Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny

Is A Thrilling Rollercoaster Ride

No one goes to an Indiana Jones movie expecting grand cinéma d'auteur. We don’t anticipate a carefully constructed dramatic arc or extensive character development, and at least a half dozen times we’re forced to dispense with any sense of realism. We climb on board the front car of a rollercoaster ride in order to experience a twisting, careening ride that, more often than not, involves Nazis, booby traps, traitors, deadly poison, dark shadows—and lots of snakes. Thus, I was not at all disappointed by the fifth and final film in the franchise, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, which premiered June 30 in just about every multiplex nationwide. While its opening box office numbers were less than stellar, I found it to be everything I came to see: plenty of the aforementioned Nazis; a wild pursuit involving an antique device that, literally, would rewrite history; death-defying escapes; car (and tuk tuk) chases; double- and triple agents; hidden treasure; creepy crawlers; and, yes, romance. Plus, an ending that’s most satisfying to those of us who have enjoyed the series from day one. While much of the film takes place in the summer of 1969, when Jones is 70 years old, plenty of flashbacks take us back to the end of World War II, when he’s only 45. Since actor Harrison Ford was 77 when he shot the film (he turns 81 this Wednesday), a team of over 100 artists at Industrial Light and Magic created a new de-aging technology known as FaceSwap in order to make him look 25 years younger. I won’t provide any summary or spoilers here, just a suggestion that if you’re looking to get out of the heat for 2-1/2 hours this summer, go see it. If you can suspend all belief, you’ll be glad you did.

Crime Novels With Opening Lines

So Good They Hook You Instantly

Some people say the first impression provides the most lasting impression. When you meet new people, you only have one chance to make an introduction. The same can be said about books. While there are some readers (and a couple agents) who give an author until the end of the first chapter to snare their interest, if a book doesn't make it impossible for you to stop after the first sentence, is it really doing its job? That’s the question posed by Murder-Mayhem’s Kelsey Christine McConnell, who notes that, “As densely packed with intrigue as mystery books are, it's imperative for authors to get off to a strong start. Readers have to care about something, whether it's the victim, the killer, or the detective unraveling the case.” To illustrate her point, here are some of the more riveting opening lines in a variety of mystery books:

• “Ike tried to remember a time when men with badges coming to his door early in the morning brought anything other than heartache and misery, but try as he might, nothing came to mind.” Razorblade Tears, by S.A. Cosby

•“ Duke Pachinko lay propped against the wall, a dripping red sponge where his face used to be." The Old Dick, by L. A. Morse

•·“She was ten years old, but knew enough to wipe clean the handle of the bloody kitchen knife.” A Bitter Taste, by Annie Hauxwell

DNA COLD CASE

Canada’s “Nation River Lady” IDed

Almost 50 Years After Body Was Found

Canadian police have identified a woman known as the “Nation River Lady,” nearly five decades after she went missing and was found dead floating in a river in Ontario. Jewell “Lalla” Langford, whose maiden name was Parchman, had traveled to Montréal in April 1975, but never returned home. The 48-year-old woman became known as the “Nation River Lady,” after the Nation River in eastern Ontario where her remains were found on May 3, 1975. Police say Langford had been strangled with a flat plastic-covered television cable, her hands and ankles had been bound with men’s neckties, and her face had been wrapped with a tea towel. Forensic artist’s renderings and three-dimensional facial approximation developed in 2017 were not able to help identify Langford or any potential suspects. Then, in late 2019, a new DNA profile of Langford was obtained by the Centre of Forensic Sciences in Toronto, and it matched samples collected from two individuals listed in a family DNA tree. After an exhaustive investigation, officials arrested Hollywood, Florida resident Rodney Nichols for her murder. Now 81, he had co-owned a spa with Langford’s ex-husband, but police have not elaborated further on how he knew the victim.

Sex, Drugs, And Bloody Murder

In 1967’s Infamous Swinging London

“During the halcyon summer of 1967, London’s King’s Road was ground zero for the new global youthquake. Mick Jagger, Eric Clapton, and Michael Caine were regulars at the various ultra-hip bars and restaurants dotting Chelsea, the groovy U.K. equivalent of Manhattan’s Greenwich Village.” That’s how Air Mail’s John Glatt sets the scene of the gruesome killing of an aspiring model by a rich American playboy, one that sent shock waves through Swinging London and its infamous Chelsea Set. “The unsung star of the time was Claudie Delbarre, a beautiful 18-year-old aspiring model, who claimed to have been sketched by Salvador Dalí,” Glatt writes. “Wearing the most outrageous hippie clothes and sporting the shortest miniskirts, she dressed so provocatively that a policeman once warned her to tone it down for her own safety. She worked as an au pair in Yorkshire but soon gravitated to the bright lights of London. She also turned tricks on the side, for well-healed clients including a Conservative M.P. and a bishop. But the five-foot-one-inch Delbarre wanted to be famous…and set her sights on Robert Lipman, the ruggedly handsome, fabulously wealthy heir to a Manhattan real-estate fortune. On the afternoon of Saturday, September 16, she left her shabby apartment off King’s Road to go shopping at Chelsea Girl, her favorite boutique. Dressed to kill in her new curly red beehive wig and secondhand raccoon-fur coat, she was looking to score some LSD for that night’s hot date with Lipman. Within hours, the luscious Chelsea flower child would be savagely murdered, and Robert Lipman was on the run back to America…”

The Most Suave And Polished

Detectives In Crime Films And TV

Three months ago, BunzelGram published a story, courtesy of Crime Reads’ Olivia Rutigliano, highlighting some of the scruffiest detectives in crime film and TV. In that article she wrote that “the scruffy detective is one of the purest, most persistent tropes in the crime genre,” but the same can be said of the suave, most highly polished detective. "The gentleman sleuth character is deeply entrenched in the genre, going back to the 19th century," she writes, "and continues to provide countless well-heeled, refined sleuths ripe for adaptation to television and film. To illustrate the point, Rutigliano has pulled together a new list of “some of the most iconic entrants in this category…a pleasing selection of the erudite, the elegant, the urbane, and all-around dignified detectives of modern entertainment." One note: just as with the “scruffy detectives” list, she includes only detectives of the amateur, private, and police variety—no FBI, CIA, or MI6 agents on this list. And yes, “suave detective” might conjure up images of Philip Marlowe in the Big Sleep or Benoit Blanc in Knives Out, it just as easily could refer to Harriett Makepeace in Dempsey and Makepeace or Laura Holt in Remington Steele.

Coming September 12:

INDIGO ROAD

“Indigo Road is a beautifully wrought, hard-biting story with elements of classic noir presented through a prism of modern sensibilities. A fantastic read.” –S.A. Cosby, bestselling author of Razorblade Tears 

While still slinging drinks fulltime at The Sandbar in Folly Beach, Jack Connor works a side gig as a licensed bounty hunter. One afternoon, as he's transporting his latest bail skip named Willis Ronson back to jail, his SUV is ambushed by a team of gunmen, killing Ronson instantly and seriously injuring his court-appointed attorney, Alisha Dupree. Connor can’t help but poke around the edges of the deadly incident and quickly learns that Ronson was a man of many secrets, including a mysterious woman from his past who has caused him to be sucked into a domestic terrorist fringe group.