History
How an Epic History of the Mafia Came out of a Chance Meeting with a Literary Legend
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My last book about the mafia, Mob Rules: What the Mafia Can Teach the Legitimate Businessman, was an international bestseller translated into 20 languages. Because of the book’s global appeal, I was invited by the German media conglomerate Axel Springer to speak at their annual retreat for editors, being held at the Hotel Villa Athena…
Delusions of Grandeur: The Scandalous Crime of a Los Angeles Millionaire
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The couple walked on the beach at Santa Monica that September afternoon in 1903, then stopped at a shop to buy postcards. Once they were back in their suite on the third floor of the oceanside Arcadia Hotel, Tina Griffith began to pack – they were heading home to Los Angeles in the morning. Her…
Historical Mysteries Set in Early America
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I’ve always been passionate about American history, especially the Revolution and founding of the United States. When I think of what immigrants endured just to travel to our shores, it gives me chills and waves of gratitude at the same time. When I was about 13, the John Jakes Bicentennial Series was published, and I…
How the Soldier-Readers of World War II Were Swept Up in the Paperback Revolution
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The Penguin contract with the army for the Forces Book Club was a coup Allen Lane plotted with long-time crony Bill Williams, now comfortably installed at the Army Bureau of Current Affairs: it brought with it a precious allocation of paper from the government reserve. The news of this exclusive contract brought predictable indignation from…
Who Was Benedict Arnold, Before He Became America’s Most Notorious Traitor
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The sudden arrival of a horseman on a Friday afternoon electrified New Haven. Israel Bissell leapt from his saddle and shouted for the village selectmen. His eyes bulged with news. Citizens came rushing to the green at the center of the prosperous Connecticut seaport. Bissell, his face strained with fatigue, rattled off his brief, shocking…
The Many Ways to Be a Scoundrel in Early America
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In the summer of 1787, as the Constitutional Convention took place in Philadelphia, General James Wilkinson journeyed to New Orleans to visit Spanish Governor Esteban Miró, ostensibly about obtaining a monopoly on trade down the Mississippi River from Kentucky. Wilkinson brought with him flour, butter, bacon, and tobacco—examples of the goods he said he hoped…
The Root of Evil: How a Grape Plague and Deceptive Dealing Changed the World of French Wine Forever
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The source of the great Burgundy deception was the shortage of wine caused by the destructive force of phylloxera. It made its first appearance in France in the vineyards of the Rhône in 1863; Burgundians held out for more than a decade hoping that somehow they would not be touched by the devastation the louse…
What Really Went On Between Coppola and Sheen in that Hotel Room During the Filming of Apocalypse Now?
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Late in July 1976, the Coppolas returned to the Philippines. Sofia was enrolled in first grade at a Chinese school where no one spoke English (“Francis said it would be a terrific experience for her,” Eleanor recalled), and, the day before production was to resume, Eleanor dreamt heavily. At breakfast the next morning, she told…
Delving Into the Real Story of Charlie Starkweather, Spree Killer, Demon of the American ’50s
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In 1958, America was at the peak of the post-WWII boom. The country had emerged from the war as the strongest economic and military power in the world. Prosperity abounded. Returning soldiers went to college on the G.I. Bill, which also offered longer-term loans to allow the purchase of larger homes in areas that would…
The Many Poisons of Crime Fiction
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For all of recorded history, poisons have been a means of death, both deliberate and accidental. Greek philosophers, kings, emperors, actresses, scientists, mathematicians, and more were felled by lethal doses of chemicals. Arsenic, cyanide and strychnine were popular instruments of death due to ease of access. Arsenic earned the nickname of “heir powder,” as it…