Beautifully Woven

This story tells the tale of the Armenian genocide through the frayed edges of a family. The horrors, and ultimately, triumphs of the ones lucky enough, brave enough, and strong enough to survive lead to a legacy initially hidden from view. When the elderly owner of a fading textile business dies, his will is a mystery to those who consider themselves his closest relatives. Eventually, the family secrets are bared, and the threads twist back together. Darkly riveting.

Quaint Whodunit in the Windy City

This mystery was originally published in 1934, and other than a few cringe-worthy moments, it has stood the test of time pretty well. A man is found murdered in a hotel room, and all is not as it seems. This one had me guessing up until almost the end, although I was only about 60% committed to the solution, or story. A quick read.

A Sad Remembrance

For some reason, we seem to be drawn to the horror of crime, reading, watching or listening when stories are told of attacks, fraud or killings. John Wayne Gacy has received his share of press, and although this book tells the story of his heinous crimes, it uses a different vehicle in that it starts with the young men who were his victims. And there were a lot of them. Their stories are sensitively told, along with that of their families. It's a different perspective than one usually finds in this genre, and I appreciated it. However, there were so many victims that it was, frankly, hard to keep them all straight. Lots and lots of characters, many of whom were intertwined, made me finally just float over the narrative and not really worry about whether I knew exactly who they were or not. It didn't really matter. It's all just so sad.