Books

Book Review – Who Put Bella in the Wych Elm: Volume 2: A Crime Shrouded in Mystery – Alex Merrill (2019)

The Book Who Put Bella in the Wych Elm: Volume 2 – A Crime Shrouded in Mystery. Alex Merrill. APS Publications. 2019. Summary The mystery of who put Bella in the Wych Elm has an enduring fascination. Over the decades, theories of whose skeletal remains were found in a hollow tree in Hagley Wood, Worcestershire, […]

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Book Review – Ghost of a Hurt – Bella in the Wych Elm – Rik Rawling (2008)

During my research into the Bella story, I’ve come across repeated references to a booklet published by Rik Rawling entitled Ghost of a Hurt. Unable to find a copy online, I reached out to Pete Merrill (co-author of another book on Bella) and got Rawling’s contact info. Rawling was kind enough to send me a

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Shanghai Remembered

Book Review – Shanghai Remembered – Bert Faulbaum (ed.) (2005)

The Book Shanghai Remembered: Stories of Jews who escaped to Shanghai from Nazi Europe. Bert Falbaum (ed.). Momentum Books. 2005. Summary I came across this book while researching the stories of the German Jews who got caught up in Niska and Ziebell’s passport business. The book is composed of chapters written by individuals whose families

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Bella: An Unsolved Murder

Book Review – Bella: An Unsolved Murder – Joyce M. Coley (2007)

The Book Bella: An Unsolved Murder. Joyce M. Coley. History in Print. 2007. Summary This book was written over 12 years ago by Joyce M. Coley, and is often quoted in Bella lore. I ordered a copy from Amazon and read it in less than an hour. The book is more pamphlet than “book” comprising

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Book Review - Some were Spies - Earl Jowitt

Book Review – Some were Spies – The Earl Jowitt (1954)

Another interruption to the blog series on the black market German passport business. I’m needing some serious research time to look into the Finn Algoth Niska. Quite a character but much of the information is in Finnish and requires some tedious translation work with Google Translate. Stay tuned for the continuing series in a week

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Book Review – The Beautiful Spy – the Life and Crimse of Vera Eriksen – David Tremain (2019)

The BookThe Beautiful Spy – The Life and Crimes of Vera Eriksen. David Tremain. The History Press. 2019. SummaryIn late September 1940, two men and a woman beached their inflatable life raft on the coast of Scotland. The group split up, one man (Werner Walti) went off on his own and got as far as

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