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Chris Barrus

The "90% of everything in the universe is shit?" quote actually originates with Theodore Sturgeon. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sturgeon's_law

Lennie Briscoe

I have just purchased this book:
Not for the Faint Hearted: My Life Fighting Crime
By Lord John Stevens - Ex Metropolitan Police Commissioner
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0297848429/qid=1126780270/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_10_1/202-8616346-4900605

If anyone is going to have a good crime story, he will.

The Bookhouse Boy

The jewel of my collection is easily "Blood Oath: The Conspiracy to Murder Nicole Brown-Simpson." It's a book about how a white supremacist movement murdered Brown-Smith and framed her husband to start a race war. Gold!

Natalie Bennett

I shouldn't do this to you, but I think the best second-hand bookstore is abebooks.com; I've even bought from shops on India on it. Not true crime, although that does bring to mind a book on my shelves, The Bandit Queen, about Phoolan Devi, who ended up as an MP before being assasinated.

John Shimkonis

I found the following description rather a poor lead-in to Detective Geyer's book. After reading the following, I immediately came under the impression you were writing of Detective Geyer.

"Even if Detective Geyer manages to bore your eyes closed with that tepid account, he holds no candle to a book I found at a garage sale and whose author I detest -- to the point that I refuse to stain my screen or yours by naming him."

I would have worded that a little differently & immediately wrote that Mudgett's confession was being described, & not Detective Geyer's work.

Geyer's is a book which I find peculiarly satisfying to read, even in all the dryness which you describe his writing style as being, due to his heroic portrayal of this unusually horrific crime & the incredibly personally tragedy he endured when his immediate family perished in an unknown fire.

I'm still under the impression that despite this tragedy, Detective Geyer indeed did endure & was asked by Mayor Graham of the city of Philadelphia to investigate this difficult insurance scam which to my understanding Detective Geyer was accomplished at investigating.

This incredible 1800S personal tragedy which he endured could not have influenced his portrayal of the events he encountered with Detective Schnooks & Tuttle, but what could have influenced his portrayal was his encounter with Mudgett.

A "plodding, unemotional, and tedious" read? I am in the process of tracking down Geyer's book. I have absolutely no intention of reading Mudgett's confession nor do I condone John Borowski's work on serial killers, notably his film on Mudgett. In my opinion, Mudgett does not need another publich portrayal of his crimes aside from Erik Larson's & Harold Schecters books.

Holmes/Mudgett was a cold-blooded early American serial killer with most unusual cold-blooded manners which Geyer himself familiarized himself with & which I believe, according to your review of the unfavorable nature of his work, certainly did not help matters any when Geyer wrote his investigative account in accordance with Philadelphia Mayor Graham.

At any rate, I find The Holmes-Pitezel Case to be an interestingly strong read & not for the weak of heart. When I do procure my own copy of his work I would like to be able to reach the same conclusions about the issues of criminal motive, intent, & modus operandi that Geyer did. Once more, I will not subscribe to what John Borowski is trying to accomplish. It is his filmography that I find "plodding, unemotional, and tedious".

SANDRA LESTER

Please may I advertise the availability of THE YORKSHIRE RIPPER'S - Peter Sutcliffe's 1137 handwritten pages/letters I am auctioning? I have complete lists and details of the content and a selection to display with the advert.

Many thanks,
Sandra Lester

Tanya

You can find Geyer's book - The Holmes -Pitezel Case here: http://www.strangecase.com

A Voice of Sanity

Laura James said: "... Thank God that the Son of Sam laws have more or less put an end to the publication of this sort of filth. ..."

Actually, as your own reference points out, most of these laws have been held invalid on their face. And the problem is that they are merely censorship in disguise, since, with no profit motive, the author is unlikely to produce the work. Consider also that such a law would prevent Nelson Mandela, once president of South Africa, from writing about his own trial and imprisonment. And what about, for example, Lawrencia (Bambi) Bembenek? Would you deny her a book?

They also will fail to be effective when a suit for damages, a la O. J. Simpson and now Scott Peterson, is pursued since it is trivial to put the profits beyond the reach of the plaintiffs even if they are successful. Once again the frantic desire of the citizens of the USA to bypass their own constitution will fail.

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