July Is Crime Month: The Crime Blotter, Week 5

Since July Is Crime Month at the Chronicle, the ruffians and reprobates at this rag want to be sure you find as much trouble as possible before August shows up like a nosy cop asking all the wrong questions. So each week, we’ll fill you in on films, readings, book clubs, and more where crime does pay – for a while, anyway.

Here are the trouble spots from July 29-31.

True Crime Book Club at Old Quarry: Remembering Satan: A Tragic Case of Recovered Memory
In 1995, Austin author Lawrence Wright turned his investigative lens on the Satanic panic of the Eighties and Nineties through a case in Washington state in which the daughters of a deputy sheriff who also served as chair of the county Republican Party accused their father of sexual abuse. As the case wound on, however, the women claimed to remember having been abused by others as well, including their father's friends and co-workers and even their mother and brothers, with some of the abuse involving Satanic rituals. When confronted with the charges, their father began to "remember" such rituals, too. But Wright follows the case through the unraveling of these charges and questions the phenomenon of "recovered memories."
Mon., July 29, 6:30pm
Old Quarry Branch, 7051 Village Center.
www.library.austintexas.gov

True Crime Book Club: Remembering Satan: A Tragic Case of Recovered Memory
In 1995, Austin author Lawrence Wright turned his investigative lens on the Satanic panic of the Eighties and Nineties through a case in Washington state in which the daughters of a deputy sheriff who also served as chair of the county Republican Party accused their father of sexual abuse. As the case wound on, however, the women claimed to remember having been abused by others as well, including their father's friends and co-workers and even their mother and brothers, with some of the abuse involving Satanic rituals. When confronted with the charges, their father began to "remember" such rituals, too. But Wright follows the case through the unraveling of these charges and questions the phenomenon of "recovered memories." True crime-loving librarians Julie and Maggie lead this book club that meets monthly at the Central Library.
Tue., July 30, 6:30pm
Central Library Living Room (sixth floor) of the the Austin Central Library, 710 W. Cesar Chavez.
www.library.austintexas.gov

Bullitt
Steve McQueen's the King in Peter Yates' groundbreaking 1968 action film. When the mob witness he's assigned to protect gets whacked anyway, San Francisco Police detective Frank Bullitt will stop at nothing to get the killers – including driving his Mustang GT Fastback at 100mph down the city's steep and twisty streets. Director Peter Yates set a new standard for chase sequences with this picture's almost 11-minute thrill ride that frequently puts you in the car as vehicles take flight and make hair-raising turns.
Tue., July 30, 7pm. Paramount Theatre, 713 Congress. www.austintheatre.org.

The French Connection
Take in William Friedkin's 1971 crime thriller, then tell me which is scarier: The legendary chase sequence that has MYPD detective "Popeye" Doyle driving like a madman on New York City streets – and sidewalks! – in pursuit of a "L" train with a hitman on board, or "Popeye" himself, given a seething, savage edge in Gene Hackman's Oscar-winning performance. Both are scary, yeah, but you'll be hard-pressed to take your eyes off either.
Tue., July 30, 9:10pm. Paramount Theatre, 713 Congress. www.austintheatre.org.

Mystery Book Club: The Glass Ocean
In this 2018 novel from Beatriz Williams, Lauren Willig, and Karen White, a writer's search for inspiration for her next book sends her to a chest belonging to her great-grandfather, a passenger on the Lusitania when it was sunk by a German U-boat. In it, she discovers a story of two women ripe for change in their lives. But one of them is the daughter of a con artist and aims to find hers by pulling off a heist on the luxury liner.
Wed., July 31, 7:30pm
Southeast Branch, 5803 Nuckols Crossing.
www.library.austintexas.gov

Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans
Nicolas Cage. Werner Herzog. A corrupt cop in post-Katrina NOLA. I'm not sure there's anything else to say except hallucinatory iguanas. Yes, they're part of the wild ride in this unconventional, unpredictable, un-everything crime picture that has Cage – playing a drug-addicted, gambling-addicted, corrupt cop in the Big Easy – going for broke and coming up with what many critics called his best performance in years. "A glorious, pulpy mess," in the words of The New York Times' A.O. Scott.
Wed., July 31, 9pm, at AFS Cinema, 6406 N. I-35 Ste 3100. www.austinfilm.org