Suicide Books

So glad this title was out there! I lost my copy--it's my favorite John Dickson Carr book. The seller got it to me very quickly and it was in good condition.

"The Case of the Constant Suicides" (1941) is a fun read and one of the author's more interesting mysteries--three men die and the reader must determine who committed suicide and who was murdered.

This book is very much of a howdunit as well as a whodunit. Carr's serial detective, the humungous Dr. Gideon Fell, galumphs into view about a third of the way through, after one man is already mysteriously deceased. Old Angus Campbell meets his end after plunging out of the window of his locked tower bedroom. The door has to be broken down in order for the deceased man's bedroom to be examined. The only unusual object in the tower room is an empty animal carrier, its wire-mesh door tightly shut.

Professor of history, Alan Campbell and his second cousin Kathryn Campbell meet on the train taking them to Scotland and immediately dislike each other. Too bad, because they are forced to share a sleeping compartment on the crowded, blacked-out train. They bicker all the way to the Castle of Shira at Inverary where Angus had jumped or was forced from his bedroom window the previous week.

Here they meet the insurance agent, the Castle's lawyer, and Angus's brother Colin arguing about whether Angus was murdered or done himself in. Carr's serial detective, Dr. Gideon Fell wheezes and chuffs through the castle like an off-the-track steam engine, dropping mysterious hints as he goes. Colin decides to spend a night in his brother's former bedroom, just to lay rumors of ghostly goings-on, and he too defenestrates himself.

When a third man is found hanging in a locked fishing cabin, Dr. Fell sorts out the murder and attempted murder from the suicide, rewards the innocent, and sets a murderer free if only he will sign a fake confession.

John Dickson Carr takes a turn to heavy-handed humor in "The Case of the Constant Suicides." Most of the roistering is caused by a malt whiskey called 'the Doom of the Campbells.' A pesky American newspaperman is drenched, shot at, and hunted from the castle grounds whenever the Doom is flowing through the inhabitants of the castle. This isn't my favorite Gideon Fell mystery, but it was fun to read--more smiles than frissons of terror.

My six year old daughter had a special relationship with her cat, much like the one in this story. So when her cat died, it was a hard time for her to get through. The following Christmas we read through this story, and my daughter was deeply touched. She asked me to read it again and again.

This will keep you on the edge of your chair!

Learn from other's mistakes too.

See how to get out of depressing relationships and heartbreaks.

Glad to be associated with this family member, as she writes good books!

This book is concerned with practical ethics, a very old branch of philosophy with a long history all the way from the Greeks. For the Greeks, philosophy was not an academic affair ---politics and ethics dealt with real problems of the day. That trend withered as time went on. This book applies tools of philosophy to real life problems such as abortion, infanticide, war, and suicide. The most interesting aspect of the book is that it does not push any particular point of view. Instead it takes each problem and describes various attempts to deal with it. For example abortion: some people believe abortion is wrong because the foetus has life and life is sacred, others believe that the foetus's right can be overridden by the right for the mother to make a choice about her own life. Neither position is completely defensible logically and both have their slippery points. Glover takes each of these viewpoints and analyzes its pros and cons. It is up to the reader to understand these arguments and make a judgement about where they stand. This is the best book to understand controversial issues such as infanticide, capital punishment and abortion without getting caught up in false rhetoric. Once you read this book, you will see these issues differently; with less surety and more humility.

I kind of stumbled upon this book by accident. I was extremely glad I did. It is a very well-written book and says so much that is applicable to today (as well as in times before). There were passages that touched my heart and brought tears to my eyes. It is an excellent book and would be a great addition to anyone's library.

Dillion is a high school triathlete who has experienced a traumatic event when his brother, Preston, committed suicide in front of him. His best friend, Jen, is an outstanding basketball player and honor student who is dealing with demons of her own when she is incested by her stepfather. This book deals with heavy issues but does so in a realistic and thought provoking manner. It is a great book and I use it with high school students.

Children have a tough time interpreting God, and don't necessarily understand why they don't get what they pray for. "Chloe's Prayer" is the story of a young girl and her grandfather, who is afflicted with cancer. Chloe is confused when her prayers don't make him better; she finds out why things are the way they are as the story progresses. With a charming art style, "Chloe's Prayer" is a good gift for any young Christian child and church library collections for children.

Cognition And Suicide: Theory, Research, And Therapy compiled, organized, and edited by Thomas E. Ellis (Professor of Psychology, Marshall University, Huntington, West Virginia) is a seminal and scholarly introduction to the sensitive subject of suicide and brings together under one cover contributions by leading cognitivists and suicide specialists based on cutting edge research in the field and in academia. Beginning with an historical overview of the subject, contributors go on to survey diverse theoretical systems, the cognitive aspects of suicide, and a range of special topics including developmental influences, schizophrenia, trauma, and suicide risk. Concluding with an epilogue (What Have We Learned About Cognition and Suicide and What More Do We Need to Know?), Cognition And Suicide is an invaluable addition to personal, professional, departmental, and academic reference collections and supplemental reading lists.

This is a unique and wonderful book. Dedicated people are working selflessly to stop killing all over the world. Some great people are fighting the death penalty, peace activists are struggling to stop war, others work to expose torture and end it, many know that poverty is a killer and work to end it, others oppose abortion and euthanasia.
This book tells of the people and movements that oppose all these kinds of killing, in a consistent ethic of respect for life. Supporters of this ethic include anti-death penalty activist Sr. Helen Prejean, and Nobel Peace Prize Laureates Mairead Corrigan Maguire, Adolfo Pérez Esquivel and the Dalai Lama.
This book offers many little known facts and an inspiring vision of diverse activists working together to end killing.
Rose Evans, San Francisco