It’s October 1931. When Winnie Ruth Judd arrives at the Los Angeles train station from Phoenix, her shipping trunks catch the attention of a suspicious porter. By the time they’re pried open, revealing the dismembered bodies of two women inside, Ruth has disappeared into the crowd. The search for, and eventual apprehension of, the Trunk Murderess quickly becomes a headline-making sensation. Even the Phoenix murder house is a sideshow attraction. The one question on everyone’s lips: How could a 26-year-old reverend’s daughter and doctor’s wife commit such a heinous act on two people she’d called “my dearest friends in the world”? Everyone has their theories and judgments, but no one knows the whole truth.

Laurie Notaro has proved everyone wrong: she didn’t end up in rehab, prison or cremated at a tender age. She just went gray. At past 50, every hair’s root is a symbol of knowledge (she knows how to use a landline), experience (she rode in a car with no seat belts) and superpowers (a gray-haired lady can get away with anything). Though navigating midlife is initially upsetting --- the cracking noises coming from her new old body, receiving regular junk mail from mortuaries --- Laurie accepts it. And then some. With unintentional abandon, she shoplifts a bag of russet potatoes, heckles a rude driver from her beat-up Prius, and engages in epic trolling on Nextdoor.com. That, says Laurie, is the brilliance of growing older. With each passing day, you lose an equivalent amount of fear.

Before Amelia Earhart was even on the radar, aviatrixes in London, Florida, Paris, Germany and New York were gearing up to follow in the footsteps of Charles Lindbergh and his record-breaking flight across the Atlantic Ocean. Several were pilots to begin with, and had already broken barriers for women in the field. Inspired by true events and real people, this novel follows three women all bitten by the flying bug in 1927. After years of thorough research, author Laurie Notaro shares their stories through striking photos and stunning prose as they collide, struggle and literally crash to chase the fame and place in history each one desperately desires to win.

Laurie Notaro isn’t exactly a domestic goddess --- unless that means she fully embraces her genetic hoarding predisposition, sneaks peeks at her husband’s daily journal, or has made a list of the people she wants on her Apocalypse Survival team (her husband is not on it). She chronicles her chronic misfortune in the domestic arts, including cooking, cleaning, and putting on Spanx while sweaty (which should technically qualify as an Olympic sport). HOUSEBROKEN is a rollicking new collection of essays showcasing Notaro’s irreverent wit and inability to feel shame.

Laurie Notaro is just trying to find the right fit --- whether it's in the blouse that looks charming on the mannequin but leaves her in a literal bind, or in her neighborhood after she's shamefully exposed at a holiday party. Notaro makes misstep after riotous misstep as she shares tales of marriage and family.

She thought she'd have more time. Laurie Notaro figured she had at least a few good years yet. But no --- it's happened. She has officially lost her marbles. From the kid at the pet-food store checkout line whose coif is so bizarre it makes her seethe ("I'm going to kick his hair's ass") to the hapless Sears customer service rep on the receiving end of her Campaign of Terror, no one is safe from Laurie's wrath. Her cranky side seems to have eaten the rest of her --- inner-thigh Chub Rub and all.