Friday Finds (14 August 2009)

Friday Finds is hosted by MizB at Should Be Reading

A Treasury of Xxth Century Murder: Famous Players, the Mysterious Death of William Desmond Taylor - Rick Geary (via Omnivoracious)

It's the early days of Hollywood, movies are just starting to come of their own and gain in popularity. New Stars are made. The movies are still silent but their stars' certainly are not in the scandal sheets. Amidst this new boiling cauldron, William Desmond Taylor, a successful director at the 'upscale' Famous Players Studio is found shot in his home.. Could it have been the star Mary Miles Minter or a former butler? But then, what about that strange past Taylor had? Another delectable mystery as only Geary can tell 'em!

The Wishbones - Tom Perrotta (via Jacket Copy)

Everything is going pretty well for Dave Raymond. He's 31, but he still feels young. He's playing guitar with the Wishbones, a New Jersey wedding band, and while it isn't exactly the Big Time, it is music. He has a roof over his head...well, it's his parents' roof, but they don't hassle him much. Life isn't perfect. But it isn't bad. Not bad at all. But then he has to blow it all by proposing to his girlfriend.

Tom's Midnight Garden - Philippa Pearce (via The Book Depository Editor's Corner)

Tom is furious. His brother, Peter, has measles, so now Tom is being shipped off to stay with Aunt Gwen and Uncle Alan in their boring old apartment. There'll be nothing to do there and no one to play with. Tom just counts the days till he can return home to Peter.Then one night the landlady's antique grandfather clock strikes thirteen times leading Tom to a wonderful, magical discovery and marking the beginning of a secret that's almost too amazing to be true. But it is true, and in the new world that Tom discovers is a special friend named Hatty and more than a summer's worth of adventure for both of them. Now Tom wishes he could stay with his relatives and Hatty — forever...