I loved Act I and am looking forward to this accompanying me on my walks) and most importantly Will Carver’s Psychopaths Anonymous. I am very excited for this as it is an unexpected fourth entry in the Detective Pace series which I thought had finished with Hinton Hollow Death Trip, one of my favourite books of 2021. This is likely to be my next read and after that I may go back to the original trilogy again just because I can. They are so rewardingly odd and he is becoming one of my favourite authors.

So like I said, very quiet. Hope to have more to share in my next post but in the meantime I hope you all have a great week and stay safe 🙂

Sunday Salon | 13 September

It has been a very quiet reading week. I’ve been spending my Me Time binge listening to True Crime Bullsh** – an excellent podcast focussing (at least in the first two seasons) on serial killer Israel Keyes.

I know. I have always been this way.

Photo by Frederick Tubiermont on Unsplash

I finished exactly one book this week, which I read cover to cover over a few days – and yes, it’s true crime, but let’s just move along.Murder City: The Untold Story of Canada’s Serial Killer Capital 1959-84 by Michael Arntfield. This covers the same ground as Forest City Killer which I covered in my recent true crime reading list post, though it predates it by a couple of years and is more of an academic work. Very interesting and deeply depressing.

I’m currently reading the third Robert Hunter thriller by Chris Carter, and I’m about a quarter of the way through. If you’ve been paying attention, you will know that I turn to true crime when I’m stuck with fiction, and that’s where I am at the moment. Hoping to move on this soon.

I failed at my no spend this week but I’ve kept it limited to a couple of new books:

The Quickening by Rhiannon Ward – Feminist gothic fiction set between the late 19th century and the early 20th century – an era of burgeoning spiritualism and the suffragette movement
Indecent Advances by James Polchin – A skillful hybrid of true crime and social history that examines the relationship between the media and popular culture in the portrayal of crimes against gay men in the decades before Stonewall.

It’s going to get very warm again in south west London this week so I may be hiding indoors with the aircon switched on – ideal conditions for reading.

Hope you all have a great week!

True Crime Reading List

When I hit a fiction slump I turn to true crime to unblock my reading brain. There’s been a lot of that over the past few months so I thought I’d share my recent reading list.

Murder on Easey Street by Helen Thomas

Melbourne’s most notorious cold case

In 1977 two young women sharing a home in a suburb of Melbourne were brutally killed while the baby of one of the women was sleeping in his room. The author was a junior reporter at the time and was involved in covering the case, and has gone back to look at the evidence again. There are lots of contradictions, neighbours whom the police didn’t ever interview, and so many questions. Was it a random attack? If not, which of the women was the target, or was it both of them? Why was the killer never caught? Particularly interesting in looking at how the Australian police tended to operate at the time.

Dark Side of the Mind by Kerry Daynes

Kerry is a forensic psychologist, trying to understand why people convicted of crimes behave the way they do. She appears on TV in the Uk fairly often in true crime documentaries and has real insight into the cases she discusses. The book is partly an explanation of the purpose of forensic psychology and how the work is carried out, but more importantly, it’s a memoir of what it’s like to be a woman working in this field.

Memorable quotes:

Paul was in the approximately 10 per cent of all victims who are men killed by the women in their life. Just 1 per cent of victims are women killed by other women. Research also tells us over and over that when men kill their female partners or ex-partners, it usually follows months or years of them abusing her. On the other hand, when women kill their husbands or exes, it’s usually after months or years of having been abused by the man they have killed.

UK criminologists estimate that a maximum of four serial killers are operating in this country at any given time (which is fairly good news or utterly terrifying, depending on your point of view).

Misogyny – an ingrained prejudice against and contempt for women and girls – is one of the few human conditions that hasn’t yet been declared a mental illness. Probably because, if it were, it would be a pandemic.

The Forest City Killer by Vanessa Brown

50 years ago a serial killer was active in London, Ontario, abducting, raping and murdering young women and boys. Focussing on the unsolved case of a young woman called Jackie English, the author considers who may have committed those crimes. Was it one person? And if so, could he still be alive and capable of being identified through familial DNA similar to the Golden State Killer?

Hell in the Heartland by Jax Miller

At the end of 1999 in rural Oklahoma, two girls, Ashley & Lauria, were having a sleepover. By the next morning, Ashley’s parents had been murdered, their trailer home on fire and the girls were missing. What was behind all of this? Ashley’s brother had been shot by police and there was bad blood between the Sherriff’s office and the family as a result. There were strong rumours of police corruption. There was significant drug use in the area, particularly crystal meth, which through up some potential suspects. The case went cold until 2018 when some arrests were made. Jax Miller has written a powerful book in which her experiences investigating this crime are just as important as the crime itself.

Read but not Reviewed | April Edition

Sometimes you just have to accept that you are not going to get around to clearing that backlog of book reviews even if you are sufficiently motivated to give it a try. What to do?

That’s what round-up posts are for.

So here are the books that I read in April which may have been mentioned in passing but didn’t get a review. Anything from the Before Times may be lost to those who will follow but you never know, one or two titles may pop up elsewhere.

But ~~onwards~~ backwards to April!

Pet Sounds by Quinn Cummings

Quinn is a former actor, writer and all-round funny person who is consistent in her ability to make me laugh to the extent that I follow her on Twitter and support her on Patreon. This is the last of her three books that I have read and it’s so good. If you have ever had a pet of any kind you will recognise much of what’s in here. I may now be scared of testosterone-fuelled bunny rabbits.

Mists of the Miskatonic V1 & 2 by AL Halsey

“It wasn’t personal” she coughed. Blood dripped from her teeth stained crimson”

But why not her crimson-stained teeth? Just one example of what irritated me as I was reading these two collections of short stories. I’m possibly being unfair as the premise – using individual stories by HP Lovecraft as a starting point – is not bad but it’s all undermined by annoying repetition and far too much research being shoved onto the page. Yes, we understand that you know what the Latin for that piece of Roman military kit is but you only needed to say it once (if at all…) All of that took me out of the stories. A shame. I believe volume 3 may be on the way. Will I read it? Who knows…

The Adventures of Roderick Langham by Rafe McGregor

A collection of short stories about the titular Mr Langham, described as a retired soldier, a disgraced police detective and someone who becomes involved in investigating the occult. The stories are set in the same world that contains Holmes, Watson and Moriarty. There are nine stories and, as a collection, really enjoyable with a nice sense of place and atmosphere. Can definitely see myself dipping into these again. Great fun.

We Are All Completely Fine by Daryl Gregory

What if you survived something horrible, in the horror movie sense of horrible, like being partially eaten by cannibals or defeating monsters or having messages carved on your bones which (of course) you can’t read. How do you cope? Well, if invited, you might join a therapy group along with a potential mass-murdering arsonist and someone who never takes his sunglasses off. That’s the thrust of this novella which is so compelling and well-written I just couldn’t put it down. I liked the characters, I thought the premise was excellent and very well executed. I highly recommend this if you like good genre fiction.

A Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay

So, there’s this family, the Barretts living in New England where the older of their two daughters stars to exhibit signs of mental illness. Or does she? Her behaviour, which looks to many to be similar to possession, causes immense stress on the family but somehow they find themselves taking part in a reality TV show which seems to think its the Exorcist. Things do not go well – surprise, surprise! It reminded me of Amityville and an episode of Hammer House of Horror from 1980 (The House that Bled to Death) but is very much its own thing. This is my second Tremblay novel and I think I prefer it slightly to The Cabin at the End of the World, though it is equally dark.

True Crime Addict by James Renner

As a young boy, the author became obsessed with a local girl who had gone missing, developing over time into an overwhelming interest in true crime, which he turned into a journalism career, a couple of successful books, and which left him with PTSD. In 2011 he started to look into the case of Maura Murray who disappeared after a car crash, and once again his interest became obsessive as he delves into the details of the case, not looking after himself, and allowing it to intrude into his personal relationships. The book focuses almost equally on both aspects of the story, for me more successfully in Renner’s personal story as it isn’t even definite that Maura has been the victim of any crime. She is still missing.

And with May’s reading so far covered in my recent post (which you can read here) I am up to date!

December Books | Impulse Buys

It is a fact that I am not supposed to buy books in December because gifts, but as we share wishlists I know the range from where my presents will be drawn.

That’s a complicated way of saying that if a title wasn’t on my wish list it was fair game. Here we go.

The Pre-Orders

Beast by Matt Wesolowski – because I love the Six Stories series and the podcast format makes for compelling reading
Dead Astronauts by Jeff VanderMeer – because any new book by this author is a must-buy for me

The True Crime

American Predator by Maureen Callahan – if you’ve seen my earlier post you will know that I have already read this, and will be looking into this awful serial killer more in 2020
Dark Dreams by Roy Hazelwood – Sexual Violence, Homicide and the Criminal Mind because who doesn’t want some light reading…
The Forest City Killer by Vanessa Brown – I heard an interview with the author on a recent podcast and had to find out more about this Canadian case

The Other Non-Fiction

The Pulse Glass by Gillian Tindall – a personal and global history in objects; I love this sort of thing
Good Morning, Good Life by Amy Schmittauer Landino – I follow Amy’s YouTube channel but bought the book specifically for an online book club read; I’m already behind…..

The Fiction

Intensity by Dean Koontz – I don’t think I’ve ever read any Koontz; this is serial killer rather than horror
Gallows Court by Martin Edwards – murder in 1930’s London, the first in the Rachel Savernake series
We Are All Completely Fine by Daryl Gregory – Harrison is the Monster Detective, a storybook hero. What happens when he and others like him join a support group?

That should keep me busy for a while 😀

Sunday Salon | Books Read

Hope everyone had a fabulous holiday season. In getting ready for 2020 I thought I would write up some short reviews of (most of) the books I’ve read recently. All links are to Goodreads btw.

Ghoster by Jason Arnopp

I shall declare an interest here as I am one of Jason’s supporters on Patreon so obviously think he is a top bloke. Ghoster is the first full length novel by Jason that I’ve read and I really enjoyed it, although as an Old I had to look up what ghosting actually meant – you, young reader, are probably way ahead of me. Kate has met Scott, fallen in love and is driving to another city to move in with him. She’s given up her flat, transferred to another employer (she’s a paramedic) and is well on her way to future happiness when she realises that she can’t contact Scott. At all. And when she gets to his place it is empty and he isn’t there. But his phone is……

I spent a lot of time during this creepy book inwardly yelling to Kate not to do the thing that she was about to do, but of course it wouldn’t be a horror novel if the protagonist was sensible so it is only to be expected that things do not go well. Great fun.

Legendary Authors and the Clothes They Wore by Terry Newman

With an iconic image of Joan Didion on the cover and a blurb that stated I would find out about the “signature sartorial and literary style of fifty men and women of letters” thus combining two of my favourite things – fashion & books – it was obvious that I would get this.

It’s quite a slight volume and doesn’t entirely deliver on the sartorial stuff – not enough detail about what they actually wore for my taste – but there were enough tidbits to satify my curiosity.

That Virginia Woolf worried about bad hat days is also a comforting fact for the dedicated reader and follower of style.

American Predator by Maureen Callahan

I’m not sure exactly where I came across the name of Israel Keyes. It must have been one of the true crime podcasts that I listen to (yes, more than one, don’t jusge me) but I can’t for the life of me remember which one. However I found out about him, I was immediately fascinated by how this man could have carried out so many awful deeds without anyone knowing about it. The subtitle of the book says it all:

The Hunt for the Most Meticulous Serial Killer of the 21st Century

He is of course a deeply disturbing and horrible figure who killed all over the USA during a period of fourteen years, burying kill kits for future use, many of which have never been found. This book focusses mainly on the somewhat flawed investigation into his crimes, and I will be following it up by listening to yet another podcast – True Crime Bullshit – which is only about Keyes.

An American Story by Christopher Priest

This is a very well-written novel with a sympathetic (mostly) protagonist and one of the most momentous events of the past few decades in the shape of the 9/11 attacks as context. Ben is a freelance journalist whose then girlfriend died in the attack on the Pentagon; she wasn’t supposed to be on the plane that crashed into the building and like many others her remains were never found, so Ben begins to wonder if she ever really died and if she did whether the accepted story told the whole truth.

There are too many of these inconsistencies to be ignored. At every step of the 9/11 story there is doubt, or there are unanswered questions, or simple logical gaps.

If you concentrate on this story being about loss and in particular the pain experienced when no body is recovered, so there is no certainty and no resting place where one can grieve and find solace, then this is a powerful novel. The 9/11 conspiracy theories work for that reason and that reason only but I still find them very disturbing.

The Only Plane in the Sky by Garrett Graff

[..] in The Only Plane in the Sky, award-winning journalist and bestselling historian Garrett Graff tells the story of the day as it was lived—in the words of those who lived it. Drawing on never-before-published transcripts, recently declassified documents, original interviews, and oral histories from nearly five hundred government officials, first responders, witnesses, survivors, friends, and family members, Graff paints the most vivid and human portrait of the September 11 attacks yet.

An incredibly moving companion piece to Priest’s novel, it covers the events of that day from a wide range of sources. Extraordinarily sad, powerful reading.

Chase Darkness With Me by Billy Jensen

More true crime (sorry, not sorry) this time from the perspective of a journalist who stopped writing about crime and started trying to solve cold cases as a citizen detective. It is a fascinating book, and you can follow Billy’s work alongside his co-host Paul Holes on their podcast Murder Squad. A must-read for all Murderinos, though if you are a Murderino you’ve almost certainly read this already.

December Books | Gifts

All of my presents this year were books. This is a very good thing.

The Mansion by Ezekiel Boone – it’s a house with a flawed and, let’s face it, potentially evil and certainly dangerous artificial intelligence which controls all of the stuff.

The Poisoner’s Handbook by Deborah Blum – subtitled Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York, speaks to my interests.

Occult Paris by Tobias Churton – The Lost Magic of the Belle Époque, according to the blurb this features Theosophists, Rosicrucians, Martinists, Freemasons, Gnostics, and neo-Cathars.

The Nice and Accurate Good Omens TV Companion – does what it says on the cover; this book is beautiful and has me wanting to watch the TV series all over again.

The Ghosts of Eden Park by Karen Abbott – The Bootleg King, the Women Who Pursued Him, and the Murder That Shocked Jazz-Age America; more true crime in the 1920s.

The Other Side of the Coin by Angela Kelly – all about HMQ and the work that goes into dressing her for the wide range of events she attends, written (with permission, no scandal here) by her long-time adviser and curator. Irresistible.

The Hotel Years by Joseph Roth – a selection of articles from the 20s and 30s when Roth travelled around central Europe living in hotels and writing about the places he visited.

Twilight of Empire by Greg King & Penny Wilson – all about Mayerling and the suicide pact (or was it?) between Crown Prince Rudolf and his young mistress Baroness Mary Vetsera; this tragic event has led to an excellent ballet and a lot of conspiracy theories.

Scottish Queens 1034-1714 by Rosalind K Marshall – the lives of Scottish Queens, whether reigning in their own right or as consorts, aren’t often discussed in the way that they should be, so this will be interesting. Will Lady MacBeth feature I wonder…..

The Golden Thread by Kassia St Clair – using the story of varieties of cloth to illuminate history; I’ve already dipped into this and it is going to be fascinating.

All of the above were from the Book God, and from my Brother Who Is Not on Social Media I received

Daisy Jones & the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid – an oral history of a fictional 1970s rock band, this has been on my list for ages and glad I have it in my hands at last.

What books did you get for Christmas?