How They Murdered Princess Diana: The Shocking Truth: by John Morgan.

The topic is aligned with the last few books read about various royals of Europe, but in most other ways this is closer in spirit to an earlier work that had then shocked the west, "Holy Blood, Holy Grail", in that both works point at several inconsistencies and gaps in the official version of the story, and ask questions, and provide answers that alone make any sense out of the said gaps and inconsistencies.Both works took down huge and powerful ancient institutions, a peg or a notch and in fact the whole pedestal as well, albeit not quite into oblivion they deserve to be in.

Also of course, inevitably, this reminds one of the film JFK, although that was about a true story of Jim Garrison who alone prosecuted anyone in context of the murder, and lived on. Diana lacked a Garrison only in the sense no one quite succeeded in calling the bluff quite so openly and officially, although in another sense she had more than one knight who did come forth with facts and forced the officialdom to open inquests when they had no intention of doing so, and what's more, the jury at the British inquest delivered a verdict of "unlawful killing" after they were explicitly told they could not call it a murder, and further named the motorbike riders that had pretended to be paparazzi but were not, harassing the couple and causing the crash quite intentionally.

This work goes further than JFK in exploring the whole scenario as completely as known till date, which one must suppose JFK did do when it was made, or rather when Garrison prosecuted the case. More is known or found since, and put in context in a video on internet that runs about a couple of hours or longer, named "JFK to 9/11".

Somewhere along the way reading this book, one wonders if the monarchy as an institution has run long past its expiry date, especially in England, since this story has far more in common with the last Tudor to rule England - the male royal can do as he pleases, whether born royal or married one, but the women, especially the brides, must risk their lives if they do not please the royals at any point of their life. That Diana is mother to future king of England did not spare her life any more that it did that of Anne Boleyn, the mother of Queen Elizabeth I who was in effect the mother of the nation that England became, out of the small and harried one that she had inherited.

Further ironies of course have been obvious for a while. The much disapproving royalty of the day that never granted wife of Duke of Windsor a royal status and took it away from Diana, Princess of Wales, has post her death allowed her ex husband to marry a divorcee and retain his royal status, and if he is required to abdicate his succession as his great-uncle King Edward VII was before coronation, it is not yet known. Perhaps they are trying to make people accept it by playing low key, and people after all have little power in a nation where even in court one is required to swear allegiance to monarchy before swearing to truth.

As to the actual story of the crash, and the lies and discrepancies and intrigue surrounding Diana that ended in the fatal crash causing her death along with that of her then love, and the lies and the cover up that began immediately and went on in face of facts known to the contrary, all described and exposed in this work, it is horrifying and, needless to say, tremendously disgusting. One is horrified and disgusted enough when it happens to any bride, any woman, in any society, any nation. But the lie that is propagated in west making one expect west to be as civilised as west claims, makes this story all the more horrible, all the more disgusting one with the people who went along with the official lies, murder and cover up.

The Royal Family - Years of Transition; by Theo Aronson.

In the series of books one has read recently (but not necessarily published recently), relating to the subject of various royals across Europe and mostly related to the clan of Queen Victoria, this one is by far the most candyfloss confection that could give one a brain shock unless taken with a pinch of another work to counteract the sugar in this.

The trouble here isn't that the topic warrants this treatment, but rather that it doesn't, as evidenced by the various historical events of the twentieth century, of which perhaps the death of Princess Diana was most shocking across globe for most people, especially those who had not personally been of age to be shocked by events of the earlier era of WWI, but perhaps even them. Ironically this book finishes its tale at birth of Prince William, the first son of Diana, and gives the picture of the family as being all hunky dory, although it was either published or subsequently re edited about '86 to let the reader know that the Queen Mother is healthy at that time. That the various affairs of Prince Charles are left unmentioned, including the now wife and then paramour Camilla, then Parker Bowles and now Duchess of Cornwall, makes it all the more dated.

For a healthy dose to counter the sugar shock of this one, fortunately, there is an apt one around - How They Murdered Princess Diana.

Crowns in Conflict: The Triumph and the Tragedy of European Monarchy, 1910-1918 by Theo Aronson

The first half of the twentieth century was of tremendous upheavals in the world, what with two world wars, revolutions and the nuclear physics era that came in with a literal bang, rather more than one. The world powers changed the status from Europe being major colonial powers to the bipolar era of US and USSR being the two major powers, and Europe diminished into its physical space post end of colonial era heralded by the two major wars.

Amongst all these the relatively less noticed, or rather comparatively forgotten, is the end of the era of monarchies in most of Europe, which affected the royal families across the continent as much as it did the various nations involved. These families were all interconnected by blood and marriages, most connected to the British royal family directly, and in fact most were directly related to the Queen Victoria who ruled most of the previous century with its establishing of the British Empire, by blood or marriage - she was called Grandma of Europe, and she referred the usual gatherings of the royals at various weddings and funerals and other state events with an apt epithet "The Royal Mob".

It is rather apt that the century that brought in the end of the monarchies in most of Europe was heralded by the end of reign of Queen Victoria who died almost at the beginning of the century, but paradoxically the various descendants and other relatives of hers whose reign ended in Europe did not include Britain monarchy.

This work is a summary of the early part of this history of the end of monarchies brought about with the first world war, and gives a general reader a good beginning of understanding about the events of the first quarter of the twentieth century across Europe, from point of view centred and focused on the royal families of the continent.

The Calcutta Chromosome: A Novel of Fevers, Delirium & Discover; by Amitav Ghosh.

On the face of it, the book is confusing - the story is told in a convoluted way, and the whole pattern makes little sense other than trying to confound and strike the reader with an amazement at the various factors brought in by the author. There is the English officer in India during colonial times who is credited with discovery of an immensely important level then, a breakthrough about malaria and its cause, and more. Then there is the man in New York who keeps track of various matters - including people - across globe, a cog in a global wheel, who comes across an unclear piece of a lost identity card on screen and happens to be able to place the person it belongs to, having also met him, who happens to be an expert on the topic of the said British officer who made the immensely important discovery in cause and treatment of malaria. And then there are the various characters, some mysterious and some mystified, and some helpful in unravelling the mystery, in Calcutta and other places across India who have interacted with these main characters.

At some point one wonders about this structure of the book, about the characters normal and others mysterious, whether this convoluted tale is fashioned on the mysterious way science and scientific discoveries work - and the way it all seems a mystery to those not quite in the field, most of the time.