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BLOOD RELATIVE

Name: BLOOD RELATIVE
Author: Crocker Stephenson
ISBN: 0-929387-91-0

PORTRAIT OF A MASS MURDER

by Crocker Stephenson ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 15, 1993

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Using what he calls ``novelistic strategies,'' Milwaukee Sentinel reporter Stephenson vividly recounts events surrounding the July 4, 1987, murder of five members of the bizarre Kunz family of northern Wisconsin. Stephenson opens with the 1905 murder of one Mary Kunz by her ``imbalanced'' son, J. Wenzel. It was Wenzel's nephews and nieces- -Clarence, Irene, Marie, and Helen, all in their 70s and 80s—as well as Helen's 30-year-old son, Randy, who were murdered at the family home in 1987. The bodies—except for Helen's, which was found nearly a year later—were discovered by Helen's oldest son, Kenny, whose father, it was believed, was his own murdered Uncle Clarence, Helen's brother. Kenny told investigators of observing his mother and uncle having sex, and the murdered Randy was known to share his mother's bed as well. Apparently, it was Randy's watching of pornographic videos that prompted Helen to complain to a local merchant that she ``could kill them all.'' At first, Helen was considered a prime suspect, but when Kenny mentioned some teenagers he'd sold old cars to, the information led to the arrest of Chris Jacobs III, an auto thief and ``kind of a troublemaker'' who, the cops believed, murdered the five Kunzes during a robbery gone wrong. Jacobs owned several .22-caliber weapons of the sort used in the murders; at his home, police found shells that matched those that killed the Kunzes; his car's tires matched tracks found near the scene; and Helen's body surfaced near his family's farm. But since the murder weapon was never found and so much of the evidence was circumstantial, a jury found Jacobs not guilty, and the killings remain unsolved. Stephenson intelligently pieces together autopsy and police reports, newspaper accounts, and court testimony to tell his grisly and creepy, but irresistible, story. (Thirty b&w photographs—not seen)

Pub Date: June 15, 1993

ISBN: 0-929387-91-0

Page Count: 220

Publisher: N/A

Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 1993

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

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NUTCRACKER

by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996

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This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)

Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996

ISBN: 0-15-100227-4

Page Count: 136

Publisher: Harcourt

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER AND THE MOUSE KING
by E.T.A. Hoffmann ; adapted by Natalie Andrewson ; illustrated by Natalie Andrewson

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER
by E.T.A. Hoffmann & illustrated by Julie Paschkis

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TO THE ONE I LOVE THE BEST

EPISODES FROM THE LIFE OF LADY MENDL (ELSIE DE WOLFE)

by Ludwig Bemelmans ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 23, 1955

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An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.