iBooks Top True Crime Ebooks

The top most popular and best selling true crime ebooks at the Apple iBookstore. Chart of the top true crime ebook best sellers updated daily.

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Top True Crime Ebook Best Sellers

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The Wager - David Grann Cover Art

The Wager

The Wager A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder by David Grann

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the author of Killers of the Flower Moon , a page-turning story of shipwreck, survival, and savagery, culminating in a court martial that reveals a shocking truth. The powerful narrative reveals the deeper meaning of the events on The Wager , showing that it was not only the captain and crew who ended up on trial, but the very idea of empire. A Best Book of the Year: The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The New Yorker , TIME , Smithsonian , NPR, Vulture, Kirkus Reviews “Riveting...Reads like a thriller, tackling a multilayered history—and imperialism—with gusto.” — Time "A tour de force of narrative nonfiction.” — The Wall Street Journal On January 28, 1742, a ramshackle vessel of patched-together wood and cloth washed up on the coast of Brazil. Inside were thirty emaciated men, barely alive, and they had an extraordinary tale to tell. They were survivors of His Majesty’s Ship the Wager, a British vessel that had left England in 1740 on a secret mission during an imperial war with Spain. While the Wager had been chasing a Spanish treasure-filled galleon known as “the prize of all the oceans,” it had wrecked on a desolate island off the coast of Patagonia. The men, after being marooned for months and facing starvation, built the flimsy craft and sailed for more than a hundred days, traversing nearly 3,000 miles of storm-wracked seas. They were greeted as heroes. But then ... six months later, another, even more decrepit craft landed on the coast of Chile. This boat contained just three castaways, and they told a very different story. The thirty sailors who landed in Brazil were not heroes – they were mutineers. The first group responded with countercharges of their own, of a tyrannical and murderous senior officer and his henchmen. It became clear that while stranded on the island the crew had fallen into anarchy, with warring factions fighting for dominion over the barren wilderness. As accusations of treachery and murder flew, the Admiralty convened a court martial to determine who was telling the truth. The stakes were life-and-death—for whomever the court found guilty could hang. The Wager is a grand tale of human behavior at the extremes told by one of our greatest nonfiction writers. Grann’s recreation of the hidden world on a British warship rivals the work of Patrick O’Brian, his portrayal of the castaways’ desperate straits stands up to the classics of survival writing such as The Endurance , and his account of the court martial has the savvy of a Scott Turow thriller. As always with Grann’s work, the incredible twists of the narrative hold the reader spellbound.

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Under the Bridge - Rebecca Godfrey Cover Art

Under the Bridge

Under the Bridge by Rebecca Godfrey

*Now a Hulu limited series starring Lily Gladstone, Riley Keough, and Archie Panjabi!* “A swift, harrowing classic perfect for these unnerving times.” —Jenny Offill, author of Dept. of Speculation One moonlit night, fourteen-year-old Reena Virk went to join friends at a party and never returned home. In this “tour de force of crime reportage” ( Kirkus Reviews ), acclaimed author Rebecca Godfrey takes us into the hidden world of the seven teenage girls—and boy—accused of a savage murder. As she follows the investigation and trials, Godfrey reveals the startling truth about the unlikely killers. Laced with lyricism and insight, Under the Bridge is an unforgettable look at a haunting modern tragedy.

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The King of Diamonds - Rena Pederson Cover Art

The King of Diamonds

The King of Diamonds
The Search for the Elusive Texas Jewel Thief by Rena Pederson

The thrilling story of a brazen, uncatchable jewel thief who roamed the homes of Dallas high society—and a window into the dark secrets lurking beneath the surface of the Swinging Sixties. As a string of high profile jewel thefts went unsolved, "the King of Diamonds," as he was dubbed by the press, eluded police and the FBI for more than a decade and took advantage of the parties and devil-may-care attitude of the Swinging Sixties. Like Cary Grant in "To Catch a Thief," the King was so bold that he tip-toed into the homes of millionaires while they were watching television, or hosting parties. He hid in their closets. And dared to smoke a cigarette while they were sleeping not far away. Rena Pederson, then a young cub reporter at the Dallas Morning News, heard the police reports trickle in while she managed the night desk. With gymnastic skill, this thief climbed trees or crawled across rooftops to get into these sprawling mansions. He took jewels from heiresses, oil kings, corporate CEOs. These were not just some of the richest people in Texas; they were some of the richest people of their time. Scotland Yard and Interpol were on the look-out. But the thief was never caught and the jewels never recovered. To follow the tracks of the thief, Rena has interviewed more than two hundred people, from veteran cops to strippers. She went to pawn shops, Las Vegas casinos, and a Mafia hangout—and discovered that beneath the glittering façade of Dallas debutantes and raucaous parties was a world of sex trafficking, illegal gambling, and political graft. When one of the leading suspects was found dead in highly unusual circumstances, the story darkened. What seemed to be taken from the pages of an Edna Ferber story now crashed head-first into Mickey Spillane. Like the stories of Fantomas or Raffles, the odd psychological aspects of the The King of Diamonds give us different kind of crime story. Detectives were stumped: Why did the thief break into houses when his targets were inside, increasing the risk of being captured? Why did he hide in their closets? Many times, he was so close he could hear their breathing as they slept. As one socialite put it, “It was a very peculiar business.”

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The Gardner Heist - Ulrich Boser Cover Art

The Gardner Heist

The Gardner Heist The True Story of the World's Largest Unsolved Art Theft by Ulrich Boser

The true story of one museum, two thieves, and the Boston underworld: “Boser cracks the cold case of the art world’s greatest unsolved mystery.” — Vanity Fair Shortly after midnight on March 18, 1990, two men broke into the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston and committed the largest art heist in history. They stole a dozen masterpieces, including one Vermeer, three Rembrandts, and five Degas. But after thousands of leads, hundreds of interviews, and a $5 million reward, not a single painting has been recovered. Worth as much as half a billion dollars, the missing masterpieces have become the Holy Grail of the art world and their theft one of the nation’s most extraordinary unsolved mysteries. Art detective Harold Smith worked the theft for years, and after his death, reporter Ulrich Boser decided to pick up where he left off. Traveling deep into the art underworld, Boser explores Smith’s unfinished leads and comes across a remarkable cast of characters, including a brilliant rock ’n’ roll art thief and a golden-boy gangster who professes his innocence in rhyming verse. A tale of greed, obsession, and loss, The Gardner Heist is as compelling as the stolen masterpieces themselves. “Captivating.” — The Wall Street Journal “A tantalizing whodunit.” — The Boston Globe

5

There Will Be Fire - Rory Carroll Cover Art

There Will Be Fire

There Will Be Fire Margaret Thatcher, the IRA, and Two Minutes That Changed History by Rory Carroll

**A Goodreads Choice Awards Nomination for Best History & Biography** **An NPR Book We Love** A race-against-the-clock narrative that finally illuminates a history-changing event: the IRA’s attempt to assassinate Margaret Thatcher and the epic manhunt that followed.     A bomb planted by the Irish Republican Army exploded at 2:54 a.m. on October 12, 1984. It was the last day of the Conservative Party Conference at the Grand Hotel in the coastal town of Brighton, England. Rooms were obliterated, dozens of people wounded, five killed. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was in her suite when the explosion occurred; had she been just a few feet in another direction, flying tiles and masonry would have sliced her to ribbons. As it was, she survived—and history changed.    There Will Be Fire is the gripping story of how the IRA came astonishingly close to killing Thatcher, in the most spectacular attack ever linked to the Northern Ireland Troubles. Journalist Rory Carroll reveals the long road to Brighton, the hide-and-seek between the IRA and British security services, the planting of the bomb itself, and the painstaking search for clues and suspects afterward.     In There Will Be Fire , Carroll draws on his own interviews and original reporting, reveals new information, and weaves together previously unconnected threads. There Will Be Fire is journalistic nonfiction that reads like a thriller, propelled by a countdown to detonation.

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Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil - John Berendt Cover Art

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
by John Berendt

THE LANDMARK NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • An enormously engaging portrait of a most beguiling Southern city: “Elegant and wicked.... [This] might be the first true-crime book that makes the reader want to book a bed and breakfast for an extended weekend at the scene of the crime." — The New York Times Book Review • 30th Anniversary Edition with a New Afterword by the Author. Shots rang out in Savannah's grandest mansion in the misty,early morning hours of May 2, 1981. Was it murder or self-defense? For nearly a decade, the shooting and its aftermath reverberated throughout this hauntingly beautiful city of moss-hung oaks and shaded squares. John Berendt's sharply observed, suspenseful, and witty narrative reads like a thoroughly engrossing novel, and yet it is a work of nonfiction. Berendt skillfully interweaves a hugely entertaining first-person account of life in this isolated remnant of the Old South with the unpredictable twists and turns of a landmark murder case. It is a spellbinding story peopled by a gallery of remarkable characters: the well-bred society ladies of the Married Woman's Card Club; the turbulent young redneck gigolo; the hapless recluse who owns a bottle of poison so powerful it could kill every man, woman, and child in Savannah; the aging and profane Southern belle who is the "soul of pampered self-absorption"; the uproariously funny black drag queen; the acerbic and arrogant antiques dealer; the sweet-talking, piano-playing con artist; young blacks dancing the minuet at the black debutante ball; and Minerva, the voodoo priestess who works her magic in the graveyard at midnight. These and other Savannahians act as a Greek chorus, with Berendt revealing the alliances, hostilities, and intrigues that thrive in a town where everyone knows everyone else. Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil is a sublime and seductive reading experience. Brilliantly conceived and masterfully written, this true-crime book has become a modern classic.

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Worm - Mark Bowden Cover Art

Worm

Worm The First Digital World War by Mark Bowden

From the bestselling author of Black Hawk Down , the gripping story of the Conficker worm—the cyberattack that nearly toppled the world.   The Conficker worm infected its first computer in November 2008, and within a month had infiltrated 1.5 million computers in 195 countries. Banks, telecommunications companies, and critical government networks—including British Parliament and the French and German military—became infected almost instantaneously. No one had ever seen anything like it.   By January 2009, the worm lay hidden in at least eight million computers, and the botnet of linked computers it had created was big enough that an attack might crash the world. In this “masterpiece” ( The Philadelphia Inquirer ), Mark Bowden expertly lays out a spellbinding tale of how hackers, researchers, millionaire Internet entrepreneurs, and computer security experts found themselves drawn into a battle between those determined to exploit the Internet and those committed to protecting it.  

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Killers of the Flower Moon - David Grann Cover Art

Killers of the Flower Moon

Killers of the Flower Moon The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI by David Grann

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A twisting, haunting true-life murder mystery about one of the most monstrous crimes in American history, from the author of The Wager and The Lost City of Z, “one of the preeminent adventure and true-crime writers working today."— New York Magazine • NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST • NOW A MARTIN SCORSESE PICTURE “A shocking whodunit…What more could fans of true-crime thrillers ask?”— USA Today “A masterful work of literary journalism crafted with the urgency of a mystery.” — The Boston Globe In the 1920s, the richest people per capita in the world were members of the Osage Nation in Oklahoma. After oil was discovered beneath their land, the Osage rode in chauffeured automobiles, built mansions, and sent their children to study in Europe. Then, one by one, the Osage began to be killed off. The family of an Osage woman, Mollie Burkhart, became a prime target. One of her relatives was shot. Another was poisoned. And it was just the beginning, as more and more Osage were dying under mysterious circumstances, and many of those who dared to investigate the killings were themselves murdered. As the death toll rose, the newly created FBI took up the case, and the young director, J. Edgar Hoover, turned to a former Texas Ranger named Tom White to try to unravel the mystery. White put together an undercover team, including a Native American agent who infiltrated the region, and together with the Osage began to expose one of the most chilling conspiracies in American history. Look for David Grann’s latest bestselling book, The Wager !

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Among the Bros - Max Marshall Cover Art

Among the Bros

Among the Bros A Fraternity Crime Story by Max Marshall

“Among the Bros is a harrowing and disturbing book. I have read about fraternity life but nothing like this. This book will blow your mind, each page digging deeper into the unimaginable. Except every word is true.”—Buzz Bissinger, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Mosquito Bowl and Friday Night Lights A brilliant young investigative journalist traces a murder and a multi-million-dollar drug ring, leading to an unprecedented look at elite American fraternity life. When Max Marshall arrived on the campus of the College of Charleston in 2018, he hoped to investigate a small-time fraternity Xanax trafficking ring. Instead, he found a homicide, several student deaths, and millions of dollars circulating around the Deep South. He also opened up an elite world hidden to outsiders. Behind the pop culture cliches of “Greek life” lies one of the major breeding grounds of American power: 80 percent of Fortune 500 executives, 85 percent of Supreme Court justices, and all but four presidents since 1825 have been fraternity members. With unprecedented immersion, this book takes readers inside that bubble. Under the live oaks and Spanish moss of Travel + Leisure’s “Most Beautiful Campus in America,” Marshall traces several “C of C” boys’ journeys from fraternity pledges to interstate drug traffickers. The result is a true-life story of hubris, status, money, drugs, and murder—one that lifts a curtain on an ecstatic and disturbing way of life. With expert pacing and a cool eye, he follows a never-ending party that continues after funerals and mass arrests. An addictive and haunting portrait of tomorrow’s American establishment, Among the Bros is nonfiction storytelling at its finest.

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Practice to Deceive - Ann Rule Cover Art

Practice to Deceive

Practice to Deceive
by Ann Rule

This New York Times bestseller—from “America’s best true-crime writer” ( Kirkus Reviews ) and the author of The Stranger Beside Me —is a shocking tale of greed, sex, scandal, and murder on an isolated and eerie island in the Pacific Northwest. The basis for the Lifetime movie event Circle of Deception. With more than 50 million copies of her books in print—from her chilling personal account of knowing Ted Bundy to sixteen collections in her #1 bestselling Crime Files series—Ann Rule is a legendary true crime writer. Here, in Practice to Deceive , Rule unravels a shattering case of Christmastime murder off the coast of Washington State—presented with the clarity, authority, and emotional depth that Rule’s readers expect. Nestled in Puget Sound, Whidbey Island is a gem of the Pacific Northwest. Accessible only by ferry, it is known for its artistic communities and stunning natural beauty. Life there is low-key, and the island’s year-round residents tend to know one another’s business. But when the blood-drenched body of Russel Douglas was discovered the day after Christmas in his SUV in a hidden driveway near Whidbey’s most exclusive mansion—a single bullet between his eyes—the whole island was shocked. At first, police suspected suicide, tragically common at the height of the holiday season. But when they found no gun in or near the SUV, Russel’s manner of death became homicide . Brenna Douglas, Russel’s estranged and soon-to-be-ex wife, allowed him to come home for a Christmas visit with their children. The couple owned the popular Just B’s salon. Brenna’s good friend Peggy Sue Thomas worked there, and Brenna complained often to her that Russel was physically and emotionally abusive. Peggy Sue’s own life has been one of extremes. Married three times, hers is a rags-to-riches-and-back-again tale in which she’s played many roles, from aircraft mechanic to “drop-dead gorgeous” beauty queen as a former Ms. Washington. But in 2003, her love affair with married guitarist Jim Huden led the two Whidbey Island natives to pursue their ultimate dreams of wealth and privilege—even at the expense of human life. Unravel the tangled web woven by Russel Douglas’s murder in Practice to Deceive , a heart pounding true-crime tour de force.

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Abandoned Prayers - Gregg Olsen Cover Art

Abandoned Prayers

Abandoned Prayers An Incredible True Story of Murder, Obsession, and Amish Secrets by Gregg Olsen

On Christmas Eve in 1985, a hunter found a young boy's body along an icy corn field in Nebraska. The residents of Chester, Nebraska buried him as "Little Boy Blue," unclaimed and unidentified-- until a phone call from Ohio two years later led authorities to Eli Stutzman, the boy's father. Eli Stutzman, the son of an Amish bishop, was by all appearances a dedicated farmer and family man in the country's strictest religious sect. But behind his quiet façade was a man involved with pornography, sadomasochism, and drugs. After the suspicious death of his pregnant wife, Stutzman took his preschool-age son, Danny, and hit the road on a sexual odyssey ending with his conviction for murder. But the mystery of Eli Stutzman and the fate of his son didn't end on the barren Nebraska plains. It was just beginning. . . Gregg Olsen's Abandoned Prayers is an incredible true story of murder and Amish secrets.

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In Cold Blood - Truman Capote Cover Art

In Cold Blood

In Cold Blood by Truman Capote

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • The most famous true crime novel of all time "c hills the blood and exercises the intelligence" ( The New York Review of Books ) — and haunted its author long after he finished writing it. On November 15, 1959, in the small town of Holcomb, Kansas, four members of the Clutter family were savagely murdered by blasts from a shotgun held a few inches from their faces. There was no apparent motive for the crime, and there were almost no clues.  In one of the first non-fiction novels ever written, Truman Capote reconstructs the murder and the investigation that led to the capture, trial, and execution of the killers, generating both mesmerizing suspense and astonishing empathy. In Cold Blood is a work that transcends its moment, yielding poignant insights into the nature of American violence.

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The Murder of the Century - Paul Collins Cover Art

The Murder of the Century

The Murder of the Century The Gilded Age Crime That Scandalized a City & Sparked the Tabloid Wars by Paul Collins

The “enormously entertaining” ( The Wall Street Journal ) account of a shocking 1897 murder mystery that “artfully re-create[s] the era, the crime, and the newspaper wars it touched off” ( The New York Times )   AN EDGAR NOMINEE FOR BEST FACT CRIME • “Fascinating . . . won’t disappoint readers in search of a book like Erik Larson’s The Devil in the White City .”— The Washington Post   On Long Island, a farmer finds a duck pond turned red with blood. On the Lower East Side, two boys discover a floating human torso wrapped tightly in oilcloth. Blueberry pickers near Harlem stumble upon neatly severed limbs in an overgrown ditch. The police are baffled: There are no witnesses, no motives, no suspects.   The grisly finds that began on the afternoon of June 26, 1897, plunged detectives headlong into the era’s most perplexing murder mystery. Seized upon by battling media moguls Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst, the case became a publicity circus, as their rival newspapers the World and the Journal raced to solve the crime. What emerged was a sensational love triangle and an even more sensational trial. The Murder of the Century is a rollicking tale—a rich evocation of America during the Gilded Age and a colorful re-creation of the tabloid wars that forever changed newspaper journalism.

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Behold the Monster - Jillian Lauren Cover Art

Behold the Monster

Behold the Monster Confronting America's Most Prolific Serial Killer by Jillian Lauren

Jillian Lauren had no idea what she was getting into when she wrote her first letter to prolific serial killer Samuel Little. All she knew was her research had led her to believe he was good for far more murders than the three for which he had been convicted. While the two exchanged dozens of letters and embarked on hundreds of hours of interviews, Lauren gained the trust of a monster. After maintaining his innocence for decades, Little confessed to the murders of ninety-three women, often drawing his victims in haunting detail as he spoke. How could one man evade justice, manipulating the system for over four decades? As the FBI, the DOJ, the LAPD, and countless law enforcement officials across the country worked to connect their cold cases with the confessions, Lauren’s coverage of the investigations and obsession with Little’s victims only escalated. New York Times bestselling author and lead of the Starz docuseries Confronting a Serial Killer Jillian Lauren delivers the harrowing report of her unusual relationship with a psychopath. But this is more than a deep dive into the actions of Samuel Little. Lauren’s riveting and emotional accounts reveal the women who were lost to cold files, giving Little’s victims a chance to have their stories heard for the first time.

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I Heard You Paint Houses - Charles Brandt Cover Art

I Heard You Paint Houses

I Heard You Paint Houses Frank "The Irishman" Sheeran & Closing the Case on Jimmy Hoffa by Charles Brandt

New York Times Bestseller  —  #1 True Crime Bestseller The inspiration for the major motion picture, THE IRISHMAN. “The best Mafia book I ever read, and believe me, I read them all.” — Steven Van Zandt “Charles Brandt has solved the Hoffa mystery.” — Professor Arthur Sloane, author of Hoffa “Sheeran’s confession that he killed Hoffa in the manner described in the book is supported by the forensic evidence, is entirely credible, and solves the Hoffa mystery.”  — Michael Baden M.D., former Chief Medical Examiner of the City of New York “It’s all true.” — New York Police Department organized crime homicide detective Joe Coffey “Gives new meaning to the term ‘guilty pleasure.’’’ — The New York Times Book Review **Includes an Epilogue and a Conclusion that detail substantial post-publication corroboration of Frank Sheeran's confessions to the killings of Jimmy Hoffa and Joey Gallo. "I heard you paint houses" are the first words Jimmy Hoffa ever spoke to Frank "the Irishman" Sheeran. To paint a house is to kill a man. The paint is the blood that splatters on the walls and floors. In the course of nearly five years of recorded interviews, Frank Sheeran confessed to Charles Brandt that he handled more than twenty-five hits for the mob, and for his friend Hoffa. He also provided intriguing information about the Mafia's role in the murder of JFK. Sheeran learned to kill in the US Army, where he saw an astonishing 411 days of active combat duty in Italy during World War II. After returning home he became a hustler and hit man, working for legendary crime boss Russell Bufalino. Eventually Sheeran would rise to a position of such prominence that in a RICO suit the US government would name him as one of only two non-Italians in conspiracy with the Commission of La Cosa Nostra, alongside the likes of Anthony "Tony Pro" Provenzano and Anthony "Fat Tony" Salerno.  When Bufalino ordered Sheeran to kill Hoffa, the Irishman did the deed, knowing that if he had refused he would have been killed himself. Charles Brandt's page-turner has become a true crime classic.

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The Stranger Beside Me: Ted Bundy: The Shocking Inside Story - Ann Rule Cover Art

The Stranger Beside Me: Ted Bundy: The Shocking Inside Story

The Stranger Beside Me: Ted Bundy: The Shocking Inside Story by Ann Rule

Utterly unique in its astonishing intimacy, as jarringly frightening as when it first appeared, Ann Rule's The Stranger Beside Me defies our expectation that we would surely know if a monster lived among us, worked alongside of us, appeared as one of us. With a slow chill that intensifies with each heart-pounding page, Rule describes her dawning awareness that Ted Bundy, her sensitive coworker on a crisis hotline, was one of the most prolific serial killers in America. He would confess to killing at least thirty-six young women from coast to coast, and was eventually executed for three of those cases. Drawing from their correspondence that endured until shortly before Bundy's death, and striking a seamless balance between her deeply personal perspective and her role as a crime reporter on the hunt for a savage serial killer -- the brilliant and charismatic Bundy, the man she thought she knew -- Rule changed the course of true-crime literature with this unforgettable chronicle.

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When a Killer Calls - John E. Douglas & Mark Olshaker Cover Art

When a Killer Calls

When a Killer Calls A Haunting Story of Murder, Criminal Profiling, and Justice in a Small Town by John E. Douglas & Mark Olshaker

From John Douglas—the legendary FBI criminal profiler, #1 New York Times bestselling author, and inspiration for the Netflix show Mindhunter—comes a chilling journey inside the mind and crimes of Larry Gene Bell, one of the most dangerous serial killers Douglas confronted, and the desperate effort to identify and catch him. On May 31, 1985, two days before her high school graduation, Shari Smith was abducted from the driveway of her family home in South Carolina. Based on the crime scene and the abductor’s repeated and taunting calls to the family, law enforcement quickly realized they were dealing with a sophisticated and highly dangerous criminal. A letter arrived the next day entitled “Last Will & Testament,” in which Shari, knowing she was to be murdered, wrote bravely and achingly of her love for her parents, siblings, and boyfriend, saying that while they would miss her, she knew they would persevere through their faith. The abduction rocked her quiet town, triggering a massive manhunt and bringing in the FBI, which enlisted profiler John Douglas. A few days later, a phone call told the family where they could find Shari’s body. Then nine-year-old Debra May Helmick was kidnapped from her yard, confirming the harsh realization that Smith’s murder was no random act. A serial killer was evolving, and the only way to stop him would be to use the study of criminal behavior to anticipate his next move before he could kill again. Douglas devised a risky and emotionally fraught strategy to use Shari’s lookalike older sister Dawn as bait to draw out the unknown subject. Dawn and her parents courageously agreed. One of the most haunting investigations of Douglas’s storied career, this case details how the eerily accurate profile he created—alongside his carefully crafted and stage-managed manipulation of the killer’s psychology—combined with dedicated police work and cutting-edge forensic science to end a reign of criminal terror. As Shari’s family took incredible personal risks to lure her killer from the shadows, Douglas and the FBI pushed criminal profiling to its limits, culminating in one of his most dramatic and effective confrontations with a sadistic and remorseless killer.

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FORENSICS III - Harry A. Milman PhD Cover Art

FORENSICS III

FORENSICS III They Got Fifteen Minutes of Fame from the Way They Died by Harry A. Milman PhD

In Forensics III: They Got Fifteen Minutes of Fame from the Way They Died, I reviewed twenty-eight ordinary people who were thrust into the spotlight, gaining fame not for their talents or accomplishments while living, but for the way they died. Newspaper and magazine articles ensured that stories of the circumstances surrounding their deaths remained in the public eye, so that, as Andy Warhol had predicted, their fame would last at least fifteen minutes. In some cases, it lasted much longer. While these individuals may have been “ordinary” before they died, they became extraordinary after death. Some of the people I reviewed in Forensics III: They Got Fifteen Minutes of Fame from the Way They Died include the “Boy in the Box,” later identified as Joseph Zarelli, who died from blunt force trauma; Azaria Chamberlain, a nine-week old infant who was killed by a dingo at Ayers Rock in Australia; George Floyd, whose death resulted from police brutality; Ron Goldman and Nicole Brown Simpson, who were stabbed to death; Elisa Lam, who drowned in a water tank on the roof of her hotel; Michael Faherty, whose death in Ireland was attributed to spontaneous human combustion; Katherine Morris, who died from carbon monoxide poisoning due to charcoal grilling in an automobile; Carlos Sousa, who was mauled to death by a tiger; Sahel Kazemi and Steve McNair, who committed murder-suicide; and Jayne and Corinne Peters, whose death was due to filicide-suicide, among many others. Forensics III: They Got Fifteen Minutes of Fame from the Way They Died reads like a mystery novel, presenting biographical and scientific information that helps readers understand how medical examiners and coroners utilized forensic analysis to determine the causes and manners of death of twenty-eight “not-so-famous” people.

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La historia secreta - Anabel Hernández Cover Art

La historia secreta

La historia secreta AMLO y el Cártel de Sinaloa by Anabel Hernández

«Esta periodista, Anabel Hernández, ha hecho trabajos de investigación de primer orden, es una mujer profesional en el periodismo y valiente, es una mujer excepcional.» -Andrés Manuel López Obrador Todo indica que en realidad AMLO no era el hombre que venía a romper elsistema criminal, sino que ha sido su Caballo de Troya, uno más de los instrumentos del Cártel de Sinaloa para culminar su plan de conquista de nuestra nación. Esta investigación periodística está basada en decenas de testimonios recabados entre 2020 y 2024 en diversos países. En expedientes judiciales de cortes federales de Estados Unidos y documentos internos de la Fiscalía del Distrito Sur de Nueva York y la DEA relacionados con la investigación que realizaron en 2010 y 2011 sobre la campaña presidencial de AMLO en 2006. Así como en expedientes de la FGR en México. Recabé el testimonio de 20 personas clave, tanto del círculo cercano a AMLO que lo ha acompañado en su carrera política desde la jefatura de gobierno de la Ciudad de México , como miembros de su equipo de campaña en 2006, 2012 y 2018. Hablécon funcionarios estadounidensesde sus hallazgos sobre la primera vez que López Obrador buscó la presidencia , así como con Nicolás Mollinedo Bastar , quien afirmó ser la persona de mayor confianza de AMLO de 2000 a 2014. También entrevisté a cinco exmiembros del Cártel de Sinaloa en distintas ciudades y años, en su mayoría son testigos colaboradores de la justicia en Estados Unidos en diversas investigaciones en curso; otros están en cárceles pagando su condena. Las versiones de los entrevistados coinciden y se complementan entre sí, todas apuntando en la misma dirección: en las tres campañas presidenciales de López Obrador hubo apoyo económico u operativo del Cártel de Sinaloa, con el conocimiento del ahora presidente, quien incluso habría estado presente en al menos una de las entregas de dinero. La reconfirmación que dio punto final a mi indagatoria ocurrió a fines de 2023 y los primeros días de 2024, por eso ahora puedo publicar los resultados. No hay timing ni razón válida para posponer la divulgación de los vínculos de autoridades con el crimen organizado cuando en México estas complicidades resultan en la muerte, desaparición o sufrimiento de cientos de personas todos los días. Por eso, aquí revelo la historia secreta. -Anabel Hernández

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We Thought We Knew You - M. William Phelps Cover Art

We Thought We Knew You

We Thought We Knew You A Terrifying True Story of Secrets, Betrayal, Deception, and Murder by M. William Phelps

In this chilling true crime thriller by New York Times bestselling journalist M. William Phelps, a woman’s mysterious death in upstate New York plunges her family into a nightmare of accusations and vengeance. In July 2015, Mary Yoder fell ill in the chiropractic center she operated with her husband, Bill. Doctors in the ER and ICU were baffled—and unable to save her life. Weeks later, her family received startling news from the medical examiner: Mary had been deliberately poisoned. Another shock followed when the local sheriff received a claim that Adam Yoder had poisoned his mother. But Adam was not the only person of interest . . .   Kaitlyn Conley, Adam’s ex-girlfriend, worked at the Yoders’ clinic and was at Mary’s bedside during her last hours. Still, some spoke of her history of rage-fueled behavior. Had Kaitlyn and Adam conspired to kill Mary? Yet another suspect emerged when accusations were hurled at grieving husband Bill Yoder . . .   M. William Phelps unravels a twisting trail of evidence to reveal the heartless scheme that tore a family apart, divided a community, and culminated in two gripping, high-profile trials.   “Phelps is the Harlan Coben of real-life thrillers.” —Allison Brennan “Phelps knows how to work it.” —Marilyn Stasio, The New York Times Book Review “Anything by Phelps is an eye-opening experience.” — Suspense Magazine

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We Own This City - Justin Fenton Cover Art

We Own This City

We Own This City A True Story of Crime, Cops, and Corruption by Justin Fenton

NEW YORK TIMES EDITORS’ CHOICE • The astonishing true story of “one of the most startling police corruption scandals in a generation” ( The New York Times ), from the Pulitzer Prize–nominated reporter who exposed a gang of criminal cops and their yearslong plunder of an American city NOW AN HBO SERIES FROM THE WIRE CREATOR DAVID SIMON AND GEORGE PELECANOS “A work of journalism that not only chronicles the rise and fall of a corrupt police unit but can stand as the inevitable coda to the half-century of disaster that is the American drug war.”—David Simon Baltimore, 2015. Riots are erupting across the city as citizens demand justice for Freddie Gray, a twenty-five-year-old Black man who has died under suspicious circumstances while in police custody. Drug and violent crime are surging, and Baltimore will reach its highest murder count in more than two decades: 342 homicides in a single year, in a city of just 600,000 people. Facing pressure from the mayor’s office—as well as a federal investigation of the department over Gray’s death—Baltimore police commanders turn to a rank-and-file hero, Sergeant Wayne Jenkins, and his elite plainclothes unit, the Gun Trace Task Force, to help get guns and drugs off the street.    But behind these new efforts, a criminal conspiracy of unprecedented scale was unfolding within the police department. Entrusted with fixing the city’s drug and gun crisis, Jenkins chose to exploit it instead. With other members of the empowered Gun Trace Task Force, Jenkins stole from Baltimore’s citizens—skimming from drug busts, pocketing thousands in cash found in private homes, and planting fake evidence to throw Internal Affairs off their scent. Their brazen crime spree would go unchecked for years. The results were countless wrongful convictions, the death of an innocent civilian, and the mysterious death of one cop who was shot in the head, killed just a day before he was scheduled to testify against the unit.   In this urgent book, award-winning investigative journalist Justin Fenton distills hundreds of interviews, thousands of court documents, and countless hours of video footage to present the definitive account of the entire scandal. The result is an astounding, riveting feat of reportage about a rogue police unit, the city they held hostage, and the ongoing struggle between American law enforcement and the communities they are charged to serve.

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Everything She Ever Wanted - Ann Rule Cover Art

Everything She Ever Wanted

Everything She Ever Wanted A True Story of Obsessive Love, Murder, and Betrayal by Ann Rule

Joined in a romantic love that most people only ever dream about, Pat Taylor's marriage to Tom Allanson was all she ever wanted. Both came from fine Southern families, and both longed to recreate for themselves a plantation where they would raise horses, grow roses, and move with grace and style in the highest social circles of Atlanta; in short, to be the Scarlett O'Hara and Rhett Butler of their time. But scarcely two months later, their perfect world had erupted into family hatreds, terror, bloodshed and murder, The beautiful estate was mysteriously burned to the ground and Tom Allanson stood accused of the brutal slaying of his own mother and father. Before the terrifying truth about the perpetrator was revealed, other innocent victims were to suffer attempts on their lives as intricate family loyalties and cruel, obsessive jealousies were played out.

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Code Name Blue Wren - Jim Popkin Cover Art

Code Name Blue Wren

Code Name Blue Wren The True Story of America's Most Dangerous Female Spy—and the Sister She Betrayed by Jim Popkin

*An Amazon Best Book of 2023* *An Apple Book of the Month for January* The incredible true story of Ana Montes, the most damaging female spy in US history, drawing upon never-before-seen material and to be published upon her release from prison, for readers of Agent Sonya and A Woman of No Importance. Just days after the 9-11 attacks, a senior Pentagon analyst eased her red Toyota Echo into traffic and headed to work. She never saw the undercover cars tracking her every turn. As she settled into her cubicle on the 6th floor of the Defense Intelligence Agency in Washington, FBI Agents and twitchy DIA officers were hiding in nearby offices. For this was the day that Ana Montes--the US Intelligence Community superstar who had just won a prestigious fellowship at the CIA--was to be arrested and publicly exposed as a secret agent for Cuba. Like spies Aldrich Ames and Robert Hanssen before her, Ana Montes blindsided her colleagues with brazen acts of treason. For nearly 17 years, Montes succeeded in two high-stress jobs. By day, she was one of the government’s top Cuba experts, a buttoned-down GS-14 with shockingly easy access to classified documents. By night, she was on the clock for Fidel Castro, listening to coded messages over shortwave radio, passing US secrets to handlers in local restaurants, and slipping into Havana wearing a wig.  Montes didn’t just deceive her country. Her betrayal was intensely personal. Her mercurial father was a former US Army Colonel. Her brother and sister-in-law were FBI Special Agents. And her only sister, Lucy, also worked her entire career for the Bureau. The highlight of her distinguished 31 years as a Miami-based language specialist: Helping the FBI flush Cuban spies out of the United States. Little did Lucy or her family know that the greatest Cuban spy of all was sitting right next to them at Thanksgivings, baptisms, and weddings. In Code Name Blue Wren, investigative journalist Jim Popkin weaves the tale of two sisters who chose two very different paths, plus the unsung heroes who had to fight to bring Ana to justice. With exclusive access to a “Secret” CIA behavioral profile of Ana, family memoirs, and Ana’s incriminating letters from prison, Popkin reveals the making of a traitor—a woman labelled “one of the most damaging spies in U.S. history” by America’s top counter-intelligence official. After more than two decades in federal prison, Montes will be freed in January 2023. Code Name Blue Wren is a thrilling detective tale, an insider’s look at the clandestine world of espionage, and an intimate exploration of the dark side of betrayal.

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The I-5 Killer - Ann Rule Cover Art

The I-5 Killer

The I-5 Killer by Ann Rule

The terrifying true crime story of the I-5 serial killer from Ann Rule, the #1  New York Times  bestselling author of  The Stranger Beside Me . Randall Woodfield had it all. He was an award-winning student and star athlete. He was drafted by the Green Bay Packers to play in the NFL, and chosen by  Playgirl  as a centerfold candidate. Working in the swinging West Coast bar scene, he had his pick of willing sexual prospects. But Randall Woodfield wanted more than just sex. An appetite for unspeakable violent acts led him to cruise the I-5 highway through California, Oregon, and Washington, leaving a trail of victims along the way. As the list of his victims grew to a total of at least 44, the police faced the awesome challenge of catching and convicting a suspect who seemed too handsome and appealing to have committed such ugly crimes--crimes that filled every woman within his striking range with feat and horror....

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Final Vows - Karen Kingsbury Cover Art

Final Vows

Final Vows Murder, Madness, and Twisted Justice in California by Karen Kingsbury

A New York Times –bestselling author and former Los Angeles Times reporter chronicles the marriage between a Christian woman and an ex-con that ends in murder.   When Carol Montecalvo began writing to a man in prison through a program at her church, she considered it her Christian duty. But the letters soon became her lifeline, something she actually looked forward to sending and receiving. She fell in love with the man behind the letters and just before Dan was released, they wed in the prison chapel. Their marriage lasted nine years, until the fateful night when Dan stoically called 911 to report his wife’s murder.   With a half-million dollar insurance policy riding on his wife’s death, and a string of adulterous affairs in his past, Dan is the most obvious suspect. But is this former felon really guilty? Or could he actually be a grieving widower, in the wrong place at the wrong time?   In this powerful true crime account of the gruesome murder and sensational trial that followed, New York Times –bestselling author Karen Kingsbury weaves an emotional story that leaves readers guessing until the final, harrowing conclusion.

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If I Did It - O.J. Simpson & Dominic Dunne Cover Art

If I Did It

If I Did It Confessions of the Killer by O.J. Simpson & Dominic Dunne

Years after being acquitted of criminal charges in a case that was highly-publicised in the US, finally in November 2008, OJ Simpson was found guilty of the crime he committed as a result of the penury brought upon him by the efforts of the Goldman Family. This updated paperback edition brings together for the first time the whole story from start to finish. If I Did It includes the actual text Simpson approved of his notorious crime confession.

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The Last Ride - Martha Smith Tate Cover Art

The Last Ride

The Last Ride by Martha Smith Tate

The Last Ride is the first book ever written about the murder of prominent Nashville citizen W. Haynie Gourley on May 24, 1968, and the heart-stopping, controversial trial that riveted the city of Nashville, Tennessee, and caused a sensation during the summer of 1969. Set primarily amid the racial turmoil following the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on April 4, 1968, the book traces the circumstances leading up to the killing of the popular, self-made millionaire Chevrolet dealer, the extensive manhunt and police investigation, and the improbable grand jury indictment of a popular former college football star. The work follows the life of Haynie Gourley, from before an unspeakable tragedy at age eight leads to a lonely, impoverished childhood in Cross Plains, Tennessee, to his 1915 arrival as a teenager in Nashville where he takes a job as an itinerant salesman of men's made-to-order suits, to his months in the trenches of France during WWI, to his prominence in the city's automobile industry, and his rise in the society of wealthy Belle Meade, becoming a member of the exclusive Belle Meade Country Club. The story is told against the backdrop of the founding and growth of Nashville, the nascent Civil Rights movement, the racial climate at Vanderbilt University during the still-segregated 1960s, along with the social history of the charmed Gourley family. The story centers around the events of the morning of May 24, 1968. Haynie Gourley, owner and founder of a successful automobile dealership, Capitol Chevrolet Company, agrees to go for a ride with his forty-year-old business partner. The two return to the dealership 15 minutes later. Haynie, 72, is dead of three gunshot wounds - one just below the left ear, a second to the neck, and a third to the chest. The shocking murder of a much-beloved citizen sets off a year of speculation: Where is the mysterious Black killer who vanished after jumping into the back seat of Haynie's car as he rode down Elm Hill Pike with his business partner? The murder occurred just as Haynie was about to realize his dream of having his only son take over and run his lucrative business. The timing of the murder is immediately suspicious, and the ownership of one of the most lucrative car dealerships in the South is in doubt. For the first time ever, the author pieces together the events and evidence that bring into question the outcome of this notorious case. The two families involved kept silent for 50 years, refusing pleas by journalists and authors hoping to write about the murder and trial. Haunted by memories of sitting through the nail-biting trial where Tennessee's legendary legal giants faced off in a tense courtroom drama, the author spent three years interviewing those involved who still survive and carefully studying the 2,400-page transcript and delving into countless news stories about the crime. This was Nashville's most publicized trial ever, covered obsessively by local broadcast TV stations and the two daily newspapers, the Nashville Banner and The Tennessean. Both papers printed the entire transcript of the trial as it happened. Even today, the story still fascinates. After reading this true-crime story, one is left to wonder whether or not justice was served in the end.

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The Hot House - Pete Earley Cover Art

The Hot House

The Hot House Life Inside Leavenworth Prison by Pete Earley

A stunning account of life behind bars at the federal penitentiary in Leavenworth, Kansas, where the nation’s hardest criminals do hard time.   “A page-turner, as compelling and evocative as the finest novel. The best book on prison I’ve ever read.”—Jonathan Kellerman   The most dreaded facility in the prison system because of its fierce population, Leavenworth is governed by ruthless clans competing for dominance. Among the “star” players in these pages: Carl Cletus Bowles, the sexual predator with a talent for murder; Dallas Scott, a gang member who has spent almost thirty of his forty-two years behind bars; indomitable Warden Robert Matthews, who put his shoulder against his prison’s grim reality; Thomas Silverstein, a sociopath confined in “no human contact” status since 1983; “tough cop” guard Eddie Geouge, the only officer in the penitentiary with the authority to sentence an inmate to “the Hole”; and William Post, a bank robber with a criminal record going back to when he was eight years old—and known as the “Catman” for his devoted care of the cats who live inside the prison walls.   Pete Earley, celebrated reporter and author of Family of Spies, all but lived for nearly two years inside the primordial world of Leavenworth, where he conducted hundreds of interviews. Out of this unique, extraordinary access comes the riveting story of what life is actually like in the oldest maximum-security prison in the country.   Praise for The Hot House   “Reporting at its very finest.” — Los Angeles Times   “The book is a large act of courage, its subject an important one, and . . . Earley does it justice.” — The Washington Post Book World   “[A] riveting, fiercely unsentimental book . . . To [Earley’s] credit, he does not romanticize the keepers or the criminals. His cool and concise prose style serves him well. . . . This is a gutsy book.” — Chicago Tribune   “Harrowing . . . an exceptional work of journalism.” — Detroit Free Press   “If you’re going to read any book about prison, The Hot House is the one. . . . It is the most realistic, unbuffed account of prison anywhere in print.” — Kansas City Star   “A superb piece of reporting.” —Tom Clancy

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The Murders of Christopher Watts - Cheryln Cadle Cover Art

The Murders of Christopher Watts

The Murders of Christopher Watts by Cheryln Cadle

On August 13, 2018 Christopher Watts murdered his pregnant wife and two toddler daughters. Cheryln Cadle contacted him and started visiting him in prison. Christopher started writing her letters from his prison cell in Wisconsin. These letters had his confessions of things he had never told anyone else. Now she shares the letters and the truth about what happened that fateful night in Frederick Colorado to Shanann, Nico, Bella and Celeste Watts at the hands of their father. Was he just a monster or was it truly his girlfriend that he wanted to start a life with the reason he was willing to kill his family?

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Billion Dollar Hollywood Heist - Houston Curtis & Dylan Howard Cover Art

Billion Dollar Hollywood Heist

Billion Dollar Hollywood Heist The A-List Kingpin and the Poker Ring that Brought Down Tinseltown by Houston Curtis & Dylan Howard

“Right out of the gate, the entire game was designed to empty the pockets of those rich, celeb-loving LA suckers.”—Houston Curtis   Leonardo DiCaprio. Alex Rodriguez. Tobey Maguire. Ben Affleck. Matt Damon. John Cassavetes.   What do these people have in common? Not just fame and fortune; all these men are also alumni of the ultra-exclusive, high-stakes poker ring that inspired Aaron Sorkin’s Oscar-nominated film, Molly’s Game .   But Houston Curtis, the card shark who co-founded the game with Tobey Maguire, knows that Sorkin’s is the whitewashed version. In Billion Dollar Hollywood Heist , Curtis goes all-in, revealing the true story behind the game. From its origins with Maguire to staking DiCaprio’s first game, installing Molly Bloom, avoiding the hookers and blow down the hall, and weathering the FBI investigation that left Curtis with a lien on his house, this is the no-holds-barred account of the world’s most exclusive Texas Hold ’Em game from the man who started it—with all the names and salacious details that Molly’s Game left out.   With the insider appeal of Rounders , more A-listers than Ocean’s 11, and the excitement of The Sting , Billion Dollar Hollywood Heist is the untold, insider’s story that makes Molly’s Game look tame.  

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The Big Heist - Anthony M. DeStefano Cover Art

The Big Heist

The Big Heist The Real Story of the Lufthansa Heist, the Mafia, and Murder by Anthony M. DeStefano

This Pulitzer Prize-winner’s account of the heist that inspired  Goodfellas   reveals the rest of the story that couldn’t be told—until now ( Publisher Weekly ).   One of the biggest scores in Mafia history, the Lufthansa Airlines heist of 1978 has become the stuff of mafia legend—and a decades-long federal investigation. Now Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Anthony DeStefano sheds new light on this unsolved case using new evidence revealed during the 2015 trial of eighty-year-old mafioso Vincent Asaro.    For the first time, Asaro speaks out on his role in the brazen heist that removed millions of dollars from John F. Kennedy International Airport. This authoritative account goes behind the headlines and Hollywood movies, taking readers inside the ranks of America’s infamous Mafia families—with never-before-told stories, late-breaking news, and bombshell revelations.   “A comprehensive account…impressive.”— Publishers Weekly

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Written in Blood - Diane Fanning Cover Art

Written in Blood

Written in Blood A True Story of Murder and a Deadly 16-Year-Old Secret that Tore a Family Apart by Diane Fanning

A 2006 Edgar Award Nominee for Best Fact Crime. With intimate access to the families, award-winning journalist Diane Fanning's Written in Blood spins a heart-wrenching true crime tale that's been the subject of an acclaimed documentary, "The Staircase", and an HBO TV miniseries starring Colin Firth. An army brat-turned-marine, Michael Peterson saw combat in Vietnam, and returned a decorated soldier. An avid reader, his dreams of being an acclaimed novelist came true. His desire to find love was fulfilled when he married brilliant executive Kathleen Atwater, the first female student accepted at Duke University's School of Engineering. The Petersons seemed the ideal academic couple- well-respected, prosperous, and happy. All that came crashing down in December of 2001, when Kathleen apparently fell to her death in their secluded home in an exclusive area of Durham, North Carolina. But blood-spattered evidence and a missing fireplace poker suggested calculated, cold-blooded murder. Her trusted husband stood accused. Prosecutors introduced evidence at trial that sixteen years earlier, Peterson was one of the last people to see his neighbor alive before she was found dead at the bottom of a staircase in her home in Germany. A dramatic trial followed in the explosive final chapter of a life that no novelist could ever have conceived...

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Five Families - Selwyn Raab Cover Art

Five Families

Five Families The Rise, Decline, and Resurgence of America's Most Powerful Mafia Empires by Selwyn Raab

Genovese, Gambino, Bonnano, Colombo and Lucchese. For decades these Five Families ruled New York and built the American Mafia (or Cosa Nostra) into an underworld empire. Today, the Mafia is an endangered species, battered and beleaguered by aggressive investigators, incompetent leadership, betrayals and generational changes that produced violent and unreliable leaders and recruits. A twenty year assault against the five families in particular blossomed into the most successful law enforcement campaign of the last century. Selwyn Raab's Five Families is the vivid story of the rise and fall of New York's premier dons from Lucky Luciano to Paul Castellano to John Gotti and more. The book also brings the reader right up to the possible resurgence of the Mafia as the FBI and local law enforcement agencies turn their attention to homeland security and away from organized crime.

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Little Lost Angel - Michael Quinlan Cover Art

Little Lost Angel

Little Lost Angel by Michael Quinlan

A tragic and riveting true crime story of teenage obsession, torture, the 1992 murder of a twelve-year-old Indiana girl, and its aftermath. Twelve-year-old Shanda Sharer carefully selected what she would wear on her first day at Hazelwood Junior High in New Albany, Indiana. She wanted everything to be perfect. Yet two days later model student Shanda was in detention for fighting with another girl. Within a week, Shanda and tough, swaggering Amanda were best friends. Slowly, Shanda began to change, and her worried parents transferred her to another school. But the girls’ relationship didn’t end, sparking homicidal jealousy in another girlfriend. Then, one night, after a rock concert, a clique of four teenage girls did the unimaginable: they drove to Shanda’s home, lured her into their car and committed horrific crimes. Afterwards they drove to McDonald’s for breakfast. Little Lost Angel chronicles this shocking story—along with the investigation and the sensational murder trial involving satanism and child molestation—in its entirety. This is the definitive account of a crime so hideous and tragic that it provoked international attention, and sent an alarming and important message to every family in America. “What is frightening . . . is just how close to normal [these girls] may actually be.” —Jim Adams, Louisville Courier-Journal

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Rivers of Blood - Robert Scott Cover Art

Rivers of Blood

Rivers of Blood by Robert Scott

It Took One Week To Kill Her. . . Restaurant manager Lisa Kimmell had been driving for hours to visit her family in Montana. She never arrived. Eight days later, her body was found floating in the North Platte River. . . .And Fifteen Years To Catch Him. The police knew Lisa had been tortured and raped for a week before she was finally murdered. But they had no suspects, no witnesses, no clues. Just a strange handwritten letter left on her gravestone. . . But The Pain Would Last Forever. . . Lisa's murder was never solved--and her car never found--until new DNA technology led police to Dale Wayne Eaton. Fifteen years had passed since Eaton kidnapped his unlucky victim at a Wyoming rest stop. But now police had forensic evidence, handwriting samples, and most incredibly: Lisa's car buried in the killer's yard. Eaton's capture shed horrifying new light on a series of unsolved disappearances. Were they the work of a serial killer? Dale Wayne Eaton's trial revealed a twisted loner driven by dark appetites--a monster without remorse. With 16 Pages Of Shocking Photos

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Whoever Fights Monsters - Robert K. Ressler, Tom Shachtman & Charles Spicer Cover Art

Whoever Fights Monsters

Whoever Fights Monsters My Twenty Years Tracking Serial Killers for the FBI by Robert K. Ressler, Tom Shachtman & Charles Spicer

LEARN THE TRUE STORY OF ONE OF THE FBI PROFILERS WHO COINED THE PHRASE "SERIAL KILLER" Face-to-face with some of America's most terrifying killers, FBI veteran Robert K. Ressler learned how to identify the unknown monsters who walk among us -- and put them behind bars. In Whoever Fights Monsters , Ressler— the inspiration for the character Agent Bill Tench in David Fincher's hit TV show Mindhunter —shows how he was able to track down some of the country's most brutal murderers. Ressler, the FBI Agent and ex-Army CID colonel who advised Thomas Harris on The Silence of the Lambs , used the evidence at a crime scene to put together a psychological profile of the killers. From the victims they choose to the way they kill to the often grotesque souvenirs they take with them—Ressler unlocks the identities of these vicious killers. And with his discovery that serial killers share certain violent behaviors, Ressler goes behind prison walls to hear bizarre first-hand stories from countless convicted murderers, including Ted Bundy, John Wayne Gacy; Edmund Kemper; and Son of Sam. Getting inside the mind of a killer to understand how and why he kills is one of the FBI's most effective ways of helping police bring in killers who are still at large. Join Ressler as he takes you on the hunt for the world's most dangerous psychopaths in this terrifying journey you will not forget.

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Dying for Love - Carlton Smith Cover Art

Dying for Love

Dying for Love The True Story of a Millionaire Dentist, his Unfaithful Wife, and the Affair that Ended in Murder by Carlton Smith

Dr. John Yelenic was a successful dentist in a small Pennsylvania town. When he met Michele Kamler, he thought he'd finally found the woman of his dreams. She was beautiful, intelligent, and seemed to want all the same things out of life as he did. Michele married Yelenic in 1997. But by 2002, the relationship fell apart…and what followed was a bitter, three-year-long battle in which Michele made demands for Yelenic's money and even accused him—falsely, it would later be shown—of sexual abuse. Michele began dating Kevin Foley, a Pennsylvania State Trooper. When, in 2006, Yelenic was found murdered—slashed to death in his own home—Foley was the prime suspect. At the time of Yelenic's death, Michele was listed as beneficiary on more than $1 million in insurance benefits. Did Foley believe Michele stood to inherit this money? Or did this well-known hot-head act alone? This is a shocking true story of greed, corruption, and cold-blooded murder.

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Exile on Front Street - George Christie Cover Art

Exile on Front Street

Exile on Front Street My Life as a Hells Angel . . . and Beyond by George Christie

I hadn't planned on writing a book when I quit the Hells Angels. After forty years in the Hells Angels, George Christie was ready to retire. As president of the high-profile Ventura charter of the club, he had been the yin to Sonny Barger’s yang. Barger was the reckless figurehead and de facto world leader of the Hells Angels. Christie was the negotiator, the spokesman, the thinker, the guy who smoothed things out. He was the one who carried the Olympic torch and counted movie stars, artists, rock musicians, and police chief captains among his friends. But leaving the Hells Angels isn’t easy, and within two weeks of retirement, he was told he was “out bad”—blackballed by his fellow Angels, prohibited from wearing the club patch, and even told he should remove his Death Head tattoo. Now Christie sets out to tell his story. Exile on Front Street is the tale of how a former Marine gave up a comfortable job with the Department of Defense and swore allegiance to the Hells Angels. In this revealing, hard-hitting memoir, he recounts his life as an outlaw biker with the world’s most infamous motorcycle club.

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The Great Pretender - Susannah Cahalan Cover Art

The Great Pretender

The Great Pretender The Undercover Mission That Changed Our Understanding of Madness by Susannah Cahalan

Shortlisted for the 2020 Royal Society Insight Investment Science Book Prize Named a Best Book of 2020 by The Guardian * The Telegraph * The Times "One of America's most courageous young journalists" and the author of the #1 New York Times bestselling memoir Brain on Fire investigates the shocking mystery behind the dramatic experiment that revolutionized modern medicine (NPR ). Doctors have struggled for centuries to define insanity--how do you diagnose it, how do you treat it, how do you even know what it is? In search of an answer, in the 1970s a Stanford psychologist named David Rosenhan and seven other people--sane, healthy, well-adjusted members of society--went undercover into asylums around America to test the legitimacy of psychiatry's labels. Forced to remain inside until they'd "proven" themselves sane, all eight emerged with alarming diagnoses and even more troubling stories of their treatment. Rosenhan's watershed study broke open the field of psychiatry, closing down institutions and changing mental health diagnosis forever. But, as Cahalan's explosive new research shows in this real-life detective story, very little in this saga is exactly as it seems. What really happened behind those closed asylum doors?

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Salt of the Earth - Jack Olsen & M. William Phelps Cover Art

Salt of the Earth

Salt of the Earth by Jack Olsen & M. William Phelps

Joe Gere said he died on the afternoon his twelve-year-old daughter Brenda disappeared. It was left to Brenda's mother Elaine to sustain her stricken family, search for her missing child, and pressure the authorities for justice. From the first minutes of the investigation, suspicion fell on Michael Kay Green, a steroid-abusing "Mr. Universe" hopeful, but there was no proof of a crime, leaving police and prosecutors stymied.  With a new introduction by bestselling true crime author M. William Phelps. Tips and sightings poured in as lawmen and volunteers combed the Cascades forest in the biggest search on Northwest history. Years passed with no sight of the blue-eyed girl or the bright clothes she'd worn on the day she disappeared, but Elaine remained undaunted.  Salt of the Earth is the true story of how one woman fought and triumphed over life-shattering violence and how she healed her family-and herself.  Salt of the Earth is the true story of a courageous woman who survived a hellish twentieth-century nightmare. Mob violence, injustice, kidnapping, murder, and suicide were the black holes in the awful astronomy of Elaine Gere's life. Somehow she had to summon the courage to endure: to honor her beloved dead and to rebuild the shattered lives of the sons who depended on her strength. Jack Olsen has been lauded for his psychological insights into the most violent criminals in such previous masterworks as Doc, The Misbegotten Son, and Predator, but he has never overlooked their victims. By viewing the world through the eyes of Elaine Gere and her devastated family, he finds the core values that enabled them not only to survive and flourish, but, in the end, to triumph.  Gilbert Taylor: In the annals of humanity, the Gere family is unexceptional and ordinary--unless one looks as closely at their lives as Olsen does. A boomer-age couple, Joe and Elaine Gere move between California and Idaho a dozen times on their roller coaster ride of solvency and bankruptcy and have three children. Much the steadier spouse, energetic Elaine always manages to land a clerical federal job wherever Joe moves the family. The wanderlust ensues from Joe's first career misfortune, as a cop disabled during a melee with a mob. His relatives thought that incident started his slide toward suicide, and his addictive (regrets of hitting her and promises to reform) abuse of Elaine demonstrates the complexity of Joe's insidious demons. But he holds on, Elaine remaining loyal, until another bolt from the blue--the kidnapping and murder of their 12-year-old daughter. Here Olsen is at his dispassionate, yet concerned, best, introducing the subplot of the suspect's life (a wife beater), the course of the investigation, and the ultimate denoument of the case. In this mass-media age, many women will identify with, and perhaps be inspirited by, Olsen's fine chronicle of the Gere family.

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We Carry Their Bones - Erin Kimmerle Cover Art

We Carry Their Bones

We Carry Their Bones The Search for Justice at the Dozier School for Boys by Erin Kimmerle

"With We Carry Their Bones, Erin Kimmerle continues to unearth the true story of the Dozier School, a tale more frightening than any fiction. In a corrupt world, her unflinching revelations are as close as we'll come to justice." –Colson Whitehead, Pulitzer-Prize Winning author of The Nickel Boys and The Underground Railroad Forensic anthropologist Erin Kimmerle investigates of the notorious Dozier Boys School—the true story behind the Pulitzer Prize–winning novel The Nickel Boys—and the contentious process to exhume the graves of the boys buried there in order to reunite them with their families. The Arthur G. Dozier Boys School was a well-guarded secret in Florida for over a century, until reports of cruelty, abuse, and “mysterious” deaths shut the institution down in 2011. Established in 1900, the juvenile reform school accepted children as young as six years of age for crimes as harmless as truancy or trespassing. The boys sent there, many of whom were Black, were subject to brutal abuse, routinely hired out to local farmers by the school’s management as indentured labor, and died either at the school or attempting to escape its brutal conditions. In the wake of the school’s shutdown, Erin Kimmerle, a leading forensic anthropologist, stepped in to locate the school’s graveyard to determine the number of graves and who was buried there, thus beginning the process of reuniting the boys with their families through forensic and DNA testing. The school’s poorly kept accounting suggested some thirty-one boys were buried in unmarked graves in a remote field on the school’s property. The real number was at least twice that. Kimmerle’s work did not go unnoticed; residents and local law enforcement threatened and harassed her team in their eagerness to control the truth she was uncovering—one she continues to investigate to this day. We Carry Their Bones is a detailed account of Jim Crow America and an indictment of the reform school system as we know it. It’s also a fascinating dive into the science of forensic anthropology and an important retelling of the extraordinary efforts taken to bring these lost children home to their families—an endeavor that created a political firestorm and a dramatic reckoning with racism and shame in the legacy of America.  

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Kiss of the She-Devil - M. William Phelps Cover Art

Kiss of the She-Devil

Kiss of the She-Devil by M. William Phelps

The true-crime story of a cheating husband, the other woman, and her plot to kill the wife, by the bestselling author of Murder, New England . When librarian Martha Gail Fulton was gunned down in a Michigan parking lot on a quiet evening, there were two obvious suspects—Gail's husband George, a former military officer . . . and George's mistress, the flashy businesswoman Donna Kay Trapani. Police were baffled to find that both had ironclad alibis. Yet evidence showed the shooter, a male, had an accomplice—a mystery woman. Now, M. William Phelps recounts the compelling real-life drama of a twisted love triangle that ended in bloody murder, and the riveting investigation that brought to light a master manipulator's trail of deadly deceit. Praise for New York Times bestselling author M. William Phelps “One of our most engaging crime journalists.” —Katherine Ramsland, New York Times – bestselling author of Confession of a Serial Killer: The Untold Story of Dennis Rader, the BTK Killer “Phelps creates a vivid portrait.” — Publishers Weekly “One of America's finest true-crime writers.” —Vincent Bugliosi, New York Times bestselling author of Helter Skelter Includes sixteen pages of dramatic photos

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His Garden - Anne K. Howard Cover Art

His Garden

His Garden Conversations with a Serial Killer by Anne K. Howard

A lawyer gets inside the mind of a notorious New England serial killer in this award-winning and “grimly compelling” true crime ( Kirkus ). For nine months of 2003, William Devin Howell went on a killing spree in and around New Britain, Connecticut. Seven people went missing; all of their bodies eventually discovered in a wooded lot behind a strip mall. But the investigation that led to Howell’s arrest is only part of the story . Attorney and author Anne K. Howard first contacted Howell while he was serving a fifteen-year sentence for one of his murders. He was about to be charged for the remaining six. A unique and disturbing friendship between the two began, comprised of written correspondence, face-to-face prison visits and recorded phone calls. Over the course of years, Howell shared his troubled history with Howard. When his case was finally over, he told her every intimate, grizzly detail of how he became Connecticut’s most prolific serial killer. In His Garden , Howard probes the complicated mind of William Devin Howell. It is a story that explores the eternal question of human evil and its impact on others, including the woman he chose to hear his horrific confession. 2020 Independent Press Award 2018 Literary Excellence Pencraft Award

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Black Dahlia, Red Rose: The Crime, Corruption, and Cover-Up of America's Greatest Unsolved Murder - Piu Eatwell Cover Art

Black Dahlia, Red Rose: The Crime, Corruption, and Cover-Up of America's Greatest Unsolved Murder

Black Dahlia, Red Rose: The Crime, Corruption, and Cover-Up of America's Greatest Unsolved Murder by Piu Eatwell

A New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice Selection One of Bustle's "Best True Crime Books of the Year" “[A] juicy page turner . . . capturing both the allure and the perils of the dream factory that promised riches and fame.”—New York Times Book Review The gruesome 1947 murder of hopeful starlet Elizabeth Short holds a permanent place in American lore as one of our most inscrutable true-crime mysteries. In a groundbreaking feat of detection hailed as “extensive” and “convincing” (Bustle), skilled legal sleuth Piu Eatwell cracks the case after seventy years, rescuing Short from tabloid fodder to reveal the woman behind the headlines. Drawing on recently unredacted FBI and LAPD files and exclusive interviews, Black Dahlia, Red Rose is a gripping panorama of noir-tinged 1940s Hollywood and a definitive account of one of the biggest unsolved murders of American legal history.

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The Mafia and the Machine - Frank R. Hayde Cover Art

The Mafia and the Machine

The Mafia and the Machine The Story of the Kansas City Mob by Frank R. Hayde

The story of the American Mafia is not complete without a chapter on Kansas City. The City of Fountains has appeared in The Godfather, Casino, and The Sopranos, but many Midwesterners are not aware that Kansas City has affected the fortunes of the entire underworld. In The Mafia and the Machine, author Frank Hayde ties in every major name in organized crime-Luciano, Bugsy, Lansky-as well as the city's corrupt police force.

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King of the Godfathers: - Anthony M. DeStefano Cover Art

King of the Godfathers:

King of the Godfathers: by Anthony M. DeStefano

The Last Of The Old-World Mob Bosses--And The Ultimate Betrayal For more than twenty years, Joseph "Big Joey" Massino ran what was called the largest criminal network in the U.S., employing over two hundred and fifty made men and untold numbers of associates. The Bonanno family was responsible for over thirty murders, even killing a dozen of its own members to enforce discipline and settle scores. He would be brought down by Salvatore "Good Looking Sal" Vitale, the underboss who was not only Massino's closest and most trusted friend, but also his brother-in-law. In the end, facing the death penalty and the prospect of leaving his family penniless, Massino started talking to the FBI--the first Mafia Godfather to break the sacred code of omerta, and the end of a centuries-old tradition. Written by Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Anthony DeStefano, who interviewed Massino's family and friends as well as law enforcement officials and confidential sources, King of the Godfathers is the story of the brutal mob war that made Massino head of the Bonanno family and the most powerful gangster in America. "The best and last word on the subject." --Jerry Capeci, Gangland News.com and bestselling co-author of Murder Machine With 16 Pages of Revealing Photos! Anthony Destefano was part of the team of New York Newsday reporters who won the 1992 Pulitzer Prize for coverage of the August 1991 subway crash in Manhattan. He covers organized crime for Newsday and was the lead reporter on several major criminal trials, including that of subway gunman Bernhard Goetz. He lives in New Jersey.

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American Murder - Darcy O'Brien Cover Art

American Murder

American Murder Three True Crime Classics by Darcy O'Brien

Three riveting accounts of horrific crimes and the twisted minds behind them by an Edgar Award–winning author, in one volume. A father’s ultimate betrayal, a savage killing spree that terrorized Los Angeles, and the brutal slaying of a rich man’s college-aged daughter. In this heart-stopping true crime collection, New York Times –bestselling author Darcy O’Brien uncovers the dark underside of the American dream.   Murder in Little Egypt : Dr. John Dale Cavaness selflessly attended to the needs of his small, southern Illinois community. But when Cavaness was charged with the murder of his son Sean in December 1984, a radically different portrait of the physician and surgeon emerged. Throughout the three decades he had basked in the admiration and respect of the people of Little Egypt, Cavaness was privately terrorizing his family, abusing his employees, and making disastrous financial investments. In this New York Times bestseller, as more and more grisly details come to light, so too does rural America’s heritage of blood and violence become clear.   The Hillside Stranglers : For weeks, the body count of sexually violated, brutally murdered young women escalated. With increasing alarm, Los Angeles newspapers headlined the deeds of a serial killer they named the Hillside Strangler. But not until January 1979, more than a year later, would the mysterious disappearance of two university students near Seattle lead police to the arrest of a security guard—the handsome, charming, fast-talking Kenny Bianchi—and the discovery that the strangler was not one man but two. The Hillside Stranglers is the disturbing portrait of a city held hostage by fear and a pair of psychopaths whose lust was as insatiable as their hate.   A Dark and Bloody Ground : On a sweltering evening in August 1985, three men breached Roscoe Acker’s alarm and security systems, stabbed his daughter to death, and made off with over $1.9 million in cash. The killers were part of a hillbilly gang led by Sherry Sheets Hodge, a former prison guard, and her husband, lifetime criminal Benny Hodge. The stolen money came in handy shortly afterward, when they used it to lure Kentucky’s most flamboyant lawyer, Lester Burns, into representing them. “The smell of wet, coal-laden earth, white lightning, and cocaine-driven sweat rises from these marvelously atmospheric—and compelling—pages” ( Kirkus Reviews ).

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Innocent Blood: A True Story of Obsession and Serial Murder - Terry Ganey Cover Art

Innocent Blood: A True Story of Obsession and Serial Murder

Innocent Blood: A True Story of Obsession and Serial Murder by Terry Ganey

Like a real-life Hannibal Lecter--the psychopathic murderer from Thomas Harris' "Silence of the Lambs"--Charles Hatcher was cunning, sadistic and totally remorseless. He was a man with no conscience. He killed sixteen people, three of them children. Hatcher was also responsible for a different kind of tragedy--the conviction and imprisonment of an innocent man who was mercilessly hounded by the police, the prosecutor and the community for a brutal murder that Hatcher himself committed. A nomadic Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde who manipulated the legal system with gruesome skill, Charles Hatcher was the embodiment of evil, the devil's emissary on Earth. His nemesis was the lone FBI-man in St. Joseph, Missouri who risked his career to end Hatcher's reign of terror. "Innocent Blood" is the true story of Charles Hatcher and his life of crime--a powerful, and blood-chilling glimpse into the darkness between sanity and madness. It also chronicles a justice system gone wrong. Throughout his criminal career Hatcher was able to fool dozens of psychiatrists, who repeatedly failed to identify him as a multiple murderer. Hatcher's astonishing skill was not just in his ability to murder and escape imprisonment. He became an expert at manipulating the criminal justice system; overall, he outwitted police, prosecutors, psychiatrists and judges in twelve cities and eight states. Terry Ganey first covered this story as a reporter for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Later, he spent four years researching the material for this book, interviewing over seventy-five people and reviewing thousands of documents, court transcripts, prison files, police reports and mental health records. What emerges is a fascinating and horrifying portrait of a mass murderer at large in America--a murderer who could have stalked his victims in any of our towns and cities, whether urban or rural, large or small. This is an updated edition of the New York Times bestseller that was originally published in hardback under the title "St. Joseph's Children." The New York Times called the book, "a powerfully affecting story...every parent's nightmare." Kirkus Reviews said it was "an effective cautionary tale of crime and too-late punishment." The Library Journal described the book as "a gripping tale of murder, pursuit, and justice." And Publishers Weekly's conclusion was: "Disturbing...Justice is shown to triumph--ultimately--in this engaging, instructive true crime study." Customer reviews of the hardback edition "St. Joseph's Children" had this to say about it: --"My favorite book of ALL TIME!" --"I can hardly put this book down..." --"I highly recommend this book to all." --"What a wonderful book on a horrible miscarriage of justice." --"Book was very well written." This "Innocent Blood" eBook edition contains additional material that editors had discarded for the first print edition. Some events and background relating to Charles Hatcher's early life have been added, as well as context, description and background. The epilogue has also been updated. The revised eBook recounts the original, shocking narrative, which one reviewer wrote "penetrates the murky darkness of a soul in torment and of a town caught in despair, a town that witnessed both the unremarkable beginning and savage end of Charles Hatcher's criminal career."

49

Blood Bath - Susan D. Mustafa, Tony Clayton & Sue Israel Cover Art

Blood Bath

Blood Bath by Susan D. Mustafa, Tony Clayton & Sue Israel

They Knew He Was Out There He took his time. He watched his victims and chose carefully. Then he struck--each attack more brutal than the last. By the time detectives arrived, all they found were gruesome crime scenes of bloodied, brutalized bodies. . . They Knew He Would Strike Again For more than ten years in South Louisiana the killings went on. Task forces were formed. The killer even spent time in jail. But that wouldn't stop the bloodshed. One victim was stabbed with a screwdriver 83 times. . . But They Couldn't Stop Him--Until Was Too Late He was a father. A husband. A co-worker. And a killer. Derrick Todd Lee was ultimately convicted of two savage murders and tied to at least seven more. From the slender trace of DNA that finally nabbed him to the courageous prosecutors who took him down in court, this is the shocking story of a homicidal maniac hiding in plain sight--and an evil that could never be washed away. . . Includes 16 pages of shocking photographs Previously published as I've Been Watching You Susan D. Mustafa is the executive editor of Southeast News in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. She is the award-winning co-author of No Such Thing as Impossible--From Adversity to Triumph, written with Jairo Álvarez Botero, and a freelance journalist for a variety of magazines throughout the South. Tony Clayton was the special prosecutor of the South Louisiana Serial Killer in the Geralyn DeSoto case. He currently serves as assistant district attorney for West Baton Rouge Parish. His career has included posts as a special prosecutor, district court judge, assistant district attorney and instructor of pre-law at Southern University. Sue Israel has more than twenty years of writing and editing experience and currently serves as the public information officer for the Office of the Commissioner in the state of Louisiana's Division of Administration.

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Serial Killers : Hannibal Lecter - Quik eBooks Cover Art

Serial Killers : Hannibal Lecter

Serial Killers : Hannibal Lecter by Quik eBooks

Because sometimes our brains just need to nibble ... It's like food, occasionally you need a three-course meal, other times just a snack will do. Quik eBooks are like the cocktail sausage of the eBook world; short, tasty and perfect when you're on the go. Hannibal Lecter is perhaps the most memorable serial killer in fiction. He is a highly intelligent, cultured man who trained as a psychiatrist but became a cannibal. Lecter devours his victims in the most gruesome ways, but is also renowned as a gourmet  cook. This combination of primitive savagery and sophistication is what makes Lecter such a chilling character. Read about Hannibal Lecter in this Quik eBook.

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