Unsolved Celebrity Mysteries

VOYA

Amelia Earheart, Chandra Levy, Curt Cobain, Marilyn Monroe-what do these people have in common? The answer is that they all died or disappeared under mysterious circumstances. Ten people or events are profiled in each ôMysteries and Conspiraciesö series book, which share an identical format and the same authors. Chapters begin with a summary of the situation, followed by subheadings such as "The Strange Part," "The Usual Suspects," "Most Mysterious Fact," and "Most Convincing Evidence." Familiar names and incidents including John Lennon, Bruce Lee, alien abductions, and the Ku Klux Klan join others that most youth have not heard of or may not care about, such as Lord Lucan, Phillip Taylor Kramer, and David Kelly. Many of the "mysteries" seem either far-fetched or not very mysterious, such as whether Mark David Chapman really shot John Lennon (several witnesses saw him do it, and he confessed) or whether Paul McCartney is really Paul McCartney. Most people probably did not know that George Bush Sr. could have been involved in the death of JKF, Watergate, and the attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan. The most interesting aspect of the chapters is the last section, "Skeptically Speaking," where the authors give their opinion about what really happened. Comments such as "Jim Morrison was an overweight, chain-smoking alcoholic who lived very dangerously . . . the death of someone in those circumstances is hardly surprising," or "The King is Dead-get over it," come right to the point. The depth of information presented is fairly lightweight, but for readers who are not familiar with the background of these cases, it will probably be new material. Other series titles are UnsolvedExtraterrestrial Mysteries, Unsolved Political Mysteries, and Secret Societies. Reviewer: Leslie Wolfson