The 1978 Scottsdale, Arizona, murder of the star of the long- running TV sitcom Hogan's Heroes is reviewed in infinite detail here by Graysmith, who did the same job for a series of 70's and 80's rape-murders in San Francisco (The Sleeping Lady, 1990). In his opening chapters, leading up to Bob Crane's murder, Graysmith retells every date and sexual activity the star engaged in—whether or not they had anything to do with his death. Going by what we have here, much of Graysmith's superfine detail is superfluous as evidence, though it does render the victim's character. This density of fact, however, veils the weakness of the author's approach, which hangs upon circumstantial evidence and what after 14 years may become hard evidence by way of new forensic techniques in sampling DNA specimens and minute bits of blood and fatty brain tissue. Crane was living on reruns and a kind of supper-club-circuit play he was taking around the country when he befriended an overweight electronics salesman, John Carpenter, who consistently failed to score on double-dates with Crane even while Crane scored daily, if not twice daily, taking Polaroids and videos of his romps. Then the actor was found in bed with his head battered in by a blunt object. Scottsdale investigators finally linked Carpenter to the murder, but the state could find neither weapon, witness, nor motive and so failed to prosecute. But detectives refused to close the case, and Carpenter—who in the interim had entered a plea bargain in L.A. for molesting female minors—recently was arraigned for the killing. Gruesomely sexy but not a provocative read. (Eight pages of photos, 23 line drawings).
Pub Date: June 2, 1993
ISBN: 0-517-59209-6
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 1993
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Not everything you wanted to know, and probably some you didn't (or didn't know you wanted to know, or were afraid to ask because someone might be offended, like ``What was so great about the Inca?''). But for people whose only link with Latino culture is the occasional enchilada, Cuban-born journalist and lecturer Novas lays it all out. From Montezuma to Tito Puente, from santer°a to bacalao, Novas offers a nifty (if glib) blend of history and pop culture (did you know that Desi Arnaz's ``Babaloo'' was a ``song to the Yoruba deity Babalu''?). Perhaps best of all, she offers help with the all-important question facing p.c. gringos (and if you are benighted enough not to know who they are, Novas will tell you that, too): Is it more correct to say ``Hispanic'' or ``Latino''?
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1994
ISBN: 0-452-27100-2
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Plume
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1994
A clever title for what is essentially a grab-bag collection of think pieces, reviews, and profiles by the founder of the American Repertory Theatre at Harvard and drama critic for The New Republic. Brustein (Who Needs Theatre, 1987, etc.) is a sheep in wolf's clothing. He attacks causes like multiculturalism and political correctness, but hiding beneath his tough-guy, Bill Buckley exterior is a squishy, liberal heart of gold. He fears that multiculturalism in the theater is ``turning [it] into an area of entitlement rather than a place for art.'' He faults message-plays (what he calls ``the theatre of guilt'') because ``the artist [is] not in a position to chastise others before exploring the darkness in his own soul.'' He is a classicist in drama, preferring plays in which the characters discover that (to paraphrase Shakespeare) the fault lies in themselves, not in the stars. But his taste in the theater is fairly broad: Anyone who can find common ground between the one-woman shows of sociologist/cultural critic Anna DeVeare Smith and acerbic comedian Jackie Mason can't be all bad. Brustein is also a canny critic of what motivates both theater creators and theatergoers. Of Peter Brook's lengthy production of the Mahabharata, he writes that the director seemed intent on transforming ``well-padded bourgeois theatergoers into butt-weary acolytes of arcane Eastern mysteries.'' And Brustein is capable of turning his keen eye on more mundane affairs, writing a searing account of the Clarence Thomas hearings as high-camp theater, categorizing the roles of the unwitting senators: Alan Simpson as ``Mr. Nasty Badman''; Arlen Specter as the ``remorseless small-town prosecutor''; and Joseph Biden as unable to ``even manage a coherent line of dialogue.'' To-the-point essays on the role of drama in America and, indirectly, the life and health of the arts.
Pub Date: Oct. 14, 1994
ISBN: 1-56663-060-6
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Ivan Dee/Rowman & Littlefield
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1994
BOOK REVIEW
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