The Road to Jonestown: Jim Jones and Peoples Temple by Jeff Guinn. Revolutionary Suicide or Mass-Murder?

The Peoples Temple Agricultural Project, better known by its informal name "Jonestown", was a remote settlement in Guyana, established by the Peoples Temple, a San Francisco-based cult under the leadership of demagogue god-like narcissist (and Temple Leader) Jim Jones. On November 18th 1978 Jim Jones instructed his 900+ followers to kill themselves and commit ‘revolutionary suicide’ as a direct response to the Guyanese and American Government investigations into his cult-like Peoples Temple. What followed was the biggest act of mass-murder suicide in American History (before 9/11) that cemented Jim Jones and his cult into true-crime history books, alongside Waco leader David Koresh, and to a lesser extent, Charles Manson.

The Road to Jonestown: Jim Jones and Peoples Temple by Jeff Guinn, is a definitive and exploratory look into the world of Jim Jones. How did this poverty-stricken kid from Indiana become a faith leader, political activist, and ultimately a mass murderer? I won't give the game away but this is a very well written book, that gives a fascinating insight into The Peoples Temple - from its humble beginnings to the mass suicide/murder that made international headlines. In the years that followed this atrocious act, Jim Jones was compared to murderous demagogues such as Adolf Hitler and Charles Manson. These comparisons completely and historically misrepresent, the initial appeal of Jim Jones to members of the Peoples Temple.

The Peoples Temple - Jonestown

Jones was a cult leader and a man who professed messages of love as a brotherhood. He had a convincing socialist idealism that appealed to his followers, but it was one that ultimately killed them all when his plan seemingly failed. If you’re unfamiliar with The Peoples Temple, this is a good book to start. Having read it, I'd be interested in learning more about cults and how they came to be.

Jeff Guinn is a former journalist who has won national, regional and state awards for investigative reporting, feature writing, and literary criticism.

Guinn is also the bestselling author of numerous works of fiction and nonfiction including, but not limited to: Go Down Together: The True Untold Story of Bonnie and Clyde (which was a finalist for an Edgar Award in 2010); The Last Gunfight: The Real Story of the Shootout at the O.K. Corral - and How It Changed the West; Manson: The Life and Times of Charles Manson; and The Road to Jonestown: Jim Jones and Peoples Temple.

Buy The Book HERE

Learn more about The Peoples Temple 

Death at Dukes Halt by Derek Farrell - Fahrenheit Press

Nobody at Dukes Halt is who they appear to be...

A murder mystery weekend at a country manor, you say? Yep, that's right. Although the crux of this book is quagmired in a classic noir cliche format, the modern contemporary setting does give this book a certain edge. Danny Bird is our protagonist. A barman/amateur detective, who ( although seemingly runs a rough pub), is very well connected with the local landed gentry. Upon invite from his posh friend Lady Caroline De Montfort (or Caz for short), Danny Bird is whisked to the palatial country manor house of Dukes Halt, for a long weekend with an elite bunch of guests who are full of surprises. It's a sprawling 18th-century mansion with a (convincingly written) dark atmosphere. Before you know it, three guests are dead, guns fire, fireworks explode, there's a diamond heist, ghosts of the past, and a plot that twists and turns at every opportunity. The chapters are short, the narrative is fast-paced, and for a murder mystery, there's even a few contemporary modern subplots that could entertain readers of any age - especially in this post-truth modern identity-politics era. I shan't spoil it, but one of the party guests is a letchy politician with seedy intentions - very clever stuff. This novel contains an air of Noel Coward and Oscar Wilde in style, and as I read it, I imagined it would make a great radio play.  

Derek Farrell is a writer that's new to us but one we would happily read again. In fact, this is actually #5 in the Danny Birds series of books so expect more reviews to follow! 

I've always been a fan of Fahrenheit press, which publish a lot of crime-noir, and this is an out-and-out classic contained in their back-catalogue!

Huge thanks to The Crime Book Girl for the competition tweet and to noir publishing giants; Fahrenheit Press. 

Find out more about Derek Farrell and the Danny Bird series HERE 

@rybazoxo writing for @VivaLaBookshq ! 

The "Mr. Big" Sting: The Cases, the Killers, the Controversial Confessions by Mark Stobbe

What's the book about? 

The RMCP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) have been using the ‘Mr Big’ technique for decades. Over a hundred people “got away with murder” until an undercover police officer (AKA ‘Mr Big’) tricked them into confessing. Mark Stobbe’s brilliantly researched book (he has some personal experience too), gives great insight into the policing tactics of ‘Mr Big’, high-profile cases. Quite a few of the cases covered also look at when the sting practice didn't work at all. It’s a subjective narrative that sets out its stall right at the beginning of the book. 

Within the book's pages, we meet murderers such as Michael Bridges, who strangled his girlfriend and buried her in another person's grave! Bridges remained free until he told ''Mr. Big'' where the body was. We also meet people like Kyle Unger, who lied while confessing to ''Mr. Big'' and went to prison for a crime he did not commit. The "Mr. Big" Sting is essential reading for anyone interested in unorthodox approaches to justice, including their successes and failures. It sheds light on how homicide investigators might catch and punish the guilty while avoiding convicting the innocent. 

How does A ''Mr.Big'' sting work? 

The ''Mr.Big'' sting also looks at how the practice has been used across the world. Some particularly interesting cases have occurred within the USA, UK, and Australia. Some success, some not, but Mark Stobbe goes into great detail to explain the pitfalls and successes of this seemingly coercive sting operation. 

Is it any good? 

If I lived in Canada, I'd enjoy this even more I think. I'd be interested in reading further follow-up books that cover cases across the globe. A great read for any true crime fans. 

Our Rating

VivaLaBooks Rating -3 / 5 

Thanks to ECW Press for the submission. Do check out their website. A great selection of books! 

The Hypno-Ripper - Two Victorian Tales of Jack the Ripper and Hypnotism. Edited by Donald K.Hartman

The Hypno-Ripper is the second volume in the Hypnotism in Victorian and Edwardian Era Fiction series, published by Themes & Settings in Fiction Press. 

The two stories collected here were published during the time of the Jack the Ripper killings and were amongst the earliest fictional accounts dealing with Whitechapel Murders. Both of these stories have Jack the Ripper being an American, who travelled from New York City to London to commit the murders, and Jack The Ripper commits the crimes while under the influence of hypnotism. The first story, The Whitechapel Mystery; a Psychological Problem (''Jack the Ripper'') is a novel authored by N.T Oliver, and originally published in 1889 by the eagle publishing company. The latter is the better of two stories contained in the book, and from the time it was written, this reads like a good victorian noir horror that would be perfect for a costume-drama or B movie horror film.  

The second story, ''The Whitechapel Horrors'' is a short tale, published anonymously in two American newspapers. shortly after the murder of Mary Jane Kelly in November 1888.  This story is quite similar to the first. With this book including wraths of information about Jack The Ripper at the end of the book, that part may have been better placed in the middle, to split the book up. 

The book also includes a brilliant foreword from the academic and independent scholar, Rebecca Frost, who is also the author of The Ripper's Victims in Print: The Rhetoric of Portrayals since 1929, among other books.  Overall, this is a really good book and was quite an addictive read. 

VivaLaBooks Score - 3 / 5 

Published by Themes and Settings in Fiction Press, Buffalo, New York  // Edited by  Donald K. Hartman

Thanks to Donald K Hartman for posting us an original copy of the book. If you would like your book reviewed please email vivalabks@gmail.com for more info! 

Murder At The Seaview Hotel by Glenda Young 'A murderer comes to Scarborough in this charming cosy crime mystery'

Genre - Cosy Crime Fiction 

Publisher - Headline

Author Glenda Young  

Publish Date - 05th of August 2021

What's It About?

​Helen Dexter runs The Seaview Hotel in Yorkshire’s seaside haven of Scarborough. 

When a troupe of 12 Elvis impersonators (Twelvis) arrive for an Elvis convention in Scarborough, one of them is found dead and his blue suede shoes are stolen. B&B landlady Helen Dexter and her trusty greyhound Suki are on the case to uncover the killer. Having recently lost her husband to cancer, and ambivalent about keeping the hotel open, Helen finds herself playing host to a troupe of 12 Elvis impersonators who have a gig at the Scarborough Spa. 

Is it any good? 

When one of the twelve is found dead in a local lake, and with a shady developer trying to buy the hotel, the reader is taken on quite the adventure as Helen battles bereavement, a burgeoning romance, a friendship group rocked to the core, and loveling created hotel staff. This cosy crime drama intersperses real-life Scarborough locations and mixes in just enough elements of believable and enthralling fiction to keep readers of any age suitably entertained. A complex mix of characters, easily readable chapters, with a couple of entertaining sub-plots.  We won't spoil the end but suffice to say - keep an eye out for Suki the greyhound. Here is a cosy crime saga set in a seaside town that has an unwitting crime duo at its heart. In tħe stormy seas of 2021, take yourself to Scarborough's coast and wrap yourselves up in this comfy crime story. Scarborough is of course famous for the final resting place of the Bronte sisters. I think the town has itself a new female literary star! We recommend it.

The first book in this series of cosy crime saga’s, Murder at the Seaview Hotel, will be published in August 2021 in ebook, hardback and audio and in paperback in November 2021. This will be followed by two further Seaview Hotel cosy crimes in May 2022 and May 2023

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Fred & Rose: The Full Story of Fred and Rose West and the Gloucester House of Horrors

Back in the 1990s, this was considered the UK 'crime of the century, comparable only to the moors murders committed by Ian Brady and Myra Hindley, the macabre marriage of Fred & Rose West took serial killing to a whole new level. 25 Cromwell Street was dubbed 'The House of Horrors', and for once, the sensationalist tabloids weren't exaggerating. Fred & Rose West killed approximate 12 women, including their daughter, and Fred's first wife and stepchild. 9 of those bodies were buried within the house itself, the bathroom, the garden, and a basement conversation holding the bodies close for many years until a police investigation and a horrid rumour warranted a dig that repulsed even the more hardened crime enthusiast. Howard Sounes began his journalistic career as a staff reporter for the Sunday Mirror when the story broke, even coining the phrase 'house of horrors' so is well acquainted with this story and has built a career out of it. 

25 Cromwell Street 'The House Of Horrors' 

The book is a vast and gripping exploration into Fred and Rose West, as individuals, as a murderous duo, and their familial relationships. A plethora of children spawned by these two were victims in the vilest way possible, and yet, you could almost have sympathy for Fred & Rose too, as they were both victims of their own nefarious upbringings. That said, even now and an astonishing near 30 years ago, the crimes are no less shocking. Quite frankly, I would suggest grabbing a copy of this book and listening to the podcast. I wouldn't want to divulge too much but would say that this is unputdownable in terms of true crime non-fiction, and such an incredible true-life story. 

These are the known victims; Anna McFall, 18, killed by Fred West in July 1967. Discovered in June 1994 at Fingerpost Field near Much Marcle. She was eight months pregnant at the time of her death.

Charmaine West, 8, Fred's stepdaughter. Believed to have been killed by Rose in 1971 while Fred was serving a sentence at HMP Leyhill. Buried in the cellar at 25 Midland Road. Rena Costello, 27, Fred's first wife, also killed in 1971, buried at Letterbox Field in Much Marcle. Lynda Gough, 19, killed in April 1973. Buried in 25 Cromwell Street. Carol Ann Cooper, 15, killed November 1973. Buried in the cellar at 25 Cromwell Street. Lucy Partington, 21, killed in December 1973. Last seen at a bus stop in Cheltenham, her body was discovered in the cellar in Cromwell Street in 1994. Therese Siegenthaler, 21, abducted in 1974 while hitchhiking. Buried under an extension built by Fred at 25 Cromwell Street. Shirley Hubbard, 15, abducted from a bus stop in Droitwich in November 1974. Dismembered remains were found in the cellar in Cromwell Street. Juanita Mott, 18, a former lodger at Cromwell Street. She was last seen in April 1975. Her body was found buried at Cromwell Street.

Rosemary West was found guilty of 10 counts of murder relating to bodies found at Cromwell Street and Midland Road, in 1995. She remains in prison and is unlikely to ever be released. 

Fred West took his own life while on remand awaiting trial for a further two counts of murder on New Years Day, 1995

Fred West has been back in the news in 2021 as the long-suspected killer of Gloucester teenager Mary Bastholm. Mary's body has never been found. Read more about that here

Listen here to the brilliant podcast called 'UNHEARD: THE FRED & ROSE WEST TAPES' 

BUY THE BOOK HERE 

@rybazoxo for www.vivalabooks.com

Aftermath Life in the Fallout of the Third Reich, 1945–1955 by Harald Jähner

Germany, 1945: a country in ruins. Cities have been reduced to rubble and more than half of the population are where they do not belong or do not want to be. How can a functioning society ever emerge from this chaos? The book’s blurb gives an in-depth account; 

In bombed-out Berlin, Ruth Andreas-Friedrich, journalist and member of the Nazi resistance, warms herself by a makeshift stove and records in her diary how a frenzy of expectation and industriousness grips the city. The Americans send Hans Habe, an Austro-Hungarian Jewish journalist and US army soldier, to the frontline of psychological warfare - tasked with establishing a newspaper empire capable of remoulding the minds of the Germans. The philosopher Hannah Arendt returns to the country she fled to find a population gripped by a manic loquaciousness, but faces a deafening wall of silence at the mention of the Holocaust.

Featuring stunning black and white photographs and posters from post-war Germany - some beautiful, some revelatory, some shocking - Aftermath evokes an immersive portrait of a society corrupted, demoralised and freed - all at the same time. 

Aftermath is a fascinating historical account of post-war Germany; told through politics, art, journalism, sociology, and from eye-witness accounts of how nazification continued to trouble Germany for many years following the war. It's a torrid and at times graphic account, lengthy, of Germany's fraught political history, and one we quite enjoyed. If you don't like history, I would avoid it, as it's not a true crime book. 

@rybazoxo www.vivalabooks.com 

Don't Kill Him: The Story of My Life with Bhagwan Rajneesh by Sheela Birnstiel, Ma Anand Sheela

 

Ma Anand Sheela has had a very colourful life, to say the least. A name I did not know of until watching the documentary ‘Wild Wild Country’ on Netflix. The documentary series about the controversial Indian guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh (Osho), and his one-time personal assistant Ma Anand Sheela, is spellbinding, and as an avid true crime/cult fan, their community of followers ‘sannyasins’ in the Rajneeshpuram community located in Wasco County, Oregon is a must-see! The true story ends with both Sheela and Bhagwan being jailed, but not before the community overtake Oregon, battle local politicians, an alleged mass food poisoning, and rumours of a ‘sex cult’ drug-taking, in this multi-million dollar commune.

 

This story written by Sheela Birnsteil, (Ma Anand Sheela being her spiritual name given by Bhagwan) is as fascinating as the documentary itself, but unfortunately leaves out a lot of the salacious details, focusing more on the personal relationship between Bhagwan and Sheela, and the commute itself. With a litany of inside information, the book begins on the day Sheela resigns as Bhagwan’s secretary and the operating head of the commune in Oregon. The first few chapters deal with the period immediately following her departure from Rajneeshpuram and the beginning of the legal nightmare manufactured by false accusations and trumped-up charges levelled against her by Bhagwan and His followers. 

In part two, the thread picks up from the beginning of 1972 when Sheela joined Bhagwan’s movement, until her departure in 1985. The narrative is relatively easy to read and, undoubtedly, Sheela was devoted to this spiritual leader, even after his assumed character assassination and Sheela quotes several pages from Bhagwan's books throughout. Sheela talks about her numerous sexual relationships within the commune, her guru’s materialistic megalomaniac tendencies, but also about herself - a lot! It's as though she was the guru, but never got to take charge which is why she left?

Learning more about these two characters gives you a great insight into how mindless indoctrination, in religion, or perceived cults, can be life-changing, but not necessarily in a good way. The documentary is a lot better than this book, but I would recommend it to fans of cult True Crime stories such as David Koresh and the Waco tragedy or Jim Jones’ mass suicide cult at Jonestown. 

Buy the book HERE

@rybazoxo writing for vivalabooks.com 

Remember Me?: Discovering My Mother as She Lost Her Memory by Shobna Gulati

A memoir about dementia. A memoir that’s about a fractured family. A memoir about immigration. A memoir about memories fought for, won, reimagined, remembered, and sometimes forgotten. A memoir about ‘being honest with yourself, in the face of adversity, your culture, your upbringing, your siblings, and even your own parents. 

Shobna Gulati’s memoir about her Mother’s dementia is a multilayered memoir, at times a dual narrative. One story is of a talented artistic daughter stuck in a patriarchal culture that's of equal disparity to 1970s working-class Britain. The other story is of Shobna’s Mum, Asha, a woman born as a second-generation immigrant, one of the empire's children, who raises a family of four children, after her husband dies tragically young, and slowly succumbs to Dementia. 

Shobna’s prose is as honest as it is beautiful, describing her Fathers sudden death; ‘I can only describe life at this stage as watching the colour seep from the walls. As though we had all been living in Technicolour and suddenly it faded and bleached out to monochrome’ Upon finding out about her mothers illness ‘A rain cloud that had been dodging us and that we hoped would be blown away seemed now to be getting closer and darker each day. The contents of it would change the course of our lives' 

A memoir of a compassionate carer who just happens to be an actress, star of the stage, Doctor Who, Dinnerladies and of course Coronation Street ‘Remember Me’ is on its own in terms of what we can usually expect from the usual fare of fodder packed celebratory memoirs. You usually get the story of rags to riches interspersed with ambition, striving against the odds, and ultimately success. This book has a bit of that, but only a bit, and is, in essence, a lament, a eulogy, to Shobna Gulati’s Mum, Asha, and a real-life account of how dementia not only takes from the victim, it can rob a family of so much as well. It’s what makes this memoir so brilliantly different from any memoir I've ever read. For me, a memoir is an open and honest account, a book that opens up, literally, into another person's life or world, and this memoir delivers in droves. Highly recommended.  

@rybazoxo