The Body on the Beach Review

The Body on the Beach    

Author: L.J. LaBarthe

Publisher: Dreamspinner Press

American release date: March 12, 2013

Format/Genre/Length: E-book/M/M Historical/Mystery/83 pages

Overall Personal Rating: ★★★★

In early twentieth century Australia, same-sex relationships are not acceptable, and must remain hidden. William ‘Billy’ Liang is a respectable Adelaide businessman, the head of his family, and the elected spokesman for the Chinese community in Adelaide. He lives with his wife, Hui Zhong, and his lover, Tom Williams. Luckily for Billy, Hui Zhong is accepting of Billy’s relationship with Tom. To the outside world, Tom is Billy’s lawyer and friend, but within the Liang household, he is much more.

When the body of a man washes up on Brighton Beach, a Chinese symbol carved into his torso, Billy and Tom are asked to look into the matter. This has the potential of damaging relations between the Chinese and the Australians, which could spell trouble for the whole community. Billy and Tom take on the challenge of solving the murder and keeping things on an even keel.

This is my first time reading this author, but it won’t be the last. The Body on the Beach, while a mystery, is primarily an historical story—a slice of life look at the social structure in early 1900s Australia, and how two men who love each other are forced to live in order to maintain the illusion in front of society that they are not a couple. The murder is almost secondary besides watching these men interact under the watchful eye of judgmental people.

I loved the loving relationship they have with Billy’s wife, who makes their being together possible by her acceptance of them within the framework of their marriage. More importantly, she considers them her family and loves them both.

Great research has obviously been done on the people and the times and it shows. It was like stepping back in time. I feel sorry for Billy and Tom, that they are forced to hide their love, and will always have to. But I was glad they found a way to be together, which is more than a lot of gay men got to do back then.

If you like history, try this one. The mystery is an added bonus. Mostly, this is a story about the endurance of love.

Rope Review

Rope   

Director/Studio/Author: Alfred Hitchcock/Warner Brothers/Hume Cronyn

Original release date: 1948

DVD release date: June 20, 2006

Format, Genre and length: DVD/Psychological Thriller/80 minutes

Publisher/Industry Age Rating: NR

Overall Personal Rating: ★★★★★

Two young men, Philip (Farley Granger) and Brandon (John Dall) strangle a former classmate, David, because they can. They hide his body in a trunk in their apartment, on the same night that they are giving a dinner party—one that includes the victim’s parents. If this weren’t macabre enough, they decide to move the dinner from the dining table to the trunk, so that everyone is feasting off David’s grave.

Amongst the guests are David’s current girlfriend, Janet, and her former boyfriend, Kenneth, David’s father and his sister-in-law, and Rupert Cadell (James Stewart), former housemaster of the three youths.

Rope is Hitchcock’s take on Leopold and Loeb, the 1924 murder in which two wealthy, privileged young men kill a boy in order to commit the perfect crime. He didn’t reproduce the crime but rather the flavor of the crime, including their fascination with the theories of Fredrick Nietzsche.

In the film, Rupert unwittingly expounds on that theory, of the idea that the privileged few are allowed to get murder, which Brandon eagerly takes up and agrees with. When asked who should be the special few, Brandon replies himself, and Philip and maybe Rupert.

The film is told in typical Hitchcock suspenseful fashion, the audience often becoming privy to things that the characters don’t know. Such as when the housekeeper, Mrs. Wilson, begins to clear the meal from the trunk, including the two candelabra, while the others are engaged in conversation. The camera follows Mrs. Wilson in her seemingly mundane task,  made morbid only by the knowledge of what is in the trunk. The audience is held in suspense, wondering if she will open the trunk and see what is there.

The story flows from beginning to end without a moment of lag or boredom. Of the two young murderers, Brandon is the brash one with the devil may care attitude, while Philip has more of a conscience over what they’ve done. Philip is more fearful of being caught, while you get the impression, Brandon could talk his way out of anything, and probably has on more than one occasion.

I had heard of Rope a long time ago, but didn’t know anything about it, and made no effort to

watch it until I discovered that it was indeed based on Leopold and Loeb, and then it become a must-see for me. I’ve watched it twice already, and love it. Everything takes place in their apartment, as if it were a play. Not surprising, considering that Rope started as a play first.

What I find particularly fascinating is the pink elephant in the room that everyone is aware of and no one talks about. Namely, homosexuality. The clues are there. Philip and Brandon are obviously a couple and everyone treats them that way. They have one bedroom. They vacation together, as if it were only natural. Their interactions are of the intimate variety. Philip talks of being scared of Brandon, even when they were in prep school, and then admits it’s part of Brandon’s charm.

But not once in the film will you hear the subject mentioned in any way. Hitchcock pushed the envelope without appearing to do so. He was fascinated with the protagonists not because they were homosexuals, but because they were murdering homosexuals.

There is an extra on the DVD called Rope Unleashed that is well worth watching.

I can only think of two flaws off the top of my head. One is a continuity error, the other an error in casting.

There’s a scene where a tense Philip clutches his champagne glass too tightly and shatters it cutting his hand, bleeding well enough to need to bind it with his handkerchief. Yet, only a few minutes later, when David’s aunt takes his hand in order to read his future, both hands are unblemished.

James Stewart is, in my opinion, miscast as Rupert Cadell, the former housemaster. I didn’t realize, until I watched Rope Unleashed, that the character had an affair with one of the young men (my guess is Brandon), but you never get a feel for that. I love Jimmy Stewart, but I didn’t feel the connection there. He didn’t make me feel his guilt for teaching them Nietzsche to begin with.  Also, his role didn’t warrant his receiving top billing. Farley Granger and John Dall should have had that. If this had been made now, Jimmy would have received a mention at the end of the regular cast, such as And Jimmy Stewart as Rupert Cadell.

The action is all psychological as we get into the heads of the killers, and watch the

unsuspecting guests at their little affair. Waiting to see who, if anyone, will figure out what is wrong, especially when David never shows up for dinner. Of course, we the audience know why that is.

This is a great addition to Hitchcock’s legacy, and one I intend to watch over and over.

Compulsion Review

Compulsion  

Author: Meyer Levin

Publisher: Carroll and Graf Publishers

American release date: April 1996

Format/Genre/Length: Novel/Psychological Thriller/412 pages

Publisher/Industry Age Rating: NR

Overall Personal Rating: ★★★★★

At the time, it was touted as the crime of the century. In 1924, a child named Bobby Franks was kidnapped and held for ransom. His family was a wealthy one, and willing to pay what it would take to have Bobby returned unharmed. But even before the final ransom arrangements were made, Bobby was already dead. What was even more shocking was the identity of his killers—two young men, both geniuses, both born into privilege and wealth, Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb. Their story has been fictionalized and told in this novel by Meyer Levin.

In this retelling of their story, Leopold and Loeb become Judd Steiner and Artie Straus. They are both boy geniuses, and at the tender ages of seventeen and eighteen had already graduated from college. Compulsion is narrated by reporter Sid Silver, who is a fictionalized version of author Meyer Levin, who actually knew Leopold and Loeb. It begins with Sid accidentally being drawn into the case of the kidnapped boy, and follows the story through what was called the Trial of the Century,  when Steiner and Straus’s parents paid for the best legal defense money could buy, in the form of Jonathan Wilk (in real life, Clarence Darrow).

Prior to reading the novel, I’d known about the case for a long time, having an acute interest in murder, and especially in famous murders in history. But I’d never read much about it, and had thought it wasn’t a very interesting story.

How very wrong I was.

From the beginning of the novel, I found myself riveted by this tale. Levin brought to bear both his knowledge of the young men and his skills as a storyteller to weave a fascinating indepth psychological study of the two young men who killed Bobby Franks as nothing more than an intellectual exercise. We follow them as they make their ransom demands, despite the fact that Bobby is already dead, meticulously planning every step so that nothing can go wrong. When Bobby’s body is discovered before the ransom is delivered, things start to go wrong, but even so, they are sure that nobody can trace the crime back to them. Very cocksure they are. So much that Artie sticks his nose into the investigation, constantly demanding to know what’s going on.  And while Artie swaggers and postures, Judd begins an odd sort of relationship with Sid’s girlfriend.

Ultimately, Judd and Artie are caught and they confess and are put on trial, which is when the parents arrange for Wilk to defend them. Not to free them, but to fight for their lives. Everyone expects them to plead insanity, but Wilk doesn’t go that route. He doesn’t want to have a jury trial, calculates that he has a better chance of convincing one man—the judge—that these young men deserve to live, rather than twelve. If he declares them insane, then it automatically becomes a matter for the jury.

I was riveted from the start by their story. What was especially considered shocking at the time in which this took place was the relationship between Judd and Artie, who were not just best friends, but lovers. Homosexuality was far from accepted then and there. So much so that the boys were forced to hide their relationship in order to avoid the censure of their families as well as their friends, and society as a whole. One time they were caught together in flagrante, and the boy who caught them told, which was particularly hard on them. Their parents separated them. From that time, they made a pact between them concerning their relationship and knew they had to hide it.

At first, once the truth of their relationship came to light after the confession to the crime, everyone assumed that Judd was the mastermind, that he called the shots between them, but this was far from the case. Judd was the follower, Artie the leader. It was Artie that actually killed the boy, and not the first time he’d committed such a crime. That being the case, one has to wonder if these two had not become such fast friends, introduced by their families because each was a bit of a loner and they had a great deal in common, would Bobby Franks have been allowed to live a long and natural life?  We’ll never know.

I also have to wonder if Judd and Artie were not forced to hide their relationship, if they could have been open about it, and not subject to societal scorn and derisions, perhaps they could have channeled their energies into more productive outlets.

I was especially drawn to Judd, for he is undoubtedly the more sympathetic of the two boys. Left to his own devices, I don’t think he would have gotten into trouble. He was an avid birdwatcher, and actually discovered a species believed to be extinct. But the combination of these two boys, who were so advanced for their ages intellectually yet not so much emotionally, was a dangerous one. If it’s possible to fall in love with a fictional character, I fell for Judd/Nathan Leopold.

In school, both Judd and Artie studied Nietszche, and I can see where they came to embody his philosophy of the Superman—one who is so knowledgeable concerning life and people that he is above ordinary laws, because he knows what is best. I think Judd and Artie saw themselves in the same way. They bore no animosity toward Bobby Frank. In fact, it was dumb luck that he was chosen to be their victim.

There is so much depth to this novel. I loved it from beginning to end. Watching Jonathan Wilk/Clarence Darrow defend them was amazing. This was his last big case, and he went out with a bang.

The real Artie Straus/Richard Loeb was killed in prison in 1936. Judd/Nathan Leopold was paroled in 1958, and went on to marry and move to Puerto Rico, where he died in 1971. A visitor to his home remarked on the fact that there was a very prominent picture of Richard Loeb there. That speaks volumes to me.

Meet Me in St. Louis!

On October 8th, my first joint venture with co-author S.L. Danielson will be released by Silver Publishing. It's entitled My Fair Vampire, and I'd like to tell you a bit about it, introduce you to the characters. If we're lucky, we might talk them into coming by the blog one day before the book releases!   Check out this awesome cover by the talented and gracious Reese Dante!






My Fair Vampire is an historical novel. It takes place in 1904, during the Louisiana Exposition, more commonly known as the St. Louis World's Fair. Here's our blurb:

In 1904, the world’s spotlight shone brightly on St. Louis, Missouri—gateway to the West and host of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition. Visitors came from all points of the globe to wonder, to gape, to taste, to explore and to enjoy the marvels which the World’s Fair had to offer. An ambitious young reporter from Utah, William Deming, sees his chance to not only visit the fair, but make a name for himself by reporting on its goings on. He takes a room in a boarding house, close to the Fair itself. What he doesn’t count on is meeting Misha—a young and handsome Russian, whose aunt owns the boarding house.

Misha is something William has never encountered before—a vampire! As if that isn’t enough to accept, when a man is discovered murdered at the Fair, William has to wonder if his Misha is involved. Especially as there seems to have been a connection between the vampire and the victim. Will an old flame cause new problems for William and Misha? Will they find love at the World’s Fair? Or will theirs be doomed to be a fatal attraction?

The bulk of the action in the book takes place either at the World's Fair or at the boarding house that is owned by Misha's aunt, where the young reporter, William Deming, is staying for the duration of his assignment at the Fair. The house is situated right on Lindell, within walking distance of the fairgrounds.

It helps that both SL and I live in the St. Louis area, and that we have access to these places. Although the boardinghouse itself is fictional, the place where the fair was held very much exists, although most of the buildings are long gone, only designed to be temporary. One - the Fine Arts Building - was built more securely, as it housed a lot of expensive artwork, and became our very own St. Louis Art Museum, a very wonderful place to spend time. I've spent a lot of time there and will again.

Standing outside the museum, you can look down Art Hill to the Grand Basin, and just imagine what it must have been like - brightly lit, crowded with eager, excited fairgoers. It must have been very exciting to be there. There is a small prologue at the beginning of the book which covers the Fair's origins and how it came to be. The Olympics were held here that same year.

William sees the Fair as his big journalistic break and he's determined to shine and be noticed by his editor! He doesn't figure on meeting anyone, much less the handsome reclusive Russian, who quickly fascinates him and mystifies him both.  Let me show you the inspirations for our fellows:

This is William Deming:  

And this is Misha Rumiantseva.  Yeah, that's a mouthful lol  

A man is found murdered at the Fair, and everyone blames Misha for it. Can William prove his lover's    innocence? If he's innocent? Find out when you meet them at the Fair.

Want to know more about my co-author/friend/bff/sister SL Danielson? Check out her blog, The Adventures of Author S.L. Danielson!

We've written another book, the first in a series we call The Mark of Love. The first book, Finding His Mark, has been subbed, we're waiting to hear now yea or nay. The second book is done, and we're working on the third. We like to call this our Cracker series, about two teenagers in rural Georgia. More about that later.

Come and meet us in St. Louis, return with us to the World's Fair, for romance, mystery, intrigue, and above all - love! You'll be glad you did!

Until next time, take care!

♥ Julie