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Rating: 
Summary: Whisper to the Black Candle ......
Review: I never knew much about the book til I seen it in the library where I used to live. The title alone was what brought me to pick it up. It was odd for a title. Yet, once I read the inside sleeve..I knew I had to read this book. Checking it out at the library, I immediately got into reading it and couldn't put it down. Neither will you. It's a book about Voodoo, Arsenic, and a woman named Anjette Lyles. Definitely worth checking out if you're into true crime books.......
Rating: 
Summary: Serial Killing in Macon
Review: Poisoners are always premeditated killers. The act of poisoning another person, particularly over a long period of time, bespeaks of what the law describes as a "malignant heart." The idea of watching one's handwork slowly overtake and painfully kill a victim is almost too cruel for imagination. But when the victims include her own young daughter, then the murderess may be assured of permanent infamy. In 1958 Anjette Lyles went on trial for killing her nine-year-old daughter, as well as a couple of husbands and a mother-in-law using Terro ant killer, which as we learn is 94% arsenic. This happened in Macon Georgia, not far from the rural middle Georgia town I spent my summers as a child. Anjette ran a restaurant, a courthouse kind of place, where she fed the very judges, prosecutors and even some of the jurors who would later condemn her to Georgia's electric chair. Being taking to the big city as a boy always meant that her restaurant would be pointed out and the tale of her perfidy retold. My complaint about this book is that it doesn't tell enough. Spared execution because she was supposedly too insane to be put to death, Anjette spent the remainder of her life at the Central State Hospital in Milledgeville. The author failed to come to grips with the fact that in 1972 capital punishment was effectively (though temporarily) outlawed when the United States Supreme Court decided Furman v. Georgia. And while Ms White makes a good case of psychiatric malingering, the fact remains that Anjette Lyles remained in Milledgeville even after she no longer faced execution in the event she was determined to be restored to sanity. Further the degree of insanity necessary to avoid the death penalty being imposed is quite high. Essentially a condemned must not be able to understand that he or she faced execution , the reasons for it, and the consequences of it. Anjette seemed to be qualified in every way for the ultimate punishment, even if she was an obvious sociopath. This will not be the definitive book about Anjette Lyles, though it is a good start. The definitive book has yet to be written, but when it is, Anjette Lyles will be assured of her proper place among the serial killers of the twentieth century.
Rating: 
Summary: Who was the real Anjette Lyles?
Review: This book is definitely an enjoyable read. The case of Anjette Lyles is indeed an interesting story. If the title of the book was "The Trial of Anjette Lyles," then I would give this book a 5-star review. What's in the book is fine. It is well written and very factual. But what is not covered in the book is what leaves you wanting more. The book picks up Anjette's story with her marriage. Not much of Anjette's childhood and teenage years is covered. You can't help but wonder about her upbringing. Could the insights of her childhood friends and school classmates of Anjettes's have provided a better understanding of Anjette. How did Anjette get involved in black magic? What was she trying to influence with her candles and voodoo? These questions are never really addressed in the book From a secular viewpoint, was Anjette mentally competent? She clearly knew right from wrong. And no doubt, she knew how to manipulate the psychiatrists. Did she descend into madness or was her act a total sham? From spiritual viewpoint, Anjette professed to be a good Christian woman. Yet she dappled in the occult and seemed to put her trust in black magic. Was her Bible toting a sham? Yes, this is a good book. Read it, but then wonder: "What's the rest of the story?"
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