Book picks similar to
The Mormon Murders by Steven Naifeh


true-crime
non-fiction
religion
nonfiction

Salamander: The Story of the Mormon Forgery Murders with a New Afterword


Linda Sillitoe - 1988
    They embrace the details, then lay them out systematically as seen thru the eyes of the detectives, victims & perpetrator. The darkest secrets unravel gradually, allowing readers fleeting glimpses of the infamous salamander as it ducks in & out of its fabricator's head. What was the salamander letter & why were so many people determined to possess & conceal it? Why was this one of the most unusual cases in American forensic history? A skilled con artist by anyone's assessment, Mark Hofmann eluded exposure by police & document authenticators--the FBI, Library of Congress, the LDS church historical department & polygraph experts--until George Throckmorton discovered the tell-tale microscopic alligatoring that was characteristic of the forgeries. What ensued was a suspense-ridden cat-&-mouse game between seasoned prosecutors & a clever, homicidal criminal. In the end, this story verifies the saying that sometimes truth is stranger than fiction.

Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling


Richard L. Bushman - 2005
    Richard Bushman, an esteemed cultural historian and a practicing Mormon, moves beyond the popular stereotype of Smith as a colorful fraud to explore his personality, his relationships with others, and how he received revelations. An arresting narrative of the birth of the Mormon Church, Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling also brilliantly evaluates the prophet’s bold contributions to Christian theology and his cultural place in the modern world.

Black Mass: The True Story of an Unholy Alliance Between the FBI and the Irish Mob


Dick Lehr - 2000
    Decades later, in the mid 1970's, they would meet again. By then, Connolly was a major figure in the FBI's Boston office and Whitey had become godfather of the Irish Mob. What happened next -- a dirty deal to being down the Italian mob in exchange for protection for Bulger -- would spiral out of control, leading to murders, drug dealing, racketeering indictments, and, ultimately, the biggest informant scandal in the history of the FBI.Compellingly told by two Boston Globe reporters who were on the case from the beginning, Black Mass is at once a riveting crime story, a cautionary tale about the abuse of power, and a penetrating look at Boston and its Irish population.

Joseph Smith's Kirtland: Eyewitness Accounts


Karl Ricks Anderson - 1989
    Anderson. 1996, Deseret Book.

Autobiography of Parley P. Pratt (Revised and Enhanced)


Parley P. Pratt - 1834
    Parley P. Pratt was one of the early leaders in the Church and his story is interwoven with that of the early Church. Maurine and Scot, a husband and wife team, have been depicting scenes from Church history for several years. Maurine received her master's degree in teaching from Harvard University and Scot received his master's degree in instructional technology from Utah State University.

Jesus the Christ: A Study of the Messiah and His Mission According to Holy Scriptures, Both Ancient and Modern


James E. Talmage - 1915
    Elder Marion G. Romney said, "One who gets the understanding, the vision, and the spirit of the resurrected Lord through a careful study of the text Jesus the Christ by Elder James E. Talmage will find that he has greatly increased his moving faith in our glorified Redeemer." This special edition has been completely retypeset for added readability, and for the first time the chapter endnotes have been included with the footnotes for ready reference.

Murder In Brentwood


Mark Fuhrman - 1997
    Simpson to get away with murder, an innocent cop - a brilliant detective - had to he destroyed. That was the cynical strategy of the Simpson "Dream Team, " and it worked. But as certainty about Simpson's guilt grows, so does outrage about the scapegoating of Mark Fuhrman. Now the former LAPD detective tells his side of the story in a damning expose. The veteran detective gives the inside story of why and how Simpson's interrogation was bungled; how police criminalists made previously unrevealed errors that torpedoed the prosecution's case; why Marcia Clark foolishly suppressed evidence of an affair between Ron and Nicole; and why Clark refused to call a key police witness who could have corroborated Fuhrman's testimony and blown away the defense team's claim of planted evidence. Fuhrman's own hand-drawn maps of the crime scene and his reconstruction of the murders leave no doubt about what really happened on June 12, 1994. New revelations about the incompetence and corruption that pervaded the "Trial of the Century" will exonerate this decent, loyal detective, the innocent cop who was sacrificed so a rich, guilty celebrity could go free.

The Beautiful Cigar Girl: Mary Rogers, Edgar Allan Poe, and the Invention of Murder


Daniel Stashower - 2006
    One year later, a struggling writer named Edgar Allan Poe decided to take on the case-and sent his fictional detective, C. Auguste Dupin, to solve the baffling murder of Mary Rogers in "The Mystery of Marie Rog�t."

American Crucifixion: The Murder of Joseph Smith and the Fate of the Mormon Church


Alex Beam - 2014
    Clamorous and angry, they were hunting down a man they saw as a grave threat to their otherwise quiet lives: the founding prophet of Mormonism, Joseph Smith. They wanted blood.At thirty-nine years old, Smith had already lived an outsized life. In addition to starting his own religion and creating his own “Golden Bible”—the Book of Mormon—he had worked as a water-dowser and treasure hunter. He'd led his people to Ohio, then Missouri, then Illinois, where he founded a city larger than fledgling Chicago. He was running for president. And, secretly, he had married more than thirty women.In American Crucifixion, Alex Beam tells how Smith went from charismatic leader to public enemy: How his most seismic revelation—the doctrine of polygamy—created a rift among his people; how that schism turned to violence; and how, ultimately, Smith could not escape the consequences of his ambition and pride.Mormonism is America's largest and most enduring native religion, and the “martyrdom” of Joseph Smith is one of its transformational events. Smith's brutal assassination propelled the Mormons to colonize the American West and claim their place in the mainstream of American history. American Crucifixion is a gripping story of scandal and violence, with deep roots in our national identity.

The Only Living Witness: The True Story of Serial Sex Killer Ted Bundy


Stephen G. Michaud - 1983
    Handsome, boyish and well-spoken, a law student with bright political prospects, Bundy was also a predator and sexual deviant who murdered and mutilated at least thirty young women and girls, many of them college coeds but at least two as young as twelve.

Prophet's Prey: My Seven-Year Investigation Into Warren Jeffs and the Fundamentalist Church of Latter-Day Saints


Sam Brower - 2011
    Only one man can reveal the whole, astounding truth: Sam Brower, the private investigator who devoted years of his life to breaking open the secret practices of the FLDS and bringing Warren Jeffs and his inner circle to justice. In Prophet's Prey, Brower implicates Jeffs in his own words, bringing to light the contents of Jeffs's personal priesthood journal, discovered in a hidden underground vault, and revealing to readers the shocking inside world of FLDS members, whose trust he earned and who showed him the staggering truth of their lives.Prophet's Prey offers the gripping, behind-the-scenes account of a bizarre world from the only man who knows the full story.

Adventures of a Church Historian


Leonard J. Arrington - 1998
    Arrington was historian of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1972 to 1982. The first professional historian and the first noncentral authority to occupy this position, Arrington opened archival resources and presided over an unprecedented era of enlightenment in Mormon scholarship. Arrington's appointment came at a crucial point in LDS history -- as the institution was being transformed from a regional church whose ecclesiastical hierarchy presided directly over its congregants into a modern, worldwide church with an elaborate bureaucracy. Riveting chapters on the actions of the controversial Historical Department reveal details of his release and replacement as the old system gave way to the new.

Deadly Little Secrets: The Minister, His Mistress, and a Heartless Texas Murder


Kathryn Casey - 2012
    With Deadly Little Secrets, Casey once again explores the dark side of the Lone Star State, offering a riveting true story of a murderous Texas preacher responsible for the cold-blooded slaying of the mother of his children. Meticulously researched and spellbindingly told, Deadly Little Secrets pulls back the curtain on the horrific crimes of a supposed man of God who was more devoted to the Devil, and it demonstrates why such true crime luminaries as Edgar® Award winner Carleton Stowers and Gregg Olsen are confirmed Kathryn Casey fans.And don't miss Kathryn Casey's latest book, Deliver Us, a riveting account of the brutal murders of young women in the I-45/Texas Killing Fields.

Wife No. 19


Ann Eliza Young - 1875
    Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.

Mormon Enigma: Emma Hale Smith


Linda King Newell - 1984
    This book is a biographical reconstruction of Emma Smith's life from documents and evidence other than the few letters and one page of blessings she left behind.