BOOKS DIGEST || Writers group to meet

Writers group to meet

CANFIELD

Area writers are invited to Monday Night Writers from 6 to 8 p.m. June 24 at Peaberry’s Cafe, 4350 Boardman-Canfield Road.

Led by author and professional writer Nancy Christie, the two-hour sessions will include both writing exercises and discussions on the creative and business aspects of writing. Those with works-in-progress are welcome to take copies of their projects for comments and critiques from the group.

The fee is $10 per class, and registration is preferred. For information, email Christie at nancy@nancychristie.com.

New book explores theory on ‘Butcher’

KENT

Multiple murder-dismemberments in swamps near New Castle, Pa., in the 1920s presented a baffling question for law enforcement. Were the killings the work of Cleveland’s Mad Butcher?

“Hell’s Wasteland: The Pennsylvania Torso Murders” explores that possibility in depth. The author is James Jessen Badal, assistant professor of English and journalism at Cuyahoga Community College’s eastern campus in Cleveland.

From 1934 to 1938, Cleveland’s safety director, Eliot Ness, investigated killings attributed to the Mad Butcher of Kingsbury Run, who littered the city with 12 mutilated bodies. He was never caught.

Ohio and Pennsylvania authorities thought the swamp murders were the work of Cleveland’s phantom killer. “Hell’s Wasteland” weighs the evidence compiled over decades.

The book is published by Kent State University Press. Visit www.kentstateuniversitypress.com.

Berry Gordy memoir reissued as e-book

NEW YORK

The Berry Gordy memoir that inspired the Broadway hit “Motown: The Musical” was reissued as an e-book.

Gordy’s “To Be Loved,” first published in 1994, had been out of print. The e-edition was released Thursday by RosettaBooks, a digital publisher.

The book covers Gordy’s rise from high-school dropout to head of a record label that featured Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder and Diana Ross and turned out scores of hits in the 1960s and ’70s.

The book was adapted for “Motown: The Musical,” which Gordy co-produced. The show has been nominated for four Tonys, with the awards ceremony scheduled for today.

In a statement issued by Rosetta, Gordy said he had written the book to “capture the remarkable times” and “great artists” of the Motown era.

China approves Penguin, Random House merger

NEW YORK

Two of the world’s largest publishers, Random House Inc. and Penguin Group, expect to complete a planned merger next month.

Parent companies Bertelsmann and Pearson announced that the merger had been cleared by anti-trust authorities in China, among the last countries to give approval. The new publishing house, Penguin Random House, will be 53 percent controlled by Bertelsmann and 47 percent by Pearson.

Penguin Random House will include top-selling authors such as Dan Brown and Ken Follett and a vast back catalog ranging from John Steinbeck’s “The Grapes of Wrath” to Ralph Ellison’s “Invisible Man.”