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At the Bookstore

 One part of the true-crime world focuses on the incompetence of investigators; the gold standard, for this kind of reporting, is "In the Dark."


The new podcast "Dead End," about terrible errors in the attempted "solving" of the NJ murder of John Sheridan, is a similar work. (Though it's quite clear that Sheridan was murdered, his file still says "CAUSE OF DEATH - UNCERTAIN," and this is just the start of the problem.)

The book of the summer is (I think) "Trailed," about a new kind of sloppiness, the sloppiness of national-park authorities. Every year, the majority of murder victims in the world are men -- but if you focus on national parks, then the majority are women. Women are targeted, trailed, assaulted, and murdered in U.S. parks, and then people fail to notice the stories. (Kathryn Miles, a journalist, wonders, "If you learned that three women per year were murdered at Disney World, would you reconsider your trip to Disney World?")

In 1996, a young gay couple, Lollie and Julie, were vacationing in Shenandoah. Someone led them to an obscure trail, murdered them, placed a vibrator near the "staged scene," and escaped (presumably to go off and murder yet more people).

There was an obvious suspect, but authorities focused on this suspect's interest in shaved pubic regions. They alleged that this interest indicated pedophilia -- and not, for example, a response to a standard directorial choice from pornography. Additionally, authorities insisted that the two murders happened on a day they almost certainly did not happen -- and, because of this, the authorities said the obvious suspect had an alibi.

Being so certain required a choice to reject statements from many, many park visitors -- visitors who said they spotted Lollie and Julie (happy and alive) well past the alleged date of killing. 

Authorities casually decided a random person, a person who seemed, and seems, innocent, must have been the culprit. The stigma of the following years ruined this person's life -- and no one has seen him for several months (and he may be dead, from an overdose, after many years of mental deterioration).

John Grisham called "Trailed" an "American tragedy," and also a book that "you can't put down." I think the label is accurate.

If you can tolerate many grim twists, this is a fascinating, beautifully researched story.
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