Death at a Country Manson by Louise R. Innes

Started: 11/20/20

Finished: 11/26/20

Year: 2020

Pages: 219

Genre: Cozy Mystery

Grade: B

Reason for reading: review for MyShelf.com

Type: Paperback

Blurb: (from back cover): "No one would ever accuse famous opera star Dame Serena Levante of lacking a flare for the dramatic. Unfortunately, it's curtains down on the dysfunctional diva when she's found dead at the bottom of a staircase in her elegant home. Solving an opera singer's murder may not be the typical hairdresser's aria of expertise. But Dame Serena was the mother of Daisy' best friend Floria, so Daisy must do-or-dye her best to get to the roots of the case. Even though the gruff but handsome Detective Inspector Paul McGuinness tells the stylist to stay of his hair, Daisy is determined to make sure the killer faces a stern makeover-behind bars."

Opinion: One of the better mysteries I've read-really didn't know who was the murdered until the very end. A more thorough review will be posted on MyShelf.com in the upcoming months.

Life with the Afterlife: 13 Truths I Learned About Ghosts by Amy Bruni

 Started: 11/14/20

Finished: 11/19/20

Year: 2020

Pages: 255

Genre: Autobiography

Grade: B+

Reason for reading: fan of Amy's and the paranormal

Type: Hardcover

Blurb (from book jacket): "Amy Bruni co-star of Kindred Spirits and one of the world's leading paranormal investigators, has spent years studying the otherworldly, and she has a life time of first-hand experience. Now, in Life with the Afterlife, she reveals the surprising insights she has gleaned and how these unwavering truths have shaped her unique approach to interacting with the spirits of the dead and those who encounter them.

"Though her fact-based research and wildly entertaining prose, Amy relays how she uncovers back stories that eerily explain and corroborate apparitions, and have recognizing that ghosts are people can help us move from fear to empathy for them. From stories of her earliest supernatural encounters as a child, through her years on Ghost Hunters and the creation of her company Strange Escapes, which offers paranormal excursions to some of America's most notoriously haunted destinations, and into her current work on the Travel Channel's Kindred Spirits this book is full of astonishing and deeply moving tales of Amy's efforts to better understand the dead but not yet departed.

"This book is sure to change how you think about ghosts, whether you are a die-hard skeptic or a long-time believer. With Amy's bright humor and fierce compassion for both those who are haunted and those who are haunting. Life with the Afterlife is an eye-opening look at what connects us as people, in life and beyond."

Opinion: I have been a fan of Amy's since her debut on Ghost Hunters. She brings a refreshing look to paranormal investigations. This book is like having a conversation with Amy about her take on ghosts and why she investigates the way that she does.

House of Evil by John Dean

 Started: 11/8/20

Finished: 11/13/20

Year: 2008

Pages: 231

Type: Mass Market Paperback

Genre: True Crime

Grade: C

Reason for reading: booksfree.com book

Blurb (from back cover): "In the heart of Indianapolis in the mid 1960's, through a twist of fate and fortune, a pretty young girl came to live with a thirty-seven-year old mother and her seven children. What began as a temporary childcare arrangement between Sylvia Likens's parents and Gertrude Baniszewski turned into a crime that would haunt cops, prosecutors, and a community for decades to come...

"When police found Sylvia's emaciated body, with a chilling message carved into her flesh, they knew that she had suffered tremendously before her death. Soon they would learn how many others-including some of Baniszewski's own children-participated in Sylvia's murder, and just how much torture had been inflicted in one..."

Opinion: A truly horrible traumatic experience and no real reason behind it. No true motive was ever demonstrated in this of why Sylvia was tortured and eventually murdered.  This needed more for me to give it a higher grade.

The Killer's Shadow by John Douglas and Mark Olshaker

 Started: 10/31/20

Finished: 11/7/20

Year: 2020

Pages: 292

Genre: True Crime

Grade: B

Type: Trade Paperback

Reason for reading: review for MyShelf.com

Blurb (from back cover): "In the fall of 1980, John Douglas-the legendary FBI profile then in the early years of his career-was called in to the manhunt for a white supremacist serial killer. A highly mobile and experienced sniper, the fugitive Joseph Paul Franklin was suspected of racially motivated murders around the country. Not only was he capable of taking even more innocent lives, there was also a fear that he would target President Jimmy Carter during the 1980 presidential campaign. With the clock ticking, Douglas meticulously dissected the killer's psychology, but despite Franklin's ultimate apprehension, what began as fugitive profile would become one of Douglas's most disturbing and lingering cases.

"In The Killer's Shadow, Douglas, with his longtime collaborator Mark Olshaker, details the highly coordinated pursuit of Franklin and Douglas's eventual prison confrontation with him. Recounting the methodical detective work that led to Franklin's capture, Douglas reveals how the case helped prove the power of criminal profiling at a moment when the stakes couldn't have been higher. Years later, after Franklin's conviction and subsequent confessions while in federal prison to a horrific array of other murders, Douglas sat across from Franklin for the first time to complete the profile and understand what motivated his terrifying evolution from hate speech to racially and religiously inspired killing The end result is a Mindhunter case as chilling and relevant today as it was forty years ago, one that goes inside the vicious cycle of far-right extremism and shows that to emerge from it shadow of hate, we must first understand its origin."

Opinion: This is a true crime story told differently than most others. This looks more at how Franklin came to be who he was instead of focusing on the details of his crimes.  I would recommend for any true crime or forensic psychology fan. A more complete review will be up on MyShelf.com in the upcoming months.