New Jersey Books

After reading the other reviews I was apprehensive about purchasing this book, but I was pleasently surprised by it. The author has spent much time ferreting out those small but important details that make the Lindbergh kidnapping so enigmatic and entrancing. While there may be mistakes to be found in this work, I don't think they in any way detract from the overall balance of the book. I found Lloyd Gardner's book to be insightful and well tempered. Highly recommended for the serious or first time Lindbergh kidnapping reader.

As someone who has researched the Lindbergh kidnapping extensively for the past fifteen to sixteen years and as someone who is currently writing a book on the case, I waited with baited breath for many months for this book. I was hopeful that, based on Mr. Gardner's reputation, that this would be a significant book on the case that would dispel many of the legends and falsehoods associated with the case. I could not have been more disappointed.

From a literary standpoint, the book was not written well. It is a tedious read and lacks any prominent ending. The book just stops.

The theories offered by Gardner are not consistent with the facts and evidence. There are only two new pieces of evidence offered and no significant discussion of the "tabletop confession" which is the latest and most significant development in the case in at least ten years.

Even more disturbing are the casual references to outlandish theories without any evidence or support. For example, Gardner suggests that Violet Sharpe -- the victim of a suicide-- was actually murdered by Septimus Banks. This one line is extreme and not one iota of proof is offered. There are many other examples.

Perhaps the most disappointing aspect of the book are the inaccurate citations. At one point, Gardner accuses John Condon of sexual improriety with a student and actually cites Condon's own memoirs as support. When I referered to my 1st edition copy of Condon's book and checked the citation, there was absolutely nothing there.

In all, the book was a major disappointment. I gave it one star because it is the lowest rating your system permits.

There are arguments to be made on both sides of this great case. As an expert in this area, I very much enjoy good debate and was hoping this book would be intellectually stimulating. Instead, Mr. Gardner served only to further muddy the waters.

The dust jacket of The Case That Never Dies by Lloyd Gardner (Rutgers Univ Press, 2004), states this is the first book [on the LKC] by a historian. Whether Hauptmann was guilty or not, Gardner concludes there was insufficient evidence to convict him of first degree murder. Hmmm... what then was he guilty of? Manslaughter, extortion, bad luck, or anti-German prejudice?

There is much newly uncovered documentation, mainly from the FBI Records at College Park, Maryland, and the NJSP Archive. But totally omitted, for reasons that are unclear (for 3 years of delving), are the repositories known as the Bronx DA'a Papers and the NYPD Archives. Charles Appel's Treasury Report on Hauptmann's handwriting, and detailed analyses on ransom bill passing prior to the notorious shoebox discovery, are simply ignored.

Unfortunately, despite the advertising, the CTND is simply the latest book that has tried to sort through endless reams of data, but still manages to get many historical details egregiously wrong.

Characters and dates, ages, and other book titles are mangled throughout - misspelling even Hauptmann's name and that of the fortune tellers Peter and Mary Birrittella (two different ways on the same page), and even the 'Sheraton' Theatre in Greenwich Village. Sometimes Joe Perrone is John Perrone. On p. 305, he claims that Hauptmann's German-English Dictionary never appeared at the Trial - but it WAS introduced by the Prosecution and is listed in the Exhibits section.

The technique used in the chapters on personalities mainly concern innuendo - why was CALjr's picture on the Wanted poster taken from his first birthday party (it wasn't), and why did Betty Gow really use those safety pins to fasten Charley's blanket the night of Mar 1, 1932? We are ominously told (p. 410) that the baby was suffering from a rare malady called (craniotobes) - brittle bones of the head. The correct term is actually craniotabes and its definition is quite the opposite - excessive softening of cranial structures. The truth, rather banal, is that the child suffered from rickets, for which he was being treated by daily doses of Viosterol and artifical (ultraviolet) light - a fact freely admitted in the diet published in the newspapers. Statements in one chapter are contradicted in another, as if the author has not read his own book.

For example, some lost inventory cards have been found at the NJSPM which indicate that plaster casts were made of footprints at Hopewell - not specifically however of the footprint under the window. On p. 369, we are told that the State Police kept this exculpatory information from the Defense, and yet on p. 319, we are reminded that the very same details were openly printed on the front page of the NY Times (in a highlighted box), before the Trial (Sept 28). So which is it?

There are 2 photos of John Condon making the most of his new found fame and a single line, in passing, that JFC (alone) refused to accept any of the Lindbergh reward money. Rarely is an honest gesture understood. A mysterious footnote that Katy Fredericksen was having an affair the night she claimed that Anna was working is given as a Confidential Source. No further explanation... This is worthy of Startling Detective magazine, and keeps the pulp tradition of the 1930s alive.

What about the myths that have accumulated about the LKC over the years - should an historian help to dispel those? It doesn't happen here - on p. 19, once again we read that Lindbergh (forgot about a speaking engagement in NYC) on that fateful Tuesday. But the original records at NYU show exactly what happened - Lindbergh's secretary was misinformed and he thought he had agreed to show up on Friday, but not to speak. Chancellor Brown's wife had died in the interim and the date was sent in error.

Gardner deserves credit for locating the Mar 1-15, 1932 Reliance Payroll (at the NJSPM) - the one so touted by Scaduto and Kennedy as holding the key. So why not show it? Aha - Hauptmann's name is not there, as the Prosecution always said.

Should anyone get this book? I have to say (reluctantly) "yes." Despite my serious reservations about the poor use of the documentation and the self-defeating methodology and tone, Gardner does manage to cite a lot of material which will prove endlessly useful - to others.

"The Case That Never Dies: The Lindbergh Kidnapping", Lloyd Gardner, Rutgers Univ. Ress, NJ, 2004. ISBN: 0-8135-3385-6, HC 415 pgs., plus Notes 44 pgs., Biblio. 4 pgs., Index 14 pgs., and 30 B & W Photographs/Illustrations. 9 1/2" x 6 1/2".

Gardner, a distinguished Prof. of History & author of a dozen books gives a fair-minded exaustive analysis of the Lindbergh baby's kidnapping (Mar. 1, 1932), ransom, murder, and the subsequent apprehension, trial (Jan. 2, 1935), conviction and execution (Apr. 3, 1936) of german immigrant Bruno Richard Hauptmann (BRH). To the chagrin of many readers, but more-so to the author's credit, is Gardner's neutrality or foregoing of taking one side or the other, but rather walking a fine line to avoid and evade bias, prefering facts to speak for themselves but still pointing out errors made by authorities & both legal counsels.

The writer drew heavily upon FBI records and from the official Police records, papers and documents in repositaries, museums, etc. Of interest are photographs of the colorful notables and of the Lindbergh's home floor plans. The book has 16 chapters, each rather sharply devoted to the testimony or viewpoints of a specific person, topic or subject matter. The read is tedious at times for much is built upon recorded witness testimony in and out of court, oft "she-says he-says", and at many times outbursts from questionable sources having questionable motives -- but all of which is part and parcel of the Hauptmann trial. We learn, for example, of the tricky and complicated money transfers by BRH in a variety of business schemes and con games, stock market tradings, possibly money laundering, and how the ransom money gold certificates were crucial in finding BRH, and of the sundry hiding sites BRH used to stash away the ransom moneys. The author also deals with the previously noted imperfections of baby Lindbergh, alleged to have overlapping of toes bilaterally, enlarged cranium with open fontanelle and mention is made of possible rickets (not uncommon in those days, but no mention of possible hydrocephalus). Gardner also notes the 1948 discovery by Bolliard in NJ of writing on the underside of a small table that also had a small metal brace whose holes were discovered by Falzini in 2002 to matched the markings of the ransom notes precisely.

"It was a two million dollar funeral", although BRH was a declared pauper, brought to bear by the states of NJ, NY and the USA to "turn a human being into a whisp of smoke and a jar of dust", said Lloyd Fisher. In the end, "Gardner concludes that there was insuffient evidence to convict him (BRH) of first-degree murder." It remains the finest documented book I've encountered on this subject, a must read.

There is something in the nature of crimes of note (and the conspiracies and competing theories they engender) that bring out the zealot in all of us. Such seems to be the case with the reactions to Dr Gardner's The Case That Never Dies : The Lindbergh Kidnapping. As noted elsewhere, Dr Gardner is the first professional historian to tackle the case, at least in book form. And his credentials are impressive: a professor of history at Rutgers University and the recipient of two Fulbright Professorships and a Guggenheim Fellowship. But credentials count for little when faced with the competing theories of die-hard case followers.

Dr Gardner's work is without doubt the best researched of all books on the case and a raft of new information is brought to the fore, all of it meticulously footnoted. However, where Dr Gardner differs from previous authors is his overall approach to analysing the case and the evidence. While the other major works are best described as "theory" books - i.e. they set out to prove Hauptmann innocent or Hauptmann guilty and wear such motives on their sleeves - Dr Gardner instead attempts to put the events in historical context and draws parallels with modern day attitudes to capital punishment. He poses more questions than he answers; he gives fertile ground for additional research. This, perhaps, is the nub of the problem for the self-appointed experts.

Discourse on the case today tends to focus on competing - and hotly disputed - theories. There is no generally accepted truth of the Lindbergh case, save that accepted in a court of law in Flemington in 1935. And that, after all, is but one theory. What seems to have enraged the natives is Dr Gardner's refusal to adopt a particular theory, his reluctance to draw conclusions, to join them on whatever side of the fence they happen to be. But that is a reflection of the book that they wished to read (or in some cases write) rather than the book which Dr Gardner - as is his right - chose to pen.

The book itself does contain some typos and there are some minor errors (and other alleged errors which are in fact just differences of interpretation), but to distort these into damnation of the book as a whole is to rather miss the point. For any student of the crime, this is an indispensable read and the most thorough reference book on the case. One doesn't have to agree with all of Dr Gardner's interpretations because the evidence itself is presented so clearly and is so well referenced that anyone who wishes to research further can do so off the back of Dr Gardner's hard work. The book focuses on the central timeline and the arrest and conviction of Hauptmann. The tangential stories of hoaxers Curtis and Means are given little further exposure as Dr Gardner chooses to concentrate on the meat of the case.

Expertise on the Lindbergh case is not measured through any long-service medal, or by commitment to any official theory but rather by recognising that however much one does know, one does not know everything. And that is what Dr Gardner offers: something for every student of the case, new or old. And given the mountain of literature on the case already, what more can anyone ask but that?

This book is so very PATHETIC, what was P. Macdonald thinking. The main character Laura Reed Turner, is not a real women or mother at all. Who remarries just months after her husband is brutally murdered in their bed (unless guilty) it is just Appalling . Pleaseeee... I am adamant when reading any book to finish it, I read this because it is an easy read, ooohhhh how I very much wanted to toss it.
............ What mother would care about some obsessed freak show (Ian, who by the way they never concluded his involvement with his own house fire) while her child, she claimes to love and care for so much is being held at gun point by a mad woman. This book and character is beyond pathetic and P.M. should think first and write about a real woman and mother with strength and a mind of her own. Laure should have been arrested by the thought police, for the inability to have a her own capacity to think, not act like such a martyr (which she was NOT). Lauras is not a character who deserves sympathy, her weak pathetic nature is appalling as well as unbelievable, her character is severely lacking in the caring mother department. I recommend this book to No One...

One reviewer said the ending comes as "a total shock." Yup, because there was NO WAY to figure out who really did the crime. The author cheated. We read myseries because we love to try and figure them out. The ending on this book came from WAAAYYYY out in left field. I should have know when several of McDonald's character CRIED! For example, "No," she cried. "Are you insane?" he cried. Please take a basic writing class or read Hemingway. "Ask" and "said: are the only two attribute you need.

Also, almost gave up when at the beginning the police put plastic bags on a suspects hand. Ma'am, if your going to write mysteries, please check with the police. They ONLY use paper bags - plastic traps moisture and ruins evidence. Thank God I got this from the library - I would have REALLY but mad if I paid for it!

This book kept me up into the wee hours of the morning trying to figure out who was the killer. Another excellent book by one of this genres best writers. Not quite as enthralling as "The Unforgiven" by the same author, but darn close. I would recommend this book to just about everyone as there is no excessive profanity or gratuitous sex. This book goes into my all-time-favorite categories. Read Secret Admirer today!!

a read worth your time. this book takes so many turns...just when you think you know who done it, something happens to change your mind. a total shock in the end as to who it really was.

This is the second Patricia MacDonald book I have read (the other being Lost Innocents) and I enjoyed it just as much, if not more than the first. I could not put this book down. I was determined not to close it until I devoured the very last page. The story is about a women whose husband is murdered. The police think she is the killer but do not have the evidence to arrest her. Throughout the story you meet a plethora of shady characters, each one convincing you that he/she is the actual killer. You do not know for sure until the very end. I highly recommend it.

Helpful for ID'ing pottery, not good for values, it's very out of date. Very good for Art Pottery, the shape guide at the back is helpful. Overall I still consider this the "bible" of Stangl.

The main disappointment in this book is that most of the photos were in black and white and poor quality. The book is overpriced for the level of information given and useless photos. The books by Robert Runge run circles around this one- hands down!

Whatever information I gleaned from this book, I had to work very hard to obtain. Firstly, the type is so small, it is dificult to read across the columns fron the item to the value without the aid of a straightedge for guidance. The larger, hard bound books are much easier for us with aging eyes to read! And the values are so old they are now unrealistic and are of no help.

I found it very confusing to use this book, as it is almost arranged alphabetically, but then has groups of items taken from categories that make sense and lumped into hodgepodge chapters with no apparent reasoning. Several dinnerware patterns can not be found in the dinnerware chapter, but are in three other non-related chapters! In several places you are referred to other sections or chapters, but those sections don't exist. Also, the text makes reference to items that are not described or pictured, and there are pictures of pieces that are not described or listed in the text.

While the book may be helpful to some, to me it appears to have been hastily put together by someone who either didn't care about or fully understand the subject. I purchased the book for more information on the Stangl North Carolina Stoneware, but that chapter was left completely out! I am greatly disapointed and would sooner recommend someone to research values on Ebay before purchasing this book.

This is a great book for background and information on Stangl pottery. Serves as an excellent resource by providing market value to individual pieces. A must for the online auction bidder.

I knew Matthew H. My family knew Dick and Dawn. I've LIVED thru this horrible mess directly and have read this book. If you want to support Denise Lang and support a double murder then buy this book. I urge you to read it, absorb the horror this "person" inflicted not only on his own family, but the families who knew Dawn, Dick and Josh. Matthew should enjoy every day in prison, he will never be free thank God. Death would have been the easy way out for Matthew, and I pray every day his life is full of misery, horror, and violence he inflicted on the two people who so lovingly supported him. I hope Matthew suffers each and every day. I hope God offers him a long, long life so he can reflect daily on the horrific crimes he committed. Long life Matthew, until the day he dies and goes straight to hell.

I enjoyed reading this book and found it well written and detailed. I personally don't buy the "Adopted Child Syndrome" as an excuse for murder, nor do I think most readers will, but it was the last resort of a desperate defense team. Some of the trial scenes toward the end got a bit dry, but all in all, this book is worth reading.

I have read the Book "The Dark Son". I have also personally written to, spoken to, and visited the famed Matthew Heikkila. In my opinion, the book does not do Matthew justice, as it is written from a point of view that wasnt very well informed. The author "forgot" key points of the crime, making Matthew out to be a cold blooded, heartless murderer. Today, he is a man regretting his past, and only looking for someone to accept him for who he is now, and not who he was on a cold January day in 1991.

In this fifth book of the series, we find McLeod Dulaney again teaching her writing class in Princeton (great life: working in the South as a reporter and one semester a year teachin in New Jersey). Her emotional entanglement with the Vice President - George is over and now she is leaning into a relationship with the local police lieutenant Nick Perry.

While teaching this semester, the police come in and nab one of her students. This starts one of the two storylines in the book. Actually, this one is not original as it copies pretty well the story of James Hogue who really did get admitted to Princeton on false premises as a track star. But to get back to our story, the person who reveals Greg Pierre's real name is found dead shortly thereafter, so naturally, all suspicion resides on the student.

Well, McLeod does not believe that any student of hers is possible a murderer so she starts investigating. She goes around and asks lots of people lots of questions and the amusing parts are that the murders take place in the Chemistry department and as an English major, McLeod has no idea what chemists do. Reading some of her interviews and seeing her complete non-understanding of what she is being told is quite funny.

One of the things that I liked about this book is that it showed McLeod for what she is: a meddler who does not always get it right. About one third of the way into the book, it becomes quite obvious who the real murderer was. However, I kept trying to make someone else be the murderer as I could not believe how obvious this was. Well, McLeod has a similar problem and she ends up accusing someone else to her police paramour. Luckily, the Police have figured out who the real murderer is based on what is described as solid evidence, namely fingerprints and alibis.

the world of scientific academia is briefly explored with the author touching on how scientific labs work; the pressure to publish and the results of either publishing or perishing; the pressure to be the first and the rewards that accrue to the first to publish; and how seriously graduate students take their world. Although I have to admit, the funny line "who would want to kill a graduate student?" is repeated several times and is funny each time it's read.

I only rate this a three star as the plot was too obviously copied from the real life Princeton Impostor and otherwise clumsily entwined around a murder mystery; a murder mystery that really isn't; and a completely gratuitous second murder. Oh well, I hope the next one is much better!

We follow Professor McLeod Dulany in her 6th adventure in the vicious depths of the academic world. McLeod spends part of the year in Tallahassee at Florida State University and the other part in Princeton as a visiting professor of writing. When her prize student of the semester is escorted from her class by the local police, McLeod is justifiably upset. Following class, she confronts her friend and landlord George, a higher-up in the University administration, about the hullabaloo, only to find out that her student, Greg Pierre, is wanted for parole violation in Wyoming. McLeod works to free him from the charges, but when the informant who turned the information about Greg into the authorities is found dead on campus, even McLeod is wondering about the innocence of her favorite pupil.


Greg has an interesting story on how he got to Princeton, and McLeod believes him. She sets out to prove his innocence, only to have him turn up as the number one suspect in the murder of another student. Determined that her prize student shall finish out the semester, McLeod figures out a way to get into the chemistry department to research the murder suspect, and manages to work her way around campus providing meals for various students, digging up background information. When another chemistry student is found dead in off-campus housing, everything takes a different turn for McLeod, because now the detectives know she's been investigating - and so does the murderer.

This is my first Death is Academic murder mystery with Prof. McLeod Dulany, and most likely my last. I had a lot of problems with the naivety of the characters, but most with McLeod. Her character is a former reporter, and she's now a professor. She believes people at face value, with little or no evidence or logic applied to the situation. Having lived in the academic community for years, naïve is not a word I would use sparingly for professors, despite the author's valid point of the cloistered world of academia.

This cozy was not to my personal taste, but those who don't favor a lot of action or simply want a light read may enjoy this plot, and will probably relate to the humanities' world trying to comprehend the scientific world.

McLeod Dulaney is a Florida journalist who has landed a great gig: teaching writing at Princeton University one semester a year. Coincidentally, every time she's up in New Jersey, she's involved in a murder investigation on campus. Inquisitive by nature, McLeod makes every attempt to solve the murder. She gets close to the truth but often comes to a slightly incorrect conclusion.

In this fifth installment in the series, we learn more about the class McLeod teaches and the students she comes in contact with. Greg Pierre, her best writing student, has evidently enrolled under a pseudonym to avoid legal charges from his home out West. After a grad student alerts school authorities to Greg's deception, the informant is found murdered in the chemistry lab. McLeod comes to Greg's rescue and tries to find out who was responsible for the murder. A second murder follows, and McLeod keeps asking questions. Will she figure everything out before she's next? And what's the status of her relationship with police investigator Nick Perry? How about her housemate and host, George Bridges?

The episodes in this series are like bags of potato chips: you can't stop at just one. Though the general writing style and the unraveling of each mystery won't set the world on fire, the books are entertaining enough -- especially for folks who are connected to Princeton or to any academic atmosphere where similar circumstances could certainly arise.

DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY ON THIS ONE. IT'S NOTHING MORE THAN A SERIES OF BOORISH, BOASTFUL, AND SENSELESS RECOLLECTIONS.

During a time when memoirs are quite popular, it is refreshing to read one about a man whose life was truly interesting. Herbert L.Shapiro's honest, heartfelt, accessibly written memoir captures the essense of America during mid 20th century. Although the book begins at the turn of the century with his parents' arrival in the US, it Shapiro's journey during WW II and his amazing business career that began in the l950's onward that shows us the American dream. The book is both the personal and the universal in the telling of a life.

This book is what you need to become a police officer in New Jersey in todays society. Everything is clear and easy to understand and study. "This is the book we've been looking for!

NJ Civil service change its testing format, i believe back in 1998 0r 1999. It is now similar to NYPDs test. The other way to get hired in NJ is through the NJ Chiefs Association test, which is covered briefl in the book.

we also have the ny and nantucket books and this is a great addition --can't wait to get more.

We own numerous states in the collection of "good night" books and was excited to finally get the New Jersey edition as that is where I grew up and I wanted to teach my little guy a bit about the Garden State. Well, what a true dissapointment. I have loved all of the states we own, each offers wonderful sites to "visit" and some fun and interesting information about each place written in a way that really engages the child to not only look and listen or read themselves but also ask questions. The New Jersey edition is not only so incredibly repetitive and BORING but I grew up in New Jersey and I had never heard of half the places mentioned in this book, it was such a joke. PLEASE don't waste your money as I did, pass on this one, it's a complete waste. A much better alternative is the book G is for Garden State: A New Jersey Alphabet Edition 1. (Discover America State By State. Alphabet Series)

These books are great! People can give directions etc, but there is
nothing like seeing it in map form with all the surrounding street
names to become familiar. When you're nearing your destination it
doesn't come up as a fast surprise, you'll know in 3 more blocks thats
my destination. These books are great helpers and I own many of them
for different areas. Won't leave home without them.

There are hundreds, if not thousands of mistakes in the outdated 2000 edition, including misspelled streets, missing streets, circles that are now intersections, and much more. Some mistakes are downright dangerous, as is the error on Monmouth County Map 10 that shows a ramp to the GSP South off of east-bound Rt. 520. If you follow the map, you'll probably get into the wrong lane. In 1997, I began to communicate with Hagstrom about some of these errors, and sent them a list of about 200 or so. Many of those changes found their way into the 2000 edition, but by then, my list had grown to well over ten pages. In 2003, I began to send Hagstrom illustrated lists concerning all three counties. However, illustrating all the mistakes proved to be extremely time-consuming, and I was only able to send them about half of the thirty pages of changes needed for Middlesex and Monmouth Counties before the Research Department told me that they were done. Although there are less than 100 actual mistakes in the new 2006 edition, the maps do not show the dozens of the many new communities that have been constructed in the last six years. I would like to create a forum for frustrated map users. If anyone is interested in linking to such a website, please email me at lagateway@gmail.com

An excellent and carefully researched study of this misunderstood and much maligned entity. Standard oil lowered the cost of kerosene so everyone could afford it - not just the wealthy. The organization was also involved in a big trade wr with Russian producers - a litle knon and very interesting story which puts "big business" in a different light.

stupid......very much so poop brain