“Sometimes the world’s magic leaks out.”

Violini provides 365 separate entries keyed to the dates in history corresponding to the bizarre and mysterious events she chronicles. Fifty-eight years ago today, for example, Yeti footprints were found on Mount Everest. Violini writes compact entries, full of facts that will satisfy trivia buffs whether or not they are familiar with the event. The Yeti footprint essay contains just enough details to relay the full story, leaving plenty of room for the additional touches that the author provides for each entry: a quote (in this case “It began in mystery, and it will end in mystery, but what a savage and beautiful country lives in between.” – Diane Ackerman), the day’s secret power, and a clue for optimizing the secret power.

The infamous, incredible, and ignored topics run the gamut from fish that fall from the sky to a woman with X-ray vision, from time-traveling French women to the mysterious death of Meriwether Lewis. Crop circles, UFOs, supernatural powers, and just about all other weird things you can think of grace the pages of this unique and entertaining almanac.

Violini has done a good bit of research, and she probably enjoyed every moment of it. Her MysteryFactory.com website makes her a familiar name to fans of crime fiction, but the majority of mysteries included in Almanac of the Infamous, the Incredible, and the Ignored lean toward the fantastic, making them all the more fun because we get to continue speculating about them.

Almanac of the Infamous, the Incredible, and the Ignored is a year’s worth of education and entertainment that trivia buffs and mystery lovers will cherish.