FETCH THE DEVIL : THE SIERRA DIABLO MURDERS AND NAZI ESPIONAGE IN AMERICA
by Clint Richmond

It's the largest unsolved crime in the Southwest. Sheriffs, the Texas Rangers, and federal agents have been baffled for decades not able to figure out how and why it happened.
Hazel and Nancy (her daughter) Frome were California socialites. They had traveled all over the world by themselves, unescorted by any man and were about to do it again. Both of them knew how to drive and bought a silver Packard.
They took off on a road trip in March 1938 from San Francisco heading towards the East Coast. Their car broke down in El Paso, Texas, so they decided to live it up by staying in a ritzy hotel and going to the border of Juarez, Mexico, to shop, dine, and drink. One week later, their battered bodies were found in the desert. They had been abducted, tortured, and shot execution style.
Chris Fox, the local sheriff, doggedly investigated this heinous murder for years. He was convinced that everything originated in California, because Hazel's husband was an executive at Atlas Powder Company (an explosives manufacturer) and they became involved in  World War II. Hazel liked to talk and was constantly bragging to strange men about what her husband did. At this period of time, Germany wanted to infiltrate American industry and sent spies over to try to get information that they then could use for themselves. German espionage was rampant in California, Texas, and Mexico. Did Hazel talk too much?
If you're a true crime fan, you will want to read this book. It took Clint Richmond fifteen years to dig through declassified files to construct a plausible story. From the beginning, he sets the tale up quite well and keeps you riveted. It's actually quite frightening to find out how many Nazi agents were on our soil and that President Roosevelt and his administration knew they were here.
Fox came the closest to solving the case, while being maligned constantly about it.
Fetch the Devil will definitely keep your interest up to the end, which is the most fascinating, since that is where Richmond presents his theory of the murders.
Highly recommended.

IN THE KINGDOM OF ICE : THE GRAND AND TERRIBLE POLAR VOYAGE OF THE USS JEANNETTE
by Hampton Sides

They should never have listened to that crackpot August Petermann. The most famous German cartographer in the world believed that there was an Open Polar Sea beyond the crippling ice where warm waters flowed into a fertile outcropping of land. Because of this ridiculous theory, George Washington De Long, a young U.S. Navy officer, decided to embark to the North Pole in 1879 on a ship named the USS Jeannette.
James Gordon Bennett, Jr., funded the entire expedition. He was eccentric and extremely wealthy, and owner of The New York Herald. Oh, how he loved sensationalism. (Previously, Bennett had sent his reporter Stanley to Africa and found Dr. Livingstone.) The country was obsessed with "Arctic fever" and writing about it would bring even more money into his newspaper.
In the summer of 1879, De Long sailed from San Francisco leaving his wife and young daughter behind. He commanded a group of thirty-two men. Off they went using maps with incorrect information where nobody knew what existed beyond the nether regions.
Eventually, while traveling north of the Bering Strait, the ship got stuck in pack ice and they became trapped. They all had to get off onto an ice cap. The Jeannette sank and there they were marooned with not too many supplies and not exactly close enough to get to Siberia, which was one thousand miles away. The explorers knew that they could not stay in this spot. Using three open boats, the men divided up and battled storms, the frozen sea, frostbite, starvation, while struggling to reach the coastline.
Just when you think there can't possibly be another book about polar exploration, we are offered up one heck of a story. Hampton Sides is a master writer and teller of tales. By using letters, journals, old and dusty documents, Sides was able to recreate the harrowing adventure and keep you riveted to your seat.
At a little more than 400 pages, it really doesn't seem that long, because you can't stop reading.
In the Kingdom of Ice is a spectacular piece of work.
Very highly recommended.

A SPY AMONG FRIENDS : KIM PHILBY AND THE GREAT BETRAYAL
by Ben Macintyre

Harold Adrian Russell Philby, otherwise known as "Kim" was considered the greatest spy in history.
Both his intellect and his charm made him a perfect recruit for MI6, which was one of the main secret services of Britain. In time, Philby would be appointed head of their counterintelligence against the Soviet Union.
Nicholas Elliott was Philby's best friend and fellow colleague in the spy trade. They learned how to do espionage together during World War II. The two of them belonged to the same clubs, drank a voluminous amount of alcohol, wore the same classy, tailored clothing, and shared every secret. Well, not exactly. Every word that Elliot openly shared, Philby was transmitting to Moscow. But, it wasn't just Elliott's words.
James Jesus Angleton (the head of CIA counterintelligence) was also a great friend of Philby's. They met thirty-seven times in secluded bars and restaurants and Angleton disclosed quite a bit of information that absolutely thrilled the Soviet bosses.
Thanks to both Angleton and Elliott, their words, (unbeknownst to them), killed thousands of operatives and destroyed the intelligence services of both the United States and Great Britain.
Some friend indeed.
Ben Macintyre has done it again. He is a master storyteller and has written quite a number of books dealing with spies, two of which have been reviewed in this blog: Agent Zigzag and Operation Mincemeat.
A Spy Among Friends is quite an eye-opener and virtually impossible to put down. Because of the MI5 (the files for MI6 were closed), Macintyre was able to retrieve plenty of information and research to write a spectacular book.
I could write numerous adjectives to describe the writing, but it's not necessary. Just read it. You will not be disappointed.
Very highly recommended.

50 CHILDREN : ONE ORDINARY AMERICAN COUPLE'S EXTRAORDINARY RESCUE MISSION INTO THE HEART OF NAZI GERMANY
by Steven Pressman

Gilbert and Eleanor Kraus never thought of themselves as heroes. What they did was a completely selfless act. In the spring of 1939, they went to Nazi Germany and Austria to save fifty Jewish children and bring them back to the United States. Many leaders of the Philadelphia Jewish community and organizations tried to dissuade them not to go. At that time, there was plenty of hostility in letting immigrants in, especially Jewish refugees. Both the public and the United States government were opposed to opening the doors for them. American immigration laws were very restrictive.
The Krauses went anyway and were successful in obtaining fifty visas.
Author and filmmaker Steven Pressman wrote the book based on Eleanor's private manuscript. (The Krauses were the maternal grandparents of Pressman's wife.) He also was able to interview at least a dozen of the surviving children, now adults.
50 Children is a well-told story and quite relevant. These children came without their parents and didn't know if they would ever see them again. The really sad and disturbing thing is that many more could have been saved if America hadn't been so xenophobic. Great Britain had the "Kindertransport" and saved 10,000 Jewish children. On the other hand, the United States only saved 1,000. Pretty pathetic. As one survivor said, "We all could get out. The problem was that we couldn't get in."
Besides reading the book, if you're interested in more information, you could watch the HBO documentary on YouTube that Pressman made: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2D6e7zpyRw.
Recommended.

WONDROUS BEAUTY : THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF ELIZABETH PATTERSON BONAPARTE
by Carol Berkin

A beautiful woman by the name of Elizabeth Patterson from Baltimore, Maryland, married Jerome Bonaparte in 1803. He was the youngest brother of Napoleon. She thought Jerome was a prince charming: dashing, handsome, and worldy. Their courtship was a whirlwind. Her father opposed the marriage but Elizabeth didn't care. She wanted to get out of the United States and leave it all behind. In her eyes, American society was too narrow and empty where women were tied to their children and always had to accommodate their husbands. Europe, on the other hand, was aristocratic, cultured, sophisticated, and would eagerly welcome someone like her who had such wit and intelligence.
In due time (about two years), Napoleon who was infuriated with the union, refused to allow Elizabeth to enter any European port, and threatened his brother that if he remained married to that American, he would forfeit all of his wealth and power. Jerome dumped her and was made king of Westphalia. The marriage was annulled and Elizabeth, who by that time was pregnant, went to England and gave birth there to her only child, a son. Eventually, she would return to Baltimore but not permanently. Elizabeth would become a self-made woman and would be quite well-off financially. The investments she made in both real estate and government bonds made her a millionaire. Elizabeth would return to Europe and be welcomed with open arms.
Wondrous Beauty is a very well-told story of a woman caught between two worlds. She really never finds true happiness in either one. Shunned by her father and abandoned by her husband, Elizabeth had to reinvent herself. And as she amassed her fortune, she never saw the contradictions. Elizabeth was constantly berating American men for their obsessive focus on making money, yet she was meticulous with her instructions for both real estate and financial agents for buying and selling and making the best transactions.
This is a slice of history that is pretty much unknown and fascinating to read about. What I find amusing, though, is the word "beauty" that is used throughout this book. On the cover, is a portrait of Elizabeth Patterson, with her son. Her hair is cut quite short and is very close to her head. I don't find her beautiful at all; in fact, she isn't even attractive. There's two other color paintings of her and it's the same thing. It's interesting to see what people considered beautiful in that time period.
Nonetheless, Carol Berkin has great research skills (she has written other books on women during the Civil War, Colonial America, and the American Revolution) and it shows here. It's most definitely a fascinating read.
Recommended.

THE ETERNAL NAZI : FROM MAUTHAUSEN TO CAIRO, THE RELENTLESS PURSUIT OF SS DOCTOR ARIBERT HEIM
by Nicholas Kulish and Souad Mekhennet

He became the world's most wanted Nazi war criminal. Yet, by the end of World War II, he was considered just small fry.
Aribert Heim was a physician, an SS doctor, but he didn't practice healing. Heim euthanized patients with injections of gasoline into their hearts. He would perform surgeries on healthy people at Mauthausen concentration camp. 
In the chaotic arena of the postwar, Heim was able to slip away and actually worked as a reputable doctor in Baden-Baden. He could have just stayed there with his family. But, that was not to be. Heim was alerted that he was going to be arrested and he fled.
A small number of Germans were not willing to ignore the past as the Allies (think Americans) were doing. They wanted to pursue justice and not let Nazi criminals go unpunished. A man by the name of Alfred Aedtner was one of these upstanding citizens. He was a police investigator and it soon became an obsession for him to find Heim. 
The Eternal Nazi is a terrific book. Just when you think there can't be any more sadistic Nazis, out comes another one. It took over five years for the authors to gather all their information from archives, libraries, interviews (Heim's relatives), and a dusty, old briefcase that had correspondence,  medical records, and other interesting ephemera.
It's definitely a suspenseful read and keeps you riveted. Not to be missed.
Very highly recommended. 

 

A CHILD OF CHRISTIAN BLOOD : MURDER AND CONSPIRACY IN TSARIST RUSSIA : THE BEILIS BLOOD LIBEL
by Edmund Levin

Near Kiev, which in 1911 was part of the Russian Empire,  a thirteen-year-old Christian boy was discovered in a cave stabbed to death. Four months after the murder, Mendel Beilis, a Jewish brick factory clerk and father of five, was arrested by the police in his home. Two years later, the trial took place and made headlines internationally. Beilis was charged not only with the murder, but with the Jewish ritual killing (blood libel) of a Christian child. There was no evidence linking him to the crime and his main accuser was a known criminal herself.
The prosecution team was backed by Tsar Nicholas II, whose government was corrupt and fading fast. The attorneys for the prosecution called in "expert witnesses," a laughable bunch of pathologists, a theologian, and a psychological profiler. Their incompetent and clumsy testimonies would bring them spiraling down. On the other hand, the defense team was brilliant and garnered support from people for Beilis, around the world, who realized how absurd the entire debacle was. 
Edmund Levin, who is a writer/producer for Good Morning America, first heard about the Beilis case from his Russian Jewish grandmother, but never wrote anything down. Years later, when the archives became available due to the fall of the Soviet Union, he went to Ukraine. The research he did to create such a masterpiece is phenomenal. His writing is superb and keeps you riveted.
With this book you have: true crime, history, meticulous details of all the characters involved, plus black-and-white photographs of the possible killers, the Beilis family, the defense team, the wacko witnesses for the prosecution, and other interesting pictures.
It's definitely a stupendous read and not to be missed.
Very highly recommended.