Midnight Assassin

Midnight Assassin: Panic, Scandal, and the Hunt for America's First Serial Killer by Skip Hollingsworth  321 pp.

In the mid-1880s the growing city of Austin, Texas suddenly experienced a disturbing series of assaults and murders. The first victims were servant women who lived in small shacks behind their employers' homes. The first women attacked were black women but soon white immigrants were targeted also. Later two young married women were killed and their bodies left in their backyards. The attacks were brutal, usually involving ax blows to the head and knife slashes to the body. Some of the survivors suffered permanent disabilities and one ultimately lived in the state asylum because of brain damage. Various men, mostly black, were arrested for the crimes and subsequently released due to lack of evidence. A few husbands were suspected in the later murders but there was no conviction there either. The attacks stopped as suddenly as they began. Some speculated that similar killings in another Texas town meant the killer had moved on. Others theorized that the killer had gone to England and was perpetrating the Jack the Ripper killings which began shortly after the Austin killings ended. An afterword by the author detailed his research and the difficulty in finding information. The story is similar to the Erik Larsen's Devil in the White City but not as riveting a story.

The Axe Factor

The Axe Factor by Colin Cotterill 294 pp.

After spending so much time on Anna Karenina I needed something light and fun. This is the third book in the Jimm Juree mystery series that takes place in southern Thailand. These books are full of quirky characters humorous situations. Jimm is a free-lance journalist who lives with her unusual family at the run down resort her mother runs. Jimm is given an assignment by the local newspaper to interview the wealthy, successful mystery author, Conrad Coralbank. Coralbank takes a "personal" interest in Jimm and they begin a relationship. In the mean time the nurse at the local health clinic enlists Jimm's help in finding the missing clinic doctor. The doctor has been missing since attending a medical conference sponsored by a supposedly upstanding corporation. Injected into the story are blogs by a mysterious "CC" detailing axe murder & dismemberment. Anonymous threats arrive at the resort targeted at Jimm. Jimm believes Coralbank's housekeeper is the one making threats but Coralbank has an extensive weapons collection and the initials fit. Jimm begins investigating with the help of her sister Sissi, a former transsexual beauty queen and expert hacker, her bodybuilder brother, Arnie, and her retired policeman grandfather. In an exciting ending Jimm comes face to face with the killer and her rescue seems unlikely. There is lots of humor in these novels. In this one each chapter is titled with poorly translated "English" signs aimed at tourists (“Please Leave Your Values at the Front Desk”).