My Washington Times Review Of 'American Predator: The Hunt For The Most Meticulous Serial Killer Of The 21st Century'

The Washington Times published my review of American Predator: The Hunt for the Most Meticulous Serial Killer of the 21^st Century.

Serial killers like Ted Bundy and Jeffrey Dahmer are mostly well known to the general public, but one serial killer, Israel Keyes, an organized and well-traveled predator, is likely not as well known.

Maureen Callahan’s book, “American Predator: The Hunt for the Most Meticulous Serial Killer of the 21st Century,” may change that.

“The rarest form of murder is serial. Despite what we see on “CSI” or “Mindhunters” or the films and procedurals that dominate popular culture, people who kill randomly and for no reason are extremely uncommon. Its why they loom so large in our collective mindscape,” Ms. Callahan writes in the preface of her book. “It’s also why many of us think we know of every such American killer. But the subject of this book was unlike anything the FBI had ever encountered. He was a new kind of monster, likely responsible for the greatest string of unsolved disappearances and murders in modern American history.

“And you have probably never heard of him.”

A big, strong man, Israel Keyes killed at random as he traveled across the country, even to Alaska. He buried his “kill kits,” which included cash, guns, and body-disposal tools, at various locations in the states that he passed through and/or lived. He had no particular M.O., and he covered his tracks well. He killed at least 11 people, but no one knows the exact number of his victims.

You can read the rest of the review via the below link:

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2019/jul/21/book-review-american-predator-hunt-most-meticulous/

Ernest Hemingway On Life And Being A Writer

On the anniversary of the late, great writer Ernest Hemingway’s birthday, below are some of his most famous thoughts on life and being a writer:

In The Old Man and the Sea, Hemingway has his character Santiago say, “A man can be destroyed but not defeated.” 

The world breaks everyone, and afterwards, many are strong at the broken places.

The most painful thing is losing yourself in the process of loving someone too much, and forgetting that you are special too.

There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self.

All good books are alike in that they are truer than if they had really happened and after you are finished reading one you will feel that all that happened to you and afterwards it all belongs to you: the good and the bad, the ecstasy, the remorse and sorrow, the people and the places and how the weather was. If you can get so that you can give that to people, then you are a writer.

Every day is a new day. It is better to be lucky. But I would rather be exact. Then when luck comes you are ready.

Every man's life ends the same way. It is only the details of how he lived and how he died that distinguish one man from another.

There is no friend as loyal as a book.

You can't get away from yourself by moving from one place to another.

Forget your personal tragedy. We are all bitched from the start and you especially have to be hurt like hell before you can write seriously. But when you get the damned hurt, use it-don't cheat with it.

Ernest Hemingway defined the word "courage" as "grace under pressure". When describing someone he considered to be a hero, Hemingway wrote that his hero is: "... a man who lives correctly, following the ideals of honor, courage and endurance in a world that is sometimes chaotic, often stressful, and always painful."

You can read my previous post on Hemingway via the below link:

www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2019/07/on-this-day-in-history-american-writer.html 

On This Day In History American Writer Ernest Hemingway Was Born

On this day in 1899 the late, great writer Ernest Hemingway was born.

As I noted in my Washington Times review of The Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway, I've been a Hemingway aficionado since I was a teenager in the 1960s.

… This collection, edited by Hemingway’s grandson, Sean Hemingway, with a foreword by Hemingway’s son Patrick, is the fourth in a series of annotated editions of his work. The book offers some of his best known stories, such as “The Killers,” “Fifty Grand,” and “The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber” (three of my favorites), as well as a few unpublished stories and his early drafts and notes.

“Ernest Hemingway is widely recognized as one of the greatest writers of the 20th century. His writing, with its powerful, understated prose and economy of words, has influenced countless writers,” Sean Hemingway writes in his introduction to the collection. “More than any other writer of his time, Hemingway changed the course of literature and furthered the written expression of the human condition. His novels, such as ‘The Sun Also Rises,’ ‘A Farewell to Arms’ and ‘For Whom the Bell Tolls,’ have entered into the canon of world literature, but it is arguably his contributions to the art of the short story that are his greatest literary achievement.”

You can read my Washington Times review of Hemingway’s short stories via the below link:

www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2017/09/my-washington-times-review-of-short.html 

You can also read my Washington Times review of Hemingway at War via the below link:

www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2017/01/my-washington-times-review-of-hemingway.html

And you can read my Crime Beat column, Hemingway On Crime, via the below link:

www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2009/08/on-crime-thrillers-hemingway-on-crime.html 

A Little Humor: Fun In Hell

A big, tough outlaw biker died and found himself in Hell. 

As he is wallowing in despair, he has his first meeting with the Devil.

Devil: “Why so glum?”

Biker : “What do you think? I’m in Hell!”

Devil: “Hell’s not so bad. We actually have a lot of fun down here. You a drinking man?”

Biker : “Sure, I love to drink.”

Devil: “Well, you’re gonna love Mondays then. On Mondays, that’s all we do is drink. Bombay Sapphire, tequila, Guinness, red wine, single malt scotch. We drink ’til we throw up and then we drink some more! And you don’t have to worry about getting a hangover, because you’re dead anyway.”

Biker : “Gee that sounds great!”

Devil: “You a smoker?”

Biker : “You better believe it.”

Devil: “All right! You’re gonna love Tuesdays. We get the finest cigars from all over the world, and we smoke our lungs out. If you get cancer, no biggie, you’re already dead, remember?”

Biker : “Wow…that’s awesome!”

Devil: “I bet you like to gamble.”

Biker : “Yeah, I do.”

Devil: “Good,’ cause Wednesdays you can gamble all you want. Craps, blackjack, roulette, poker, slots, whatever. If you go bankrupt, it doesn’t matter, you’re dead anyhow.”

Biker : “Cool!”

Devil: “What about Drugs?”

Biker : “Are you kidding? I love drugs!"

Devil: “Thursday is drug day. Help yourself to a great big bowl of crack or smack. Smoke a doobie the size of a submarine. You can do all the drugs you want. You’re dead so who cares.”

Biker : “Wow! I never realized Hell was such a cool place!”

Devil: “Are you gay? Do you like men?"

Biker : “Hell, no……”

Satan: “Ooooh, then Fridays are gonna be tough……”

Note: The above photo is of Jon Lovitz as the Devil appearing on People’s Court on an episode of Saturday Night Live.

'N.Y.P.D': A Look Back At A 1960s Gritty, Realistic Cop TV Series

I recently came across a video on youtube.com of N.Y.P.D., a gritty, realistic TV cop show that aired from 1967 to 1969.

I recall that I enjoyed the show when I was a teenager, and after watching three episodes, the show appears to have held up.

Jack Warden, Robert Hooks and Frank Converse (all seen in the below photo) were the stars of the show, and many young actors, such as Al Pacino, guest starred on the program and later went on to become major film stars.

The three detectives worked murders and other crimes and the show filmed at actual New York locations. Many of the shows were based on actual crime cases.

You can watch three of the show's episodes via the below links:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XM46yaMZuCw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sD6QwzH9h24

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7O6tJNEKRf8

'One Small Step For Man, One Giant Leap For Mankind': On This Day In History Neil Armstrong Walked On The Moon

As History.com notes, on this day in 1969 American astronaut Neil Armstrong walked on the Moon.

At 10:56 p.m. EDT, American astronaut Neil Armstrong, 240,000 miles from Earth, speaks these words to more than a billion people listening at home: “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” Stepping off the lunar landing module Eagle, Armstrong became the first human to walk on the surface of the moon.

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/armstrong-walks-on-moon?cmpid=email-hist-tdih-2019-0720-07202019&om_rid=de5e4076c942a595dbda53f758321d197499484f6d117f61b6ac5c08e0d6f0aa&
om_mid=690565932&kx_EmailCampaignID=32877&kx_EmailCampaignName=email-hist-tdih-2019-0720-07202019&kx_EmailRecipientID=de5e4076c942a595dbda53f758321d197499484f6d117f61b
6ac5c08e0d6f0aa

Project Sindacato: Following Dirty Money Leads Police To Alleged Mafia Clan North Of Toronto Living Life Of Luxury

Andrian Humphreys offers a piece on the takedown of an Figliomento organed crime family in Toronto at the Canadian newspaper the National Post.

VAUGHAN, ONT. — Mobsters started fretting at precisely 9 p.m. on Friday  when police crashed into several gambling dens north of Toronto, seizing equipment, paperwork, money. Word then spread among better-connected gangsters that homes of Mafia members were also being raided, their friends led away in handcuffs.

And, then, the big news: one of those arrested was the alleged boss of a powerful Mafia organization with international ties.

If mobsters thought this was just another periodic gambling crackdown, which they apparently did, the news kept getting worse.

Over the weekend and into this week, raids and search warrants kept coming: real estate offices, accountants firms, a bookkeeper, a loan company, a former banker, construction companies and other businesses were all raided by police.

Even on Thursday, 400 to 500 bank accounts were frozen.

It didn’t feel like business as usual, an underworld source said. It got worse “day after f—in day.”

York Regional Police revealed the mystery behind the commotion Thursday — it was the endgame of a remarkable investigation attacking a powerful Mafia clan allegedly operating for decades, more or less with impunity, in the Toronto area and beyond.

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

https://nationalpost.com/news/following-dirty-money-leads-police-to-alleged-mafia-clan-north-of-toronto-living-life-of-luxury