Mystery Monday

5 Flames

Good Evening, My Dearest Book Dragons,

I hope this finds you all as well as possible. Tonight’s review is going to be a little different. It’s not a book, nor is it a well established Dragon Feeder..this is a documentary. A tale that contains a Monster, a Knight, a beautiful Princess and a Troubadour of sorts.

I need to talk about myself a bit first, not something I am wont to do often, this is the place for Tales, after all. Since my late Nestlinghood on, I have loved True Crime. When CourTV became a thing, I watched every trial I possibly could.

I saw, in the early 2,000s, a diminutive man on trial for killing, dismembering and throwing said pieces into Galveston Bay. That man was Robert Durst. I sat day after day watching, thinking surely he would be found guilty. But, to my shock and horror he was found guilty only for abuse of a corpse. I was speechless.

Fast forward to 2012. I had a free HBO subscription and saw, again, the name Robert Durst. This time it was a documentary titled “The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst” by a cat named Andrew Jarecki. I thought it would be about the Galveston trial and told my husband. He is not a True Crime afficionado, but the story sparked some interest and he is a patient man with my “hobby”.

We watched and became riveted by the end of episode one (called Chapter 1). For five more nights we watched as the story unfolded and were shocked at the ending. If you haven’t seen it, I don’t do spoilers, so you’ll need to do some research – trust me, it’s worth it.

This week I saw a commercial and realized it was “The Jinx 2”. This was about the new trial that took place in 2020. I ordered a month of HBO and told my husband we were about to see the outcome of the crimes of Robert Durst. This time, he was totally on board.

It follows the new investigation by Deputy D.A. in Charge of Cold Cases for the city of Los Angeles, John Lewin. He had Robert charged with the murder of Durst’s best friend Susan Berman, journalist, and daughter of one of the founders of Las Vegas, Mobster David Berman. Susan was found dead in her home from two bullets in the back of her head.

Whether you love True Crime or just love seeing Justice unravel the Trap of a Monster, you are going to want to see this. There is no gratuitous gore. Or any gore. There is only John Lewin, a modern day Knight closing in hour by hour on a hideous Monster until, like the hero in a medieval tale, he traps the thing in it’s own Lair. Jarecki, like a troubadour, tells the Knight’s tale in all its Glory.

But this just isn’t a tale of Durst. It’s also about the multitude of Minions who helped him keep his secrets safe. It’s about people who literally sold their own souls. And its also a tale of the Monster’s Mate. The female is always deadlier than the male. Only this time, she’s killing her own soul.

Find “The Jinx” and then “The Jinx 2”. There should be two new statues in L.A. and New York. One each. One of the Knight: John Lewin and one of the Troubadour, Andrew Jarecki.

Until next time, I remain, your humble Book Dragon.

Drakon T. Longwitten