My friend, TOpoet and I share a fascination for life’s oddities. He pointed me to this horrific product that was released to unsuspecting consumers in the late 1920s and finally discontinued around 1941. You could sprinkle this sh*t throughout your house and on your tree for Christmas and bonus – it wouldn’t catch on fire.
For generations, asbestos, a naturally occurring fibrous mineral, was thought to be a miracle product. It stood up to weather (asbestos tiles), it had great insulating properties (pipe lagging) and it was fire-proof (coating on steel beams). Too bad this innocuous fluffy grey material kills you!
Asbestos does you in in one of three ways: asbestosis, lung cancer and worst of all, mesothelioma, a cancer of the pleura. Mesothelioma, a 100% fatal disease, is only caused by asbestos. Electron micrograph images show the hardy little microfibers spearing your cells and your DNA. It was the cause of death of Hollywood star, Steve McQueen, who was exposed to it when he worked in the shipyards during WW2.
According to Snopes, asbestos snow was used in the 1939 classic film, “The Wizard of Oz”. Remember the scene where Dorothy and her friends are awakened from the Wicked Witch of the West’s spell in the poppy field by a snow fall? Yep, that’s asbestos snow!
Warning: vintage decorations with “snow” dating from the 1920 to 1940s may contain asbestos. Better living through chemisty – NOT!
The Chrysler building is my favorite New York sky scraper. What’s not to love about its stainless steel roof and Art Deco perfection?
And the fact that its observation deck on the 71st floor has been closed to the public adds to its mystery. What’s inside that steel dome? A secret nightclub? The most exclusive penthouse condo in NYC?
Visitors to the Chrysler Building are actively discouraged. Ten years ago, we were able to walk into its beautiful Art Deco lobby for a look-see, but on our first visit after COVID, we were summarily chased out by the security guard! That, of course, piqued my curiosity even more.
Beautiful lobby of the Chrysler Building
To my surprise the answers to the Chrysler Building’s mysteries popped up on the internet and we can visit inside its stainless steel roof -virtually – thanks to urban explorer, Moses Gates, author of Hidden Cities. (Eat that Book!)
Walter P. Chrysler, famed auto magnate, wanted a personal monument to himself. The building was completed on May 28, 1930, according to a design by architect, William Van Alen. Somewhat foolishly, Van Alen never signed a contract with Chrysler, who refused to pay him, accusing him of shady dealings with the building contractors. Van Alen sued and did get his money eventually but the fight ruined his reputation and he never worked as an architect again. (Sound familiar?)
Then as now there was a lot of dick-waving: to own the tallest building in the world and to make them taller with spires. The Chrysler Building’s 61 meter spire, made of special stainless steel, was hidden inside the building and installed as a crowning touch. For about 11 months, it was the tallest in the world until the Empire State Building surpassed it.
Walter Chrysler kept his own office and apartment in the building though apparently he didn’t use either much. He like to boast that he had the highest toilet in the world.
Walter Chrysler’s potty
Interestingly, the other private apartment in the Chrysler Building belonged to a woman, photo-journalist Margaret Bourke. Despite her wealth and fame, she had to have the lease to her 61st floor apartment co-signed by Time, Inc. because she was female. Here she is astride one of the building’s gargoyles. She had a remarkable career as a war correspondent and adventurer. (Read more about her here.)
Margaret Bourke and gargoyle
At the behest of Texaco, Chrysler installed the Cloud Club, with three exclusive dining rooms – and a speakeasy – on floors 66 to 68. The Cloud Club lasted 40+ years until the late 1970s when it was demolished for office space. That was much longer than the celestial-themed observation deck on the 71st floor, which was shut down in 1945.
Celestial-themed observation deck
But there was a way, you could see NYC from the top of the Chrysler Building: you could go to the dentist! From 1962 to 2012, Dr. Charles M. Weiss ran his dental practice, mostly located on the 69th floor. He was known as The Dentist in the Sky and was an innovator in dental implantology.
The Dentist in the Sky
But what about inside that glorious stainless steel roof? Are there hidden speak-easies? Secret apartments for mistresses? Who better to ask than urban explorer, Moses Gates? Here’s the YouTube video of his visit INSIDE the stainless steel roof.
It’s a dizzying climb with a spectacular forbidden view of NYC, but the inside is underwhelmingly functional, with concrete beams, ladders and steel walkways.
About 25 years ago, I picked up, Birdman, a new crime fiction book that was getting a lot of buzz: I would soon regret it. Sadly Birdman is one of those few books that despite excellent writing and a gripping narrative I simply found too intense to finish. It’s not every day when frank torture porn and SM hit the main stream, but when they do so successfully, it can mean mega sales and mega bucks. (Think 50 Shades of Grey…)
Birdman, the debut novel of author, Mo Hayder, was described by its publisher, Transworld, as one of the most powerful and violent books they had ever come across. (I can’t disagree.) Released in December 1999, it became an international bestseller. Hayder went on to write another 10 novels, many of them bestsellers and many nominated for the prestigious CWA Dagger awards. Her seventh book, Gone, won the Edgar Award in 2012. As of 2021, her novels have sold more than 6.5 million copies.
So who was Mo Hayder? What lay at the heart of her dark, violent fantasies?
Hayder was born Clare Damaris Bastin on January 2, 1962 to John Bastin, an astrophysicist (!) and Susan Hollins, a teacher. She was blessed / cursed with knock-out good looks and left home for the big city of London before age 16. By 1982, at age 20, she’d won the Miss Nude Beauty Pageant and been a “Page 3” topless model in the notorious British tabloid, The Sun.
She turned to acting under the stage name, Candy Davis and became – you’ll never guess – secretary Miss Belfridge in the longstanding British sitcom, Are You Being Served?, which ran from 1972 to 1985.
Candy Davis and Nicholas Smith, the bumbling manager
One of the running jokes of the show was that “young” Mr. Grace, the elderly owner of Grace Brothers department store, always had a gorgeous secretary and/or nurse who was the near-death of him. By today’s standards, that humor seems sexist and crass, but at the time, audiences enjoyed it.
Hayder joined the show in 1983. By then the actor who played “young” Mr. Grace had retired so she became inept manager, Rumbold’s assistant instead. She remained a regular cast member until the show ended in 1985. Here’s a clip of her performances from YouTube.
It seems Hayder’s acting career never materialized after that. She married briefly in 1985 then at age 25, in 1987, she moved to Tokyo, Japan. There she appears to have had an adventurous, perhaps a risky, life, working as a waitress at a nightclub and as amateur filmmaker. What happened in that span of 14 years until she emerged as one of crime fiction’s darkest authors in 1999? That, too, will remain a mystery.
In 2021, Mo Hayder died young at age 59 of Lou Gerig’s disease.
Last fall, we made a sentimental journey to Stowe, Vermont, which included a visit to one of my favorite bookshops, Bear Pond Books, the second largest indie bookstore in the state. Bear Pond showcases local authors, intelligent kids books and works about adventuring and nature. That’s where I grabbed my holiday read: Trail of the Lost by Andrea Lankford.
I’m fascinated by stories of mysterious disappearances, especially people who vanish in the wilderness. (See my previous blogs, The Riddle of Julian Sands and The Cold Vanish.) Andrea Lankford, author of Trail of the Lost, worked for 12 years as a park ranger with the USA’s National Park Service, leading search and rescue missions in some of the most beautiful – and dangerous – places. Her bestselling book shines light on the unsung heroes of search-and rescue: the many volunteers who end up devoting their lives, often over many years, to locate people who walked into nature and were never seen or heard from again.
Lankford investigates the cases of three young men who went missing while hiking the Pacific Crest Trail, which stretches 2650 miles from California to the Canadian border. It’s the west coast twin of the Appalachian Trail, celebrated by Bill Bryson in his hilarious book, A Walk in the Woods, which captures perfectly the utter misery of hiking. The Pacific Crest Trail is perhaps the more remote and more dangerous of the two.
Chris Sylvia. 28, was an unemployed artist living in California. After suffering a few emotional setbacks, he decided to do a 2-week hike on the PCT to find himself. Since it was February, he headed south toward the Mexican border. Only four days in, he phoned his best friend, Min, to pick him up, but he never showed. Worried, Min reported him missing. Sometime later, his hiking gear showed up at a gear exchange facility along the trail. The hikers who turned it in found the gear lying on the trail…
On the other hand, Kris Fowler, 34, was an experienced woodsman. He’d already completed 2000 miles of the PCT and was making for White Pass and the end of the trail at the Canadian border when he vanished without a trace. The October weather was cold and dreary and at higher altitudes there was always the threat of snow…
David O’Sullivan, 25, was an Irish citizen out for adventure and determined to complete the full PCT. He started his trek from Campo, near the Mexican border. Though it was April, hikers reported icy spots in the higher, steeper regions that could lead to serious accidents. David vanished near Mile 179 …
Trail of the Lost: Highly recommended. Five stars! A poignant portrayal of hiking, its euphoric highs, the sacrifice and heroism of participants and volunteers and the dark dangers inherent in nature and the occasional human.
When my husband, Ed and I learned that a total eclipse would pass near Toronto on April 8th, we got excited. After all, we’re Trekkies and space nerds. The next total eclipse near Toronto won’t take place until 2106, so if we didn’t see this one, it was now or never.
Toronto would only view a partial eclipse. I’d witnessed one once before in the 1990s. A business friend and I broke away from our lunch near Yonge and Bloor and rushed out for a look, allowing ourselves only 1 or 2 second glimpses so we wouldn’t burn out our retinas. At the max of the shadow, all went still. Traffic stopped. The only sound was birdsong: very cool.
Back then Ed made a pinhole camera for our daughter for them to watch the moon cross the sun. Now, 30 years later, he made another and ordered safe viewing glasses from Amazon that resembled retro cardboard 3-D movie glasses. Fingers crossed they worked!
Dorky but it works!
To see the full eclipse meant a drive to Hamilton or Niagara Falls. News reports said The Falls were expecting 100,000+ people so we opted for Hamilton. Somewhere on Hamilton Mountain surely we’d find a spot.
Getting there proved to be a challenge. Sadly the news reports weren’t wrong. Highway 407, the toll road, looked as clogged as Highway 401 at rush hour. Time was running out and we were beginning to lose hope when Ed remembered that the path of the total eclipse passed through Burlington.
We turned off the 407 and raced down to Burlington and Lake Ontario. Not too much traffic, thank God. We parked on a residential street and made the long walk down to the lakeshore, armed with our safety glasses and trusty pinhole camera. Bolstered with refreshments from Tim Hortons, we found a spot in Spencer Smith Park right next to the lake near a large hotel called appropriately enough, The Waterfront Hotel.
How Canadian!
Spectators were in a festive mood. Hotel staff were giving their outdoor cafe patrons eclipse glasses. They continued to hand out glasses to the nearby crowd – even to drivers who’d slowed down and parked to view the spectacle.
The beginning
Then we waited – and waited. It started slowly with a tiny edge of dark crescent. Overall daylight stayed bright. Yet incrementally over the next 20 minutes, the light dimmed to the level of a cloudy day.
“Maybe this is as good as it gets,” my husband mused. Indeed during the partial eclipse many years ago the noon day light dimmed to early twilight.
Then it happened: the moon moved over the sun and we saw the corona. A few seconds later, the light went out. Exactly that: midnight! All the night lights of the city came on: the streetlights, the restaurant and store signs. The sun was gone – snuffed out.
The coronaThe Brant St. Pier in Burlington, Canada at night (Stock photo, my camera didn’t work.)
And it got cold. All I could think of were those retro science documentaries we’d seen as children: all life comes from the sun….No kidding. How long would it take for the earth to cool down to the Absolute Zero of outer space?
The light comes back.
Then the moon moved away and the light came back. Spectators cheered and applauded. For a short time, a warm camaraderie shared by tiny denizens on Earth.
I’ve been a bit absent during 2024, but starting now, look for my blog once a week. My first topic, the mind-blowing solar eclipse in Burlington, Ontario in 2024 (my first ever!).
I’m delighted to announce the Mesdames and Messieurs 6th anthology, The 13th Letter, edited by Donna Carrick and published by Carrick Publishing. The title and theme of our book is one of Donna’s many brilliant ideas.
You see, “M” is the 13th letter of the alphabet. What could line up better with our brand of “13”? The leading crime writers in this collection have used “M” to stand for mayhem, mischief, mystery and of course, murder. Very happy that my story, “The Boy in the Picture”, is one of the 22 tales in this book.
“The Boy in the Picture” was inspired by my visit to Calgary to attend the multi-genre conference, When Words Collide. I took the opportunity to visit one of the three houses I lived in during my unsettled childhood. My house was long torn down, but the street, including the one heritage home on it, was exactly as I remembered it.
Once again, amazing artist, Sara Carrick has created the cover that’s not only visually arresting but reveals how “M” is the 13th letter.
The 13th Letter will be available for pre-order later this month or in early October. Look for it on Amazon in hard cover, soft cover and ebook!
And if you are in the Toronto area at 2 pm on Saturday, November 2nd, drop in to our real world launch at the fabulous bookstore, Sleuth of Baker Street, 920 Millwood Road.
I was delighted and surprised that my short story, “Wisteria Cottage” , published in Malice Domestic’s anthology, Mystery Most Traditional, was nominated for CWC’s Best Short Story Award. It’s up against some stiff competition from award-winning author, Marcelle Dube, but I’ll take it!
Another wonderful thing: I was just interviewed by CWC’s Erik de Souza. It’s always a pleasure to chat with Erik and here are my 15 minutes of fame:
So excited to be attending another Left Coast Crime from April 10 to 14th. I’m on a super panel, Mix it Up: Authors who Bend Genres moderated by one of my fav authors, Rob Osler. (Friday April 12th at 4 pm) Rob is the author of two wonderful comedy mysteries: The Devil’s Chew Toy and Cirque du Slay.
I’m excited to meet the other members of the panel, Stephanie Clemens who writes steam punk adventure; Kat Richardson whose work encompasses fantasy and romance; and Rob Hart, who writes both crime and speculative fiction. I think I may be the horror rep with my dark snake-based novella, Snake Oil, though I do stray into SF and sometimes even try my hand at comedy.
I can’t wait to connect with my American and Canadian crime writers friends! On Thursday, April 11th, friends A.J. Devlin and Winona Kent are hosting a Canuck get-together, featuring that most Canadian invention: the Caesar. And on Saturday at 7:15 am, if I can haul my butt out of bed that early, there’s the Short Mystery Fiction Society breakfast.
Last year, my friend, author and magician, Stephen Buehler and I attended the Author Speed Dating event as readers rather than writers: a terrific learning experience and a most enjoyable way to discover new favorite authors. I aim for a repeat this year.
Will tell all my adventures in Seattle in my next post!
Great news: the Mesdames and Messieurs of Mayhem are bringing out The 13th Letter, their 6th anthology. The 13th letter for the alphabet is the letter “M” where M stands for Mesdames, Messieurs, mischief, malfeasance, mystery and of course, murder!
Edited by Donna Carrick, The 13th Letter, is slated to be released by Carrick Publishing in September / October, 2024 with a launch in late October / early November at our favorite bookstore, Sleuth of Baker Street.
Cover will be by our amazing artist, Sara Carrick. Reveal to come, stay posted!
