Erik Larson, THE DEVIL IN THE WHITE CITY
Although I have not so far considered non-fiction, the 2004 Edgar Award winner for Best Fact Crime, is worthy of discussion. It is actually two parallel stories. One describes the construction of the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair, and focuses on Daniel Turnham, the chief architect. To be privy to the gathering of the greatest minds in architecture, engineering, and garden construction in the country is fascinating and instructive.
The parallel story is that of Herman Webster Mudgett (a.k.a. Dr. H.H. Holmes) a serial killer who preyed on young women coming to Chicago for the job opportunities the Fair provided. His methods also utilized cutting edge (pardon the pun) scientific methods.
Even if you don’t care to be exposed to the mind of yet one more murderous sociopath, the story of the Fair is itself worth the cost of admission.
Allen Eskens, THE LIFE WE BURY
Joe Talbert is a student with a writing assignment. He must interview an elderly person and write his or her biography. Joe ends up interviewing Carl Iverson, a man convicted of raping and murdering a teenaged girl many years before. He has recently been transferred from prison to a nursing home because he is dying of cancer.
As Joe comes to know Iverson, he becomes more and more convinced of his innocence, and takes as his mission to prove it in the little time Iverson has left. This leads him on a complex journey into what happened many decades before. It also takes him on a trip into his own past as he and Iverson discover they both have guilty secrets. This is Eskers first book, and it makes very few false steps in a story that is both action-packed and emotionally exciting.
Bill Crider, BETWEEN THE LIVING AND THE DEAD
This is a mystery that involves a supposedly haunted house, and although the possibility of a genuine haunting remain open, the mystery is solved by using this-worldly methods. As usual Dan Rhodes is unflappable, and it is even more apparent in this book than in the others that, although he strictly enforces the law, he does not demonize the criminal. He is well aware that only a thin line and a certain amount of luck separates those who stay within the boundaries of the law from those who stray.
This is a series that has gotten better with time, and I highly recommend it for its humor, the solid, and the level-headed protagonist.
