#reading eagle

It's part of the "American Crime Story" series airing on FX.

The FX network is back for the second season of its "American Crime Story" series, following the success of last year's Emmy-winning "The People v. O.J. Simpson."

Ryan Murphy once again is the executive producer of this anthology, based on actual crimes, and he directed the first episode of this year's unsettling installment, "The Assassination of Gianni Versace."

The first of nine episodes debuted last month and can be viewed via On Demand if you haven't been watching. The cast is terrific, and the adaptation written by British author Tom Rob Smith is on target. The limited series, which airs Wednesday nights at 10, is inspired by Maureen Orth's nonfiction book "Vulgar Favors: Andrew Cunanan, Gianni Versace and the Largest Failed Manhunt in U.S. History."

What both the "Simpson" series and "Versace" have in common is a gripping murder saga enhanced by powerful psychological insight into the minds of the principal characters. Murphy possesses the ability to entertain while exploring the dark side of human behavior, in this case represented by the deranged serial killer Andrew Cunanan.

Played with chilling bravado by Darren Criss (here eerily reminiscent of Anthony Perkins in "Psycho"), who also starred on Murphy's popular music series "Glee," Cunanan is severely disturbed, using his good looks to infiltrate the lives of wealthy gay men. But world-acclaimed fashion designer Versace was the big prize, a breathtaking symbol of the high life: money, sex and celebrity.

For a man like Cunanan, such a target proved irresistible. He had met Versace several years earlier in San Francisco but did not make the final cut, so to speak, into the designer's inner circle. Revenge was indeed part of his motive, and along the way, four other people lose their lives to make that happen.

The series also stars singer Ricky Martin as Versace's promiscuous lover; Venezuelan actor Edgar Ramirez as Versace; and Oscar-winning Spanish actress Penelope Cruz as the designer's shrewd sister, Donatella Versace. Murphy succeeded in attracting guest performers such as Judith Light, Mike Farrell and Cathy Moriarty to his expansive and impressive company as well.

Using a reversible flashback technique, he deftly ramps up the suspense, starting with the murder and jumping back and forward in time as Cunanan draws ever closer to Miami. The Italian-born Versace played a big role in transforming the city into a high-fashion capital. He ran his business, worth millions, from an elaborate mansion directly across from the sea in South Beach.

Adding to the docudrama's intimacy is Murphy's sharp eye for period detail, capturing the glamour that permeated 1997 Miami Beach, at the time in the midst of a transformation as crumbling apartment buildings and hotels were transformed into art deco masterpieces.

World-renowned chefs opened acclaimed restaurants, and the city's exciting nightlife drew A-list stars and models and singers and athletes to what had become America's biggest, and perhaps naughtiest, party town.

Exeter school’s teachers put art, heart into Valentine’s Day fundraiser

Minions, a Legoman, a shark, puppy and even a gumball machine: Those were just a few of the Valentine’s Day boxes that teachers from Exeter’s Owatin Creek Elementary School dreamed up last month during a schoolwide faculty decorating contest.

Led by fourth-grade teacher Jayne McHugh, nearly 20 teachers crafted the boxes in an effort to raise funds for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.”I just…