The book that led to Murdaugh's new trial

The power of a book!

Behind the Doors of Justice: The Murdaugh Murders by Rebecca “Becky” Hill upset some jurors after it was published only four months after the Alex Murdaugh trial ended March 2, 2023.

Because of Hill's jury tampering, Murdaugh gets a new trial next April, charged again with the 2021 murders of his wife and son. 

Becky Hill was the elected Colleton County (S.C.) Clerk of Court paid $100,000 to manage the courthouse. (The judge oversees the courtroom and the clerk of the court, the courthouse (p. 3).)

After the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division investigated allegations that Hill abused her government position to promote her book, she resigned her position in March, 2024.

In May, 2025 she was arrested and charged with obstruction of justice in the leaking of confidential court information, as well as perjury and misconduct, to which she pleaded guilty and was sentenced last December to three years' probation and 100 hours of community service. 

Approximately 15,000 copies of her book in various formats had been released when the co-author, Neil Gordon (not charged) discovered that Hill had plagiarized a portion of a BBC reporter’s content for the Hill preface. 

I got the book through interlibrary loan.

More than 50 media outlets came to Walterboro for the trial,  some who sat in the overflow media room. No phones, laptops, or IPads were allowed in the courtroom. 

The tone of Hill’s book is one of joy, of self-congratulations that Murdaugh was found guilty, that she had managed the courtroom in an admirable manner, and briefly found fame and association with celebrities who covered the trial (reminding me of a new star or athlete immediately thrust into the limelight and enjoying the attention and brief prominence which events produced.  Becky:  You are human!).

But, the desired verdict she wanted at trial’s end is evident  throughout the book, and that she was unable to suppress it when dealing with the jury is documented by the facts. 

She gives the background of providing daily meals for the jury, staff and families, some 60 plus persons, and the four months of preparation for the trial, parking arrangements, press logistics, a lot of nitty-gritty work.

The book is fast and short: 171 pages plus 32 pages of black and white personal photos, of courtroom figures and members of the press.

Like many in the region, Hill's family had a long association with the Murdaughs, knowing them for decades, considering them extremely gracious and kind.   

All the Murdaughs were "so darn charming and likeable" (p. 17), Hill writes and compares them to the charisma of Bill Clinton and the Kennedys, with transgressions included (p. 69).

Watching the Murdaughs, Hill learned how to influence people and she admired their energy (p. 25). 

According to her family's lore, her grandfather and Alex's grandfather shared a common business:  moon shining (p. 17).

The portrait of Alexander‘s grandfather, area solicitor for 46 years, hung for decades in the courtroom but was removed for the trial and hung back up at the end. 

For more than a century, the Murdaughs had built "a legacy of controlling the justice system" with "alleged misuse of power" amidst "a lot of love and loyalty for them" (pp. 3-4).

She describes her great respect for Judge Clifton Newman.  

At the trial, Alex always greeted Hill.

She begins each chapter with a quote from an historic figure, author, notable personality or a Bible verse.

On the second day after the murders, she became suspicious of Alex when the police announced there was no danger to the public (p. 169).

Jury selection passed quickly; members immediately bonded and prayed together, and Hill, her team and others prayed, too (pp. 110 and 113).  

During the trial, no one sat in the courtroom on the victim's side (p. 41).

The defense attorneys continually violated court rules and Murdaugh's family was reminded not to exchange looks or greetings which would violate courtroom practice, their actions causing their move to the back row in the courtroom.

During Alex's testimony, Hill found his constant stalling  "irritating," figuring he was trying to buy time to figure out how to answer questions (p. 36).

She believed "he was lying and changed his story on the fly, making it up as he went along" (p. 37).

At the request of the defense attorneys, the jury and courtroom personnel visited the murder site on March 3, 2023, a scene she describes as haunting as if Maggie, Murdaugh’s wife, and Paul, his son, spoke from the grave.

That visit convinced the jury that "Alex's story was impossible....I knew and they knew that Alex was guilty" (p. 121).  Returning to the courtroom that day ...the "'regular people,'" in a separate vehicle from the jury, "unanimously came to our own verdict in just three minutes. Guilty" (p. 122).  

Although, she writes, it is hard for most to "fathom killing or hurting a family member,..during our time at Moselle, Alex's fate was sealed" (p. 123).

As she read the verdict aloud, she worried that he would be found innocent "when I knew in my heart he was guilty"
 (p. 2).

After the trial, she learned that many jurors believed Alex was faking his tears, "another example of his insincerity and his lies. His testimony did little, if anything, to convince the jurors of his innocence" (pp. 111-12).

After the trial ended and continuing through the end of the book, she and her team from the Clerk of Court's office gave 30 minute tours – about 10 to 15 daily – to the estimated 700 curiosity seekers who showed up to see the courtroom, the jury room, Alex's holding cell, and sit in the jury box.  

"All" the visitors thought Alex was guilty (p. 160). 

She praises her staff for their hard work: the "wonderful" team who helped "make me look a queen" (p. 114).

She believed "Alex is a classic narcissist" who built his alibis and cleaned up the evidence, thinking he would not get caught.  

A signed hardcover copy of Hill and Gordon's book sells for $2,500 or a used or paperback copy, about $200.  The book was published on July 20, 2023. 

On May 13, 2026, the South Carolina Supreme Court in a 5–0 decision, issued a ruling that Hill’s improper influences on the jury was reason for a new trial.

Last week the judge dismissed Murdaugh's suit against Hill for $600,000 for his legal fees, ruling Hill had nothing to do with Murdaugh's charges and legal fees. His attorneys are appealing while trying to secure a different venue for his new trial.

patricialesli@gmail.com

Jill Dougherty's 'My Russia' is a must for Russophiles

 

For all the Russophiles (like me) who enjoy reading about the country’s history and culture, Jill Dougherty's My Russia:  What I Saw Inside the Kremlin is one for your reading list: A curiosity seeker’s background into contemporary Russian history and culture.

 

It may be too lengthy (330 pages; I skipped most of the chapter on vodka) and the font size, too small, but the content is a must.

That the few pictures are not chronologically arranged is a wonder and confusing. 

The book has lots of background on Vladimir Putin, now in his second term as Russia's president and maybe president for life.  (In 2013 in St. Petersburg, a Russian guide laughingly told my tour group of mostly British citizens: "I am sure Putin will be leader for life.") 

Ms. Dougherty and her twin sister, Pamela, studied Russian in high school, and the book goes on to detail Jill's ascent at CNN becoming its Moscow bureau chief for almost a decade.

She mentions Mr. Putin's autobiography, written many years ago with some falsehoods contained therein. She provides her psychoanalysis of him and why he is as he is, perhaps having a Napoleonic complex (he is 5'7") or an inferiority complex. 

His quirks (we all have) and more are outlined. 

To make him more of an "average guy," a p.r. campaign was instituted.

She mentions three times, I think, the mysterious kiss Putin planted on her for... why?  It was anyone's guess, but he is another Mr. Macho, after all.  

Ms. Dougherty recounts the decline of Boris Yeltsin (1931-2007) who served as Russia's first popularly elected president (1991-1999) before Yeltsin named his favorite deputy, Mr. Putin, to succeed him when Yeltsin retired six months early. 

Remember the Kursk?  Putin didn't want to.  August 12, 2000 brought the explosion of Russia's nuclear sub, the Kursk, and the deaths of 118 sailors in the Barents Sea, a tragedy which Putin initially ignored, vacationing on the Black Sea but finally appearing several days later to recognize the deaths and the accident... wearing a golf shirt. 

Ms. Dougherty describes the evolution of U.S./Russian relations since 9/11, and their graduation deterioration with the growth of NATO, Russia always blaming the West, particularly the U.S., for its problems.

About the time of Ted Turner's death (May 6, 2026) was about the time I got to the chapter on his visit to Russia in 2000, there to meet with Putin and discuss business and Turner's possible purchase of a stake in the NTV, the Russian-owned free television channel, now owned by Gazprom, a purchase Putin shot down.

She ended her stay in Russia on March 6, 2022, sadly, she writes, probably the last time she'll be there. (I feel the same, Jill!  How can we visit Russia again?) 

Amanda Wilson's jacket design is exceptional, better than most covers, drawing attraction from bookstore browsers, no doubt. It contrasts the author's photo and her white hair with a dark cover and colorful Russian domes, dominated by the title in white. 

patricialesli@gmail.com

Highly recommended, the book and audio: 'Tanqueray'

 

This is a great audio to listen to (read by the author) and the book has fascinating photos to see, both editions, available at libraries. 

 

 

In 2019 a blogger, Brandon Stanton whose series, Humans of New York was followed by millions, was attracted to an unusually dressed woman in fancy gear

along the streets of Chelsea in New York City. 

Mr. Stanton stopped for a chat which led to a friendship which led to a column in his series, which led to the book Tanqueray, the expose of Stephanie Johnson’s life and one of her last life's chapters before a stroke felled her last October at age 81. 

Her obituary led me to the audio and book.

 

Ms. Johnson was a famous burlesque dancer in the Big Apple in the 1960s and 70s, and she lays it all out straight, everything, rather like a rip-roaring escapade of edgy New York life, kinda gangster style, a strip club and more (a life most of us only hear or read about and maybe, wish we’d experienced a trifle of it?).

 

She was a self-made woman whose mother threw her out when Ms. Johnson was 17 and pregnant.  On her own, she made her way from Albany, N.Y.  to New York where she built her reputation.

 

Her name “Tanqueray” came from a bottle of gin sitting near a conversation. 

Mr. Stanton helped her write her bio in which she speaks in highly entertaining fashion (of which she was an excellent seamstress, attending classes at the Fashion Institute of Technology, making sparkly costumes for herself and many others).  

She had lots of boyfriends, was married twice and prided herself on not sleeping around or drinking.  She had two sons and gave up her daughter for adoption. The book Mr. Stanton wrote of their many conversations drew millions of readers and helped restore her relationship with an estranged son.

She was lonely, very, very lonely.

 

When serious illness struck, Mr. Stanton spearheaded a GoFundMe campaign for Ms. Johnson which produced about $2.6 million for her medical needs and solved her money worries. Leftover money went to the Association to Benefit Children.  

 

Ms. Johnson and Mr. Stanton speak in the postscript, not to miss!

 

It’s a short 192 pages, hard to put down; a (very) fast read and wow!  I want to see this movie.

patricialesli@gmail.com

Sad lives, sad book, the Dionne Quints

Ontario Premier Mitchell Hepburn with the Dionne Quintuplets when they were about six months old/unknown photographer, Wikipedia

I ran across The Dionne Years: A Thirties Melodrama  (1977) in an obituary of the last of the Dionne quintuplets, Annette, who died Dec. 24, 2025 at age 91.

Pierre Berton (1920-2004), the author of The Dionne Years, interviewed some 50 persons for this book, many with direct knowledge or relationships with the Dionne quints.  He furnishes notes but no bibliography. He wrote about 50 other books, plus many more for juveniles.

It’s a fast read. 

On May 28, 1934 in a small village in Ontario, midwives delivered the first of the quints followed by Dr. Allan Roy Dafoe who delivered the last ones. 

After their births, a reporter called the doctor about every 20 minutes inquiring about the babies' health, but since no other quintuplets had lived longer than a few days, the doctor had little hope for their survival.

The house had no electricity, and the babies were kept warm near the oven. They were fed with an eye dropper every two hours and attended by three nurses, one who was always on duty.

Their total weight was 13 pounds, six ounces with the largest weighing 2.5 pounds and the smallest, Marie, 1.5 pounds. 

None were longer than nine inches.

When Dr. Dafoe permitted a member of the press to see the infants wrapped in blankets, their father, Mr. Dionne, when he arrived home, threw the person out. Mr. Dionne had a reputation for using a pitchfork when it came to curiosity seekers. 

Another time, after a reporter took the babies outside for some sunshine, a nurse exploded in a verbal tirade when she discovered them.

That the babies were born midway through the Great Depression (1929-1939) provided an pleasant escape for everyone (or, perhaps for those curiosity seekers, rather like our astronauts today).

Mothers donated breast milk. Various vendors supplied their baby and medical needs. 

With five older children, the Dionnes were hard up for money, and their father and Dr. Dafoe agreed with promoters to permit the babies to go on display at a Chicago event which their mother later rejected.

The Canadian government used this incident as proof that the quints needed protection for their well-being and passed a law seizing them from their family.

When the parents were criticized for trying to make money off their children, it was Dr. Dafoe and the Canadian government who profited. 

The public treated Dr. Dafoe like royalty.  In 1943 alone, the good doctor Dafoe pocketed $182,466 (equivalent to $3,328,991 in 2025).

 For several years, the quints were the number one tourist attraction in Canada, surpassing Niagara Falls and equal to attendance at Mt. Vernon and Gettysburg in the U.S.

Retailers paid thousands of dollars to have their products pictured with the quints.

To enable the many people who came to see them, a play area was constructed on the Dionnes' property ("Quintland,") where visitors could watch the children play through a one-way screen , but the children could hear the visitors and the screens were not totally opaque.

Curiosity seekers were admitted 100 at a time to watch or about 3,000 a day.

For several years the girls lived in a nursery built for them with round-the-clock care like at a hospital, under the strict supervision and care of Dr. Dafoe and specialized nurses, the doctor who grew to love the children, as did the nursing staff.

Dr. Dafoe kept them under a strict regimen and to meet public expectations, had them dressed alike until they were five years old.

On pages 125-126, the book says a March 1936 article in Cosmopolitan by the renowned Dr. Alfred Adler (one of the triumvirate with Freud and Jung) likened their hospital residency to "inmates of a model orphanage and a certain emotional starvation,” and in later life, the sisters recounted their growing-up years in much the same way, urging parents not to treat their children as showpieces as they had been raised.

Acting as their father, Dr. Dafoe prohibited much contact between the children and their parents who were treated in the press and elsewhere as if they were dumb, blind, and ignorant.

The parents did not attend the quints' first birthday extravaganza when press services, all three US radio networks and more were invited. Said their father: “We don’t consider it an honor to be invited by pure strangers to visit our own children.” (p.108)

Some of the celebrities who came to see them included Bette Davis, W. K. Kellogg, and Amelia Earhart and her husband five weeks before Ms. Earhart disappeared in the Pacific Ocean. (Most source say six weeks before she disappeared.)

The Quints grew up, some got married, joined a convent, starred in three films, divorced, and in later years, realized little to nothing from their famous births.

 

patricialesli@gmail.com   

Book review: 'Stan and Gus,' highly recommended

Some things never change like testosterone levels or old men chasing young girls, like Stanford White (1853-1906) did which led to his murder, like Jeffrey Epstein did which led to his ...

White's murder comes at the end of Stan and Gus: Art, Ardor, and the Friendship That Built The Gilded Age, a thoroughly engrossing tale by Henry Wiencek about White and Augustus Saint-Gaudens (1848-1907) two notable designers, sculptors, architects who helped set the tone for the Gilded Age, the Belle Époque.

This page turner unfolds the two associates' "secret lives," and same-sex relationships, which is not the main story here but the book is about friendship, associations, and big projects and what it took to finish them.

To protect his friend from exasperated and frustrated clients impatient for their delayed sculptures, White acted as Saint-Gaudens's agent, making excuses and constantly asking for patience from weary patrons, many waiting years for completions.

Throughout life, Saint-Gaudens accepted more work and commissions than he could perform, many at the same time, like the 40 he worked on while also designing the Robert Gould Shaw Memorial at Boston Common which took him almost 14 years (1884–1897) to finish.

Before the father of Augusta Homer ("Gussie") would agree to marriage between his daughter and Saint-Gaudens, Mr. Homer had to be convinced that the sculptor had a large future commission laying in the wings (which he proved), yet in his two-volume memoir, edited by their son, Homer Saint-Gaudens, Saint-Gaudens devoted only five lines to Gussie. 

They were married for almost 60 years, until his death, although "Gus" spent much of that time with his mistress, using her face for many sculptures, including the famed Diana.

During Boston's single digit winter temperatures of 1876-77, Saint-Gaudens and White collaborated with others on Trinity Church. 

Gus was often moody and depressed, constantly worried about debt.  

Wiencek writes it is difficult to know why Gus accepted the Clovis Adams sculpture, Clovis Adams, the suicide victim and wife of Henry Adams, but Henry Adams acted on the advice of a friend and walked in to Gus's shop to obtain a commitment, which, to Adams' long anger, was years in the coming.

Gus believed (p. 187) that “sculpture lasts forever" and "he wanted perfection,” often turning away from projects for long periods, trying to find the something they lacked. 

White's son Lawrence, also an architect, believed architecture "hemmed in his father’s natural talents” since his father really wanted to be a painter (pp. 80-81). 

After seeing Renaissance painting in Europe, White remarked (p. 81) that “architecture seems but poor stuff compared with things like these.” 

Like cheaters today, White paid hush money (p. 124) to keep his exploits out of the press. 

Most of the major works discussed in the book are pictured which sent me scurrying to Wikipedia to find the missing pieces. Without index and notes, the book runs 262 "little” pages and is a "fast read."  

I am lucky to live near the Shaw and Adams's memorials to see them again and again in person, whether at Rock Creek Cemetery or the National Gallery of Art and the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the latter two which hold casts models of  Shaw and Adams. 

Stan and Gus is a New Yorker "Best Book of the Year" which lives up to the inclusion. Because of its complexity and dark colors, the cover will not win any prizes, but the book will make a great movie! 

patricialesli@gmail.com

  

Book review: Who was Perle Mesta?

The author of The Woman Who Knew Everyone:  The Power of Perle Mesta, Washington's Most Famous Hostess, Meryl Gordon, has compiled an exhaustive account of Perle Mesta's life, written well and a "fast read."

It's unlikely that the book will attract many who don't recall Ms. Mesta's name, a woman who enjoyed her heyday in the 1940s and 1950s, and the cover and title certainly don't help.

The title does little to attract readers. For those who remember her, Ms. Mesta's name should be front and center.

The cover makes no sense since it appears Ms. Mesta was a friend of Jacqueline Kennedy of whom she was not, having greatly offended the Kennedys when Jack was a presidential candidate in 1960 and Ms. Mesta went overboard in her support of LBJ.

So much for White House invitations which ceased after JFK took office in January, 1961, darkening Ms. Mesta's lights in Washington where she had been non-stop socialite and party hostess, a Washington institution about and around town during most of her adult life.

Wikipedia says Perle Mesta (1882-1975) inherited what would be today approximately $1.4 billion from her husband, George, a steel industrialist who preceded her in death by 50 years. 

Ms. Mesta used the money to fundraise for the Democratic party and entertain politicians, spouses, Washingtonians, and celebrities.  

Often, her parties were attended by thousands.  She was an early supporter of the Equal Rights Amendment and worked hard with elected officials to gain support for it.

Until JFK's ascent to the presidency, Mesta had been a constant visitor to the White House during Presidents Truman's and Eisenhower's terms, she being close friends with both Mr. and Mrs. Truman and Mamie Eisenhower, however, Eisenhower did not re-appoint her to the Luxembourg ministry like Truman had initially, Truman never naming Ms. Mesta "ambassador" for some unsaid reason, but "minister."

In Luxembourg, the State Department staff ridiculed her, jealous, I suspect, but the Luxembourgers loved her. 

At the first of every first month after they had been paid and could afford to get to the embassy, Ms. Mesta hosted at her expense, parties for U.S. soldiers stationed in Europe.

After Luxembourg, Ms. Mesta toured the world as a "diplomat “ and wrote a newspaper series, lecturing to large audiences who loved her, chronicling her months-long 1953 visit to Russia which welcomed her and permitted her to often visit forbidden places.  

She did not shy from describing Russian life as she saw it, writing about, for instance, women performing heavy labor.

On her trip, she stopped in Ukraine and noted that Ukrainians were highly offended if someone called them "Russian." 

"Their reaction sheds some light on why the Kremlin continues to be troubled about the Ukraine, the second largest republic in the Soviet Union and the source of much of its food, coal and iron ore." (P. 214)

The public and catty comments found throughout the book and attributed to social competitor Gwen Cafritz about Ms. Mesta's physical appearance, her lack of education, and social niceties are astonishing to read. 

Yet Ms. Mesta never seemed to go negative in response (at least, in the book), always maintaining a positive outlook and wide smile. 

"The hostest with the mostes" was a title borne in a Broadway musical about her by Howard Lindsay with music by Irving Berlin, and starring Ethel Merman. It was Call Me Madam.

Ms. Gordon includes all things good and bad about Ms. Mesta, her money, travels, mobility. Ms. Mesta's schedule and energy, even during latter years, left me envious.

Overall, a good read for Washingtonians and others interested in social life in our nation's capital, including those nasty State Department snobs. (Almost 400 pages.)

Who fills her shoes now? Nobody.

patricialesli@gmail.com

Book review: Blake Gopnik exposes Albert Barnes

In The Maverick's Museum: Albert Barnes and His American Dream, art critic Blake Gopnik tells us, in his well-documented tome, all about Philadelphia's modern art collector and philanthropist (1872-1951) who established the Barnes Foundation, who grew up in an impoverished childhood, leaving him keenly aware, sensitive to and devoted to those less well-off than he became.

From the lower socio-economic classes like he had known, he hired many who worked for him for years. He appointed them to various positions on his board, providing mortgages, higher education, medical bills, scholarships.

Years ahead of race-consciousness and sensitivity to people of different color, Barnes was a keen and sincere (for the most part) practitioner of equal opportunity.

His goal was to have art enthusiasts look at art the way that he did and improve society (?).  No free thinking allowed, s'il vous plait!

It was not to be, but for some, it endured...for a while.

That Barnes carried a chip on his shoulder seems obvious, and a possible inferiority complex, too, like his one-time friend, philosopher Bertrand Russell, claimed. 

When Russell was “down and out,” Barnes hired him to teach at his foundation, but later grew disgruntled after Barnes deemed Russell’s wife too haughty. By lawyering, Barnes found a way to sue Russell for breach of contract, but Russell countersued and won more than Barnes owed him.

It was an outstanding example of the typical adverse relationship Barnes seemed to enjoy, many fights he had with notables and others he encountered, who he thought denigrated him in some way (the Philadelphia Museum of Art was one institution), insulting them with horrible words (a la Trump but with a much broader vocabulary).

Barnes made his money early in life by the invention of the drug, Argyrol, he developed with a German scientist, Hermann Hille, which was used to treat infant eye infections. 

For a while, he searched for ways to spend his accumulating wealth and voila! With the help of schoolmate and artist, William Glackens, Barnes found it in art.

His collection grew to include more Renoirs than found anywhere else in the world (181; Barnes particularly enjoyed the artist's female flesh works), 69 Cezannes (more than found in France), 59 Matisses, plus works by Manet, Degas, Seurat, Prendergast, Titian, Picasso and Van Gogh.  (Alas, Barnes turned down Van Gogh's Starry Night, now hanging at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.)

There was a Mrs. Barnes, but she occupies a small portion of the book, notably towards the end, a horticulturalist who received awards for her interest. Her general absence from the book leaves the impression that she was merely another piece of art hanging on the wall, but one of less value.

The couple had no children.

The book is slow to begin but picks up speed after a few pages and is an excellent read for art lovers, for Philly residents, for visitors to the Barnes, and others who follow eccentric personalities which I guess most of us are. 

You can't visit the Barnes Collection the same way again, and I can’t wait to get back, equipped with this background.  

Note: For the second edition, may I suggest an inversion of the title: The Museum's Maverick.

patricialesli@gmail.com

Book review: Mary was a 'Captive Queen'

Jade Scott, is a specialist on Mary, Queen of Scots (1542-1587), and the secretary of the Scottish History Society and an associate fellow of the Royal Historical Society. Dr. Scott's dissertation increased her interest in Mary, imprisoned for almost half her life (19 years) by her first cousin once removed, Queen Elizabeth I of England (1533-1603).

These cousins never met. 

Although she signed the papers for Mary's execution, Elizabeth was supposedly unaware the death sentence would be carried out and became angry with her ministers when she learned of it. The irony, of course, is that Mary's son, James (1566-1625) became King of England after Elizabeth died and had his mother's body exhumed from Peterborough Cathedral and re-interred in 1612 near Elizabeth in Westminster Abbey.

James was less than one year old the last time he saw his mother and 13 months old when he was crowned King of Scotland. Mary wrote to her son often.

According to an interview with Dr. Scott, Mary wrote and received thousands of letters. Dr. Scott's book, 

Captive Queen The Decrypted History of Mary, Queen of Scots sheds light on 57 newly encrypted letters which describe Mary's many attempts to escape but never presents proof that she intended to participate in the murder of the Queen, a plot which was Mary's downfall.

Some of the letters were exchanged with the Spanish and French ambassadors. If you are familiar with the Babington Plot, Dr. Scott's book has more for you to read.

The most interesting chapter was Mary's everyday life in prison, luxurious by commoners' standards, with meals served on silver plate and in crystal glassware, prepared by her French chef who offered her a choice of 32 different dishes, wine and beer (up to 20 gallons daily for herself and her servants).

The English are different from you and me; and so are the Scots! Did you know they had their own language? Nor did I, but the author mentioned that a few times. 

So many names! Jumping hither and yon, it’s hard to keep track of all the characters, even with the dramatis personae at the beginning and how is that arranged, please?

Alphabetically, non.

Chronologically, non.

Type of person? Conspirators, courtiers, women, to name a few differentiated "types," but even within those segments, their arrangement is ...? I never could figure it out.

The end of the book has an excellent, extensive chronology of Mary’s life.

Captive Queen is not so much a great book for the lay, but it is more appealing to academicians and her "deep scholars." Still (being of the "lay" persuasion), I can’t seem to get her out of my mind.

For more on Mary and photos of her life, go here.

Former burial place of Mary, Queen of Scots, Peterborough Cathedral/Wikipedia and Derek Voller

patricialesli@gmail.com

Still another book on Tsar Nicholas II, but this one ...

Tsuyoshi Hasegawa professor emeritus in history at the University of California at Santa Barbara has written many books on Russian history, his latest, The Last Tsar: The Abdication of Nicholas II and the Fall of the Romanovs, an academic book for scholars and Romanov addicts, always interested in Russian history (like me).

As the revolution ignited, a practically hour-by-hour, minute-by-minute detail of the last days of Tsar Nicholas II's reign before, during, and after his abdication unfolds.

The breathless accounting of the anxious hours and moments in 1917 of the tsar’s train ride from the headquarters of the Russian Imperial Army at Mogilev to St. Petersburg, hundreds of miles away and where the tsar's family awaited him, is as tense as any Stephen King fiction.

However, being surrounded by “yes” men as he was, Nicholas was not privy to lurking dangers as the imperial train inched toward Tsarskoye Selo, knowledge which also escaped some of his commanders. The train was forced to detour around the revolutionaries and disloyal troops, growing in number by the hour.

Because of blockades, the train's route added more than 200 kilometers (approximately 125 miles) and ran on five different lines rather than one.

The Imperial Train seen through trees during the years of occupation/from "The fate of Nicholas II’s Imperial Train" by Paul  Gilbert  

Well documented, of course, The Last Tsar has a through description of Russia's entry in World War I, its military campaign, how ill prepared the country was: short on ammunition, officer training, and leadership, believing the war would not last long. (I must admit I skimmed most of this section, being not of the military strategist persuasion.)

Dr. Hasegawa quotes extensively from  Nicholas's diaries which affirm the tsar's detachment and uninterest in matters of the day, acting as though immune to outside forces, if he knew what they were.

For a laywoman like me, all the names were difficult to differentiate and became rather "weedy."

An excellent genealogy of the Romanovs spreads over two pages, but nowhere is it listed at the front, in the back, in the index that I could find, but it is possible that I overlooked its listing to which I constantly made reference. It includes the many family members killed by the Bolsheviks.

Nor could I find anywhere in the book, listings for the helpful maps (p. 202 and 230)showing the train's route to St. Petersburg and the detours.

The goal was not to overthrow the monarchy but the tsar; both were achieved. The book ends before the Romanovs were transferred to Siberia in 1917.


Although I chuckled and welcomed the reference Dr. Hasegawa made comparing Trump's MAGA cult to Rasputin's, Jim Jones's, and Charles Manson's cults (p. 33), all the reviewers I found who mentioned this reference thought it cheapened and damaged the book's credibility. 

Go here and here to see the first two of the Romanovs' burial sites. They were last buried in 1998 in the Cathedral of Peter and Paul in St. Petersburg.

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Four great audiobooks by Dolly, Mel, Rod, and Billie Jean

They would be Mel Brooks, Rod Stewart, Dolly Parton, and Billie Jean King, talking about themselves in their autobiographies (or in Dolly's case, talking about her costumes) which are all spot-on good and often hilarious!

I listened to their audiobooks on my phone, compliments of the Fairfax County Public Library, and they are listed in the order I listened. 

Except for Stewart's, the authors read their own works which is sometimes a rarity that an author reads her or his own book, but the author adds more credibility, depth, and true emotion to the product and it's a highly desirable feature.

In her charming East Tennessee voice, Dolly (b. 1946) lays it all out about her costuming, her hair, her appearance with the perfect title of her book to boot:  Behind the Seams: My Life in Rhinestones (2023, 4.5 hours).

And you know it's all got to be true since Dolly says it. 

She talks about the designers, how she met them, hired them, and how she fits inside their creations. She even has her own archivist, Rebecca Seaver, who helped with the production of the book, with Holly George-Warren who, presumably, interviewed Dolly in the Q and A style presented. 

Is it true that Dolly wears makeup to bed? 

That she bucked the era's styles and hairdos at an early age won't surprise anyone who knows the least thing about her. Dolly insisted on her own wants and comfort in her clothing and skin. To heck with fashionistas and styles. Dolly Parton has always been her own woman and listening to this book can instill a lot of confidence in readers. 

She talks about her fittings which, one time, didn't go so well when she popped out of her costume on stage (those danged buttons!), but a rush job to refit her quickly was (not surprisingly) successful and away she flew back to the audience.

Natch, the book has a lot of country music history in it.

The book by Billie Jean King (b. 1943) All In: An Autobiography (2021) with Johnette Howard and Maryanne Vollers, 18 hours, is excellent, about her upbringing, her supportive parents, her growing tennis passion as she matured, and she reveals for the first time the assault she endured by a friend's father when Billie Jean accompanied the family on a trip when she was a teenager.

The book is long and mostly worth every minute of listening (with the exception of the lesbian relationships which I mostly skipped since they were unappealing to me).  

The portion about her 1973 match with Bobby Riggs could be a separate book itself! 

Her honesty, like Dolly's, like all of them here (!), shine through pure and simple.

This is a must book by anyone serious about tennis, especially women.

Rod Stewart (b. 1945) - oh, my! In Rod: The Autobiography (2016), read by Simon Vance, 11.5 hours, the subject admits he is a bad boy....quite an understatement.

With so many encounters with women I’m surprised he’s still kicking.

He's now on marriage #3 and relationship, # ???  His children (eight by five women) don't seem to mind though, since they've recently gotten together for a group photo.

He doesn't leave much hidden and talks about his youth and how important and supportive his loving parents were.  That Rod was the youngest of five children may have played a role in his success.

Now, at age 80, he's on a world tour, including a six-night stand in Las Vegas this fall. 

And then there is Mel Brooks (b. 1926; 99 last month!), making me laugh almost all the way in Mel Brooks: All About Me! My Remarkable Life in Show Business (2021), 15 hours.

He's as hilarious as you'd expect, beginning with his childhood and gradually growing into a comedian's role, including an Army stint. He describes his nurturing family background, his brothers, learning and life on Broadway and movie productions, of especial interest to me with small knowledge of how they're done. 

His magical marriage to Anne Bancroft (1931-2005) and their loving relationship are what many of us can only dream about, but a 2021 interview in (I think it was) the Guardian reveals her death is still too painful for him to discuss. 

He says almost nothing about his first marriage (to Florence Baum) although it produced three children, with whom it appears he gets along. Mel's attention to offspring is devoted to his and Anne Bancroft's son, Max (b. 1972 ) the one who, during covid, encouraged his dad to write his autobiography for "what else are you gonna do?"  

In all the hundreds of people Mel Brooks worked with in film and theater, the book or audio contains nothing negative about anyone, that I recall. 

If you have any interest in performing arts production and/or Broadway, this is a must read/listen book.

Treat yourself to some fun and diversion and listen to these;
I hope you enjoy them as much as I did.

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