Book picks similar to
Morgan Harrington Murdered and Dead for Good: A Mother's Quest to Find a Serial Killer and Healing by Gil Harrington
non-fiction
true-crime
crime
biographies
Those Days in January: The Abduction and Murder of Meredith Hope Emerson
John Cagle - 2020
The search would last only five days before the worst came to pass. Gary Hilton, suspected in the deaths of three more hikers across the Southeast, was arrested for her murder. What was once a small mountain town had fallen into the sights of a serial killer. Less than a month later, Hilton would plead guilty and be sentenced to life in prison in one of the swiftest cases in Georgia history. Lead investigator John Cagle shares the details of the investigation from start to finish in this day-by-day account. Witness the struggle firsthand to seek justice for Meredith, all while protecting her memory from the opportunists, sensationalist reporters, and unscrupulous practices that threatened to deny her the dignity she deserves. Discover not only the facts of her murder, but the impact on the personal lives of those who worked tirelessly to find her. For them, those days in January will never end.
Preemie: Lessons in Love, Life, and Motherhood
Kasey Mathews - 2012
But what seemed a perfect life was shattered when she went into labor four months early, delivering her one-pound, eleven-ounce daughter, Andie.The first time Kasey was wheeled into the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), nothing prepared her for what she saw: a tiny, fragile baby in a tangle of tubes and wires. All at once, Kasey was confronted with a new and terrifying reality that would test the limits of love, family, and motherhood.In this riveting, honest, and often humorous memoir,
Preemie
chronicles the journey of one tiny baby’s tenacious struggle to hold on to life and the mother who ultimately grew with her. From hospital waiting rooms to the offices of alternative practitioners, from ski slopes to Symphony Hall, Kasey tries to make meaning of her daughter’s birth and eventually comes to learn that gifts come in all sizes and all forms, and sometimes... right on time.
Ministry of Crime: An Underworld Explored
Mandy Wiener - 2018
It features new revelations about high-profile, unsolved hits and the intricate relationships between known criminals and police officers at all levels. It delves into the current power struggle between opposing factions in Cape Town's security industry and the suspected involvement of state operatives in the bloody standoff.Wiener has gained exclusive access to and on-the-record interviews with key underworld characters and police generals accused of colluding with criminals. These have helped her track the parallel narrative of the capture of law-enforcement agencies and unravel how players with inexplicable political backing have been able to pillage secret slush funds and abuse organs of state for their own benefit.Against this backdrop, prominent underworld figures - Radovan Krejcir key among them - have been able to thrive, setting up elaborate networks with the assistance of police. While crime is flourishing, the top echelons of the police and prosecution have been at war with themselves.The proximity of politics, law enforcement and organised crime over the past decade is frighteningly intertwined. The story of the rise and reign of the Ministry of Crime winds its way from the depths of the underworld, via multiple mysterious unsolved murders, to senior politicians and the very top ranks of the country's police force.
Court in the Middle
Andrew Fraser - 2007
Then it all went horribly wrong. In 1999 he was charged with being knowingly concerned with the importation of a commercial quantity of cocaine. Fraser pleaded guilty to a charge of possessing, trafficking a small quantity, and using cocaine over a period of time. He was sentenced to seven years in maximum security prison. Court in the Middle describes his early yearsgrowing up in a family of lawyers, running hard to build a criminal law practice; his successful years with a national practice, and defending high profile, sometimes notorious, clients. He also discusses his relationship with cocaine, addiction and deals, crime and punishment, and the shocking details of his time spent in a maximum security prison.
A Dangerous Place: The Story of the Railway Murders
Simon Farquhar - 2016
In September 1970, two boys met in the playground on their first day at secondary school in North London. They formed what would be described at the Old Bailey thirty years later as ‘a unique and wicked bond’. Between 1982 and 1986, striking near lonely railway stations in London and the Home Counties, their partnership took them from rape to murder. Three police forces pooled their resources to catch them in the biggest criminal manhunt since the Yorkshire Ripper Enquiry.A Dangerous Place is the first full-length account of the crimes of John Duffy and David Mulcahy. Told by the son of one of the police officers who led the enquiry, exhaustively researched and with unprecedented access, this is the story of two of the most notorious serial killers of the twentieth century and the times they operated in. It is the story of the women who died at their hands. It is the story of the women who survived them, and who had the courage to ensure justice was done. And it is the story of a father, told by a son.
Illustrated True Crime: A Photographic Record
Colin Wilson - 2002
Packed with more than 400 photographs arranged in chronological order, this book covers everything from arson to connibalism, con men, mass murderers, sabotage, victims and vital clues.
Dare I Call It Murder?: A Memoir of Violent Loss
Larry M. Edwards - 2013
I found myself thinking about your story -- wanting to read more. Your writing is so revealing and beneficial to others. The impact of your last few lines -- perfect.Kirkus Review:"A chilling memoir of a family tragedy and its painful aftermath. . . . This book is an act of witness, and the author’s motivation is palpable throughout: 'I have a right to know. Our family has a right to know. Society has a right to know.” . . . A powerful testament to a son’s unyielding determination to tell his parents’ story.'In his book, Larry Edwards unmasks the emotional trauma of violent loss as he ferrets out new facts to get at the truth of how and why his parents were killed.In 1977, Loren and Joanne Edwards left Puget Sound aboard their 53-foot sailboat Spellbound, destined for French Polynesia. Six months later they lay dead aboard their boat in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.Larry's younger brother became the prime suspect in the FBI's murder investigation. But federal prosecutors never indicted him, leaving the case unresolved and splitting the Edwards family into feuding factions.Three decades later, a dispute over how to respond to a true-crime book by Ann Rule--which contained an inaccurate account of the case -- ripped the tattered family even farther apart. In Dare I Call It Murder?, Larry Edwards sets the record straight, revealing previously undisclosed facts from the FBI investigation as he lays out the case never presented in court.Larry's memoir, however, goes beyond simply telling the untold story of his parents' deaths and refuting the errors in previously published material. His broader goal is to see the book generate greater awareness of and conversations about violent loss, its impact on the survivors and their families, and the troubling effects of post-traumatic stress (PTSD).Website: DareICallItMurder.com
Audrey Hepburn: A Life from Beginning to End (Biographies of Actors)
Hourly History - 2021
Paul O'Grady - The Biography
Neil Simpson - 2007
He was a boxing champion as a boy. He became a dad as a teenager. He has been a barman in a brothel and spent his first years in London working as a carer to some of the capital's most at-risk kids.In this, the first major biography of the star, Neil Simpson reveals the extraordinary highs and the terrible lows of Paul's life. He explains: how Lily Savage was born as a way to make more money - and help Paul take his mind off the horrors he saw every day as a social worker; how tough it was for the 'blonde bombsite from Birkenhead' to break into the entertainment mainstream; and, why Paul decided to risk everything by throwing off Lily's wig and carving out a new career as himself.The depression, the private grief and the near fatal heart attacks that struck as Paul re-invented himself as the funniest and most successful chat show host in the country. Frequently hilarious and sometimes heart-wrenchingly sad, Paul O'Grady has always lived his life on a rollercoaster of emotions. Today he is a proud grandfather, a multimillionaire and a man loved by millions of devoted fans. This is his incredible story.
The Pottery Cottage Murders: The terrifying true story of an escaped prisoner and the family he held hostage
Carol Ann Lee - 2020
A family of five held hostage in their home. A frantic police manhunt across the snowbound Derbyshire moors. Just one survivor. The definitive account of the terrifying 1977 Pottery Cottage murders that shocked Britain. For three days, escaped prisoner Billy Hughes played macabre psychological games with Gill Moran and her family, keeping them in separate rooms of their home while secretly murdering them one by one. On several occasions Hughes ordered Gill and her husband, Richard, to leave the house for provisions, confident that they would return without betraying him in order to protect their loved ones. Blizzards hampered the desperate police search, but they learned where the dangerous convict was hiding and closed in on the cottage. A high-speed car chase on icy roads ended with a crash and the killer being shot as he swung a newly sharpened axe at his final victim. This was Britain's first instance of police officers committing 'justifiable homicide' against an escapee. The story of these terrible events is told here by Carol Ann Lee and Peter Howse, the former Chief Inspector who saved Gill Moran's life more than 40 years ago. Peter's professional role has permitted access to witness statements, crime-scene photographs and police reports. Peter Howse and Carol Ann Lee have made use of these, along with fresh interviews with many of those directly involved, to tell a fast-paced and truly shocking story with great insight and empathy.
The Perfect Crime: The Real Life Crime that Inspired Hitchcock’s Rope
Fergus Mason - 2013
But they wanted the one thing that no amount of money could buy: life. They wanted to create the Perfect Crime--to kidnap and murder a 14-year-old boy for the thrill of getting away with murder.The crime was so horrifying that even legendary filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock took notice, and directed his version of the story: Rope. But the real story of the Rope is much more brutal and suspenseful than even Hitchcock could do justice to. Read the real history in this thrilling true crime book.
Bad Blood: Freedom and Death in the White Mountains
Casey Sherman - 2009
A spasm of violence that took only a few minutes to play out leaves a community divided and searching for answers. From the author of newly released Boston Strong: A City s Triumph Over Tragedy, about the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings, Bad Blood is the riveting account of the long-standing feud between Franconia, New Hampshire, police officer Bruce McKay, 48, and Liko Kenney, 24. In May 2007, Kenney shot and killed Officer McKay, following a dramatic chase that began with a routine traffic stop. Kenney, cousin of ski legend Bode Miller, was then shot and killed by a shadowy passerby. Almost immediately, the tragic incident revealed deep tensions within this otherwise quiet community in the White Mountains with charges that Kenney was a hell-raiser and mentally unstable and counter-charges that Officer McKay was a rogue cop who dispensed justice as a way to settle personal scores. Striving to get at the truth of the story, the author uncovers a complicated mix of personalities and motivations. Local and statewide interests clash while regional and national media and even YouTube viewers supply ready stereotypes to fit their agendas. Amid larger questions of the meaning of individual freedom we are, ultimately, helpless witnesses to an inevitable clash of characters."
The Sophie Lancaster Story
Catherine Smyth - 2016
The beatings and subsequent murder made international news. This book was written by an investigative journalist who became extremely close to the families of the victims. WITH PHOTOS
Murdered by Mumia: A Life Sentence of Loss, Pain, and Injustice
Maureen Faulkner - 2007
Mumia Abu-Jamal was unanimously convicted of the crime by a racially mixed jury based on: the testimony of several eyewitnesses, his ownership of the murder weapon, matching ballistics, and Abu-Jamal’s own confession.After his conviction, however, a national anti-death penalty movement was started to “Free Mumia;” Mike Farrell, Ed Asner, Whoopi Goldberg, and Jesse Jackson rallied on his behalf, and led the charge. For his part, while on death row, Abu-Jamal published several books, delivered radio commentaries, was a college commencement speaker, found himself named an Honorary Citizen of France, and had his defense coffers enhanced by ticket sales from a sold out (16,000-person) concert featuring Rage Against the Machine.Here, from Maureen Faulkner and acclaimed talk show host / journalist Michael Smerconish, is the first book to carefully and definitively lay out the case against Abu-Jamal, and those who’ve elevated him to the status of political prisoner. Smerconish, a lawyer, has provided pro bono legal counsel to Faulkner for over a decade and knows both the legal intricacies and personal subtleties of the case like no other person. He’s personally acquainted himself with the more than five thousand pages of trial transcript. “My reading starkly revealed that Abu-Jamal murdered Danny Faulkner in cold blood and that the case tried in Philadelphia in 1982 bore no resemblance to the one being home-cooked by the Abu-Jamal defense team.”As Abu-Jamal’s lawyers contemplate their final appeal, Faulkner and Smerconish weave a compelling, never-before-told account of one fateful night and the 25-year-long rewriting of history.
Pottery Cottage: the crime that shook Britain
Alan R. Hurndall - 2019
England’s Peak District. A violent fugitive attacks his prison escort and escapes over the wintry moors. He stumbles on an isolated cottage and takes a family hostage. What transpires will send a shiver down the spine of Britain. Award-winning investigative journalist and author, Alan Hurndall has spent the best part of a decade piecing together the events surrounding Pottery Cottage and offers this hour by hour account of the trauma and the controversial police operation as they close in on their man. Using the Freedom of Information Act, he gained access to previously confidential police files, witness statements and official reports. He says: “I was a young reporter on The Star, Sheffield when this story broke, and it has always held a fascination for me. It has a place in criminal and social history in the sense that many felt the Permissive Society was to blame.’ Pottery Cottage is a dark, psychological thriller that happens to be true. It will shock and anger in equal measure. It might even make you weep. But it will certainly provoke you into asking searching questions about yourself and how you might act in such a crisis. What would YOU have done?