October Thrills

‘Dorothy Parker in Hollywood’

Dorothy Parker in Hollywood by Gail Crowther is a revelatory look at the writer and Algonquin member’s time in Hollywood. For over 35 years Parker worked on screenplays’ trademark snappy dialogue (mostly uncredited) with husband Alan Campbell. The two cavorted with Hemingway, Fitzgerald, and Orson Welles while punching up scripts with her mots and quips. Known for her scathing tongue, Parker battled Tinseltown’s prejudice against writers (male and female), demons, bad men, and alcohol. Crowther does an excellent job bringing these mystery years to light.

‘The Puzzle Box’

Danielle Trussoni’s sequel to her best-selling The Puzzle Master is back with more riddles to solve in The Puzzle Box. Mike Brink is blessed-cursed with savant syndrome after a traumatic brain injury which leaves him lonely and isolated in his genius. For a living he solves puzzles online and in the newspapers. He is invited to Tokyo by the Emperor to solve the puzzle of the legendary Dragon Box, so mysterious and destructive it has killed all those that have tried to open it. From the moment he lands in Japan with a woman he isn’t sure he can trust, Brink finds himself on the run and racing against the clock from Tokyo to Kyoto with evil forces close behind – and they want him dead. Another smart thriller from Trussoni.

‘Every Moment Since’

One quiet night in a small Southern town a boy goes missing. Twenty years later his jacket (a “Back to the Future” jacket – he was a huge fan of Marty McFly) is found; throwing the family and the entire town into another media nightmare. Marybeth Mayhew Whalen’s Every Moment Since is a tense revelation of past and present, as the investigation to find who took the boy is renewed. Could he still be alive? There is the older brother that was there that night and has just written a bestselling book about it; the mother who can’t forgive, the suspect who can’t move on, and a Public Information Officer who can’t escape her secrets. Beautifully written, this one will leave you sobbing!

‘The Forbidden Garden of Leningrad’

As a city starves to death, a group of botanists are tasked with protecting a collection of seeds that could literally save them. This is perhaps little-known history for many in The Forbidden Garden of Leningrad: A True Story of Science and Sacrifice in a City Under Siege by Simon Parkin. During the summer of 1941 German soldiers surround and lay siege to Leningrad on the order of Hitler. If they can’t take the city, they will starve its three million citizens who cannot escape. It will be the longest blockade in history. I have read other equally devastating accounts of the 872-day siege (I admit to being a Russian history enthusiast) but had not read about the world’s largest seed collection housed in a former palace. Through frigid temperatures and dwindling food supplies, the men and women botanists fiercely protect the valuable collection. A
remarkable story.

‘The Specimen’

A gruesome read – not too bad, I promise – is the atmospheric The Specimen by Jaima Fixsen. Isobel’s young son is dying. They only have months left together. But when the boy disappears and Isobel comes up against a wall of resistance from the police and the boy’s father to find him, she takes matters into her own hands. By chance she happens upon Dr. Burnett’s collection of oddities and medical specimens. In a jar is a small heart labeled with the exact, rare condition her son had. Based on true crimes that occurred during the early 1800s in Scotland, this is a dark and delightful read.