Death on Ocean Boulevard

You know those cases where it's obvious we're never going to know what actually happened? Well, that's how I feel every single time I get new information about the deaths of Max Shacknai and Rebecca Zahau.

I highly recommend watching the Dateline or 20/20 episode about this case before reading Death on Ocean Boulevard. So many of the people involved in this case have the same names, and I found it much easier to differentiate who was who having already seen them on Dateline.

Jonah and Rebecca spent their summers at Spreckels Mansion, in Coronado, California. Rebecca was gearing up for a beach day with her sister and Jonah's son, Max. That trip was over before it began when Max suffered a fatal fall from the banister. Two days later, Jonah and his ex-wife, Dina, were hearing their son's grim diagnosis, while Rebecca was living out the final moments of her life.

Rebecca was found nude, hanging from her balcony, hands and feet bound, with a tshirt fashioned into a gag in her mouth. Jonah's brother, Adam found this horrific scene the next morning and called the police. In his 911 call, Adam made the assumption that this was a suicide, police grasped onto that idea and have yet to let go.

Caitlin Rother's book is the first full-length true crime book to fully explore this case from all angles. Death on Ocean Boulevard was released in 2021 and contains the most current information about Max and Rebecca's deaths. It lays out new unbiased theories on both sides of the murder/suicide debate. It even details the findings of the civil lawsuit against Adam Shacknai in 2018.

I won't post my personal opinions about the case because I feel different people will take away different things from the information Caitlin provided in this book. But I will say, I have very little hope that this case will ever be reopened. My hope is that since then-Sheriff Bill Gore has finally retired, maybe someone will get to look at this case with a fresh set of eyes. Gore's questionable ethics and statements surrounding the case and other cases he's been involved with (see The Federal Siege at Ruby Ridge) irk me to my very core.

The Book Woman's Daughter

This sequel was everything I hoped it would be.

We first met Cussy Mary in The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek. Her story was not an uncommon one, she was constantly looked down upon because of the color of her blue skin. But that didn't stop her from becoming a Pack Horse Librarian who most people came to love. That love is even more apparent in The Book Woman's Daughter.

 

The Book Woman's Daughter picks up nearly 17 years later, following Honey's story. Cussy Mary and Jackson Lovett accept Honey as their own when her birth parents passed. But this story picks up when both Cussy Mary and Jackson are hauled off to prison for violating miscegenation laws. Their racial makeup meant nothing when it came to their love, but the state of Kentucky thought differently in 1953.

Honey is sent back to Troublesome Creek to live with Retta, a close family friend. After moving back to Troublesome, Honey begins to see the blatant misogyny and discrimination that casts a dark shadow over the town. The abuse, the corruption, the lack of freedom really makes Honey think she can change things. Obviously, she follows in her mother's footsteps and signs up to be a Pack Horse Librarian.

 

This story is less about the power of books and more about the power of women. It's illustrated a world where men are responsible for making what they believed were the "best decisions" for women. A world where women are assaulted at work. A world where women are expected to marry young, yet don't have the freedom to live on their own. It's a sad story, with a lot of the same things happening even now, in 2022. This quote from Honey's lawyer really resonated with me, "Thought it rarely happens fast enough and not near as quick as it should...I expect like all ugly laws, change will come."

Looking for the rest of the series?

The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek