a notorious "murder house" which was once the scene of a brutal and bloody crime. If the walls of number 25 Cromwell Street had ears, what horrifying acts would they have overheard during the occupancy of serial killers Fred and Rose West? Brutal torture sessions and grisly murders were a regular occurrence. Even after the evidence has been removed and the perpetrators imprisoned or executed, an aura of horror, fear and disgust can linger on for decades. Houses of Death provides an incredible insight into ordinary homes and institutional buildings that have played host to extraordinary events. It explores the infamous buildings, the murderers and victims who called them ‘home’, as well as the bizarre and bloody events that took place behind their closed doors.Contents including:Countess Erzsebet Bathory,Castle Csejthe; Eastern State Penitentiary; The Bender family log cabin; Sing Sing;Lizzie Borden, 92 Second Street, Fall River; H H Holmes, The Murder Castle, Chicago; Newgate Prison; Lemp Mansion, St Louis; Bangkwang Prison, Thailand; Collingwood Manor Massacre; Washington State Penitentiary; John Christie, 10 Rillington Place; Ed Gein, Gein’s Farm, Plainfield, Wisconsin; Holloway Prison; Alcatraz; The Manson Family, 10050 Cielo Drive, Los Angeles; Jonestown; Fred and Rose West, 25 Cromwell Street; Jeffrey Dahmer, 213 Oxford Apartments;Gary Heidnik, 3520 North Marshall Street; Ian Huntley, 5 College Close, Soham.

    The arrest in her sleepy northern California town kicked off what would become one of the most captivating murder trials in recent memory, as police, local attorneys, and the national media sought to unravel the complex web of events that sent this seemingly devoted housewife over the edge.Now, with the exclusive access and in-depth reporting that made A Deadly Game a number one New York Times bestseller, Catherine Crier turns an analytical eye to the story of Susan Polk, delving into her past and examining how over twenty years of marriage culminated in murder. Tracing the family's history, Crier skillfully maneuvers the murky waters of the Polk's marriage, looking at the real story behind Susan, Felix, and their unorthodox courtship. When Susan was in high school, Felix, who was more than twenty years her senior, had been her psychologist, and it was during their sessions that the romantic entanglement began. From these troubling origins grew a difficult marriage, one which produced three healthy boys but also led to disturbing accusations of abuse from both spouses.With extraordinary detail, Crier dissects this dangerous relationship between husband and wife, exposing their psychological motivations and the painful impact that these motivations had on their sons, Adam, Eli, and Gabriel. Drawing on sources from all sides of the case, Crier masterfully reconstructs the tumultuous chronology of the Polk family, telling the story of how Susan and Felix struggled to control their rambunctious sons and their disintegrating marriage in the years and months leading up to Felix's death.But the history of the Polk family is only half the story. Here Crier also elucidates the methodical police work of the murder investigation, revealing never-before-seen photos and writings from the case file. In addition, she carefully scrutinizes the many twists and turns of the remarkable trial, exploring Susan's struggles with her defense attorneys and her shocking decision to represent herself.Dark, psychological, and terrifying, Final Analysis is a harrowing look at the recesses of the human mind and the trauma that reveals them.

    Topics range from ruminations on why Charles Dickens was among the best of writers and the worst of men to the haunting science fiction of J.G. Ballard; from the enduring legacies of Thomas Jefferson and George Orwell to the persistent agonies of anti-Semitism and jihad. Hitchens even looks at the recent financial crisis and argues for the enduring relevance of Karl Marx. The book forms a bridge between the two parallel enterprises of culture and politics. It reveals how politics justifies itself by culture, and how the latter prompts the former. In this fashion, Arguably burnishes Christopher Hitchens' credentials as (to quote Christopher Buckley) our "greatest living essayist in the English language."

    At the end of the nineteenth century, serial murderer Joseph Vacher, known and feared as "The Killer of Little Shepherds," terrorized the French countryside. He eluded authorities for years--until he ran up against prosecutor Emile Fourquet and Dr. Alexandre Lacassagne, the era's most renowned criminologist. The two men--intelligent and bold--typified the Belle Epoque, a period of immense scientific achievement and fascination with science's promise to reveal the secrets of the human condition. With high drama and stunning detail, Douglas Starr revisits Vacher's infamous crime wave, interweaving the story of how Lacassagne and his colleagues were developing forensic science as we know it. We see one of the earliest uses of criminal profiling, as Fourquet painstakingly collects eyewitness accounts and constructs a map of Vacher's crimes. We follow the tense and exciting events leading to the murderer's arrest. And we witness the twists and turns of the trial, celebrated in its day. In an attempt to disprove Vacher's defense by reason of insanity, Fourquet recruits Lacassagne, who in the previous decades had revolutionized criminal science by refining the use of blood-spatter evidence, systematizing the autopsy, and doing groundbreaking research in psychology. Lacassagne's efforts lead to a gripping courtroom denouement. "The Killer of Little Shepherds" is an important contribution to the history of criminal justice, impressively researched and thrillingly told.

    Then he discovered that the olive grove in front of their 14th century farmhouse had been the scene of the most infamous double-murders in Italian history, committed by a serial killer known as the Monster of Florence. Preston, intrigued, meets Italian investigative journalist Mario Spezi to learn more.This is the true story of their search for—and identification of—the man they believe committed the crimes, and their chilling interview with him. And then, in a strange twist of fate, Preston and Spezi themselves become targets of the police investigation. Preston has his phone tapped, is interrogated, and told to leave the country. Spezi fares worse: he is thrown into Italy's grim Capanne prison, accused of being the Monster of Florence himself. Like one of Preston's thrillers, The Monster of Florence, tells a remarkable and harrowing story involving murder, mutilation, and suicide—and at the center of it, Preston and Spezi, caught in a bizarre prosecutorial vendetta.

    Distinguished by the former Seattle policewoman's razor-sharp eye for telling detail and her penetrating analysis of the criminal mind, this gripping collection of accounts drawn from her personal files features the twisting case of Randy Roth, who married -- and murdered -- for profit. In her trademark narrative style, Ann Rule weaves a tale that is riveting, enraging, and heartbreaking all at once, and brilliantly chronicles the fateful confluence of a killer and his female victims, as well as the shattering investigation into Roth's heinous crimes.

    Writing with award-winning partner Mark Olshaker for the first time since his retirement, Douglas opens up about his most notorious and baffling cases—and shows what it's like to confront evil in its most monstrous form.No one is better acquainted with the subject of humanity’s most notorious crimes and the wrenching challenges of bringing those criminals to justice than John Douglas, the model for Agent Jack Crawford in The Silence of the Lambs. In this provocative and deeply personal book, the most prominent criminal investigator of our time recounts his twenty-five year FBI career tracking down master criminals, write true crime bestsellers, developing forensic science and the art of criminal profiling, but previously he could never be as forthright as he is in this, his first book since retirement. In his previous works, he wrote only about the guilty; in Law & Disorder, he writes about the guilty, innocents accused, and even innocents convicted as he addresses every law enforcement professional’s worst nightmare: those cases where, for one reason or another, justice was delayed…or even denied.A deep glimpse into the mind of a man who has explored the heart of human darkness, he looks to unlock for his readers the ultimate mystery of depravity and the techniques and approaches that have countered evil in the name of justice throughout his career. “An essential title for those interested in true crime stories, forensic science, or law enforcement.”- Library Journal (starred review)"At his best describing terrible crimes." – Houston Chronicle "A real genius." – Entertainment Weekly "Douglas can claim a rare authenticity regarding the evil that men do." - Kirkus Reviews “An essential title for those interested in true crime stories, forensic science, or law enforcement.” - Library Journal (starred review)

    Good friends and sometime rivals William Fleisher, Frank Bender, and Richard Walter decided one day over lunch that something had to be done, and pledged themselves to a grand quest for justice. The three men invited the greatest collection of forensic investigators ever assembled, drawn from five continents, to the Downtown Club in Philadelphia to begin an audacious quest: to bring the coldest killers in the world to an accounting. Named for the first modern detective, the Parisian eugène François Vidocq-the flamboyant Napoleonic real-life sleuth who inspired Sherlock Holmes-the Vidocq Society meets monthly in its secretive chambers to solve a cold murder over a gourmet lunch. The Murder Room draws the reader into a chilling, darkly humorous, awe-inspiring world as the three partners travel far from their Victorian dining room to hunt the ruthless killers of a millionaire's son, a serial killer who carves off faces, and a child killer enjoying fifty years of freedom and dark fantasy. Acclaimed bestselling author Michael Capuzzo's brilliant storytelling brings true crime to life more realistically and vividly than it has ever been portrayed before. It is a world of dazzlingly bright forensic science; true evil as old as the Bible and dark as the pages of Dostoevsky; and a group of flawed, passionate men and women, inspired by their own wounded hearts to make a stand for truth, goodness, and justice in a world gone mad.

    The murders in London between 1888-91 attributed to Jack the Ripper constitute one of the most mysterious unsolved criminal cases. This story is the result of many years meticulous research. The author reassesses all the evidence and challenges everything we thought we knew about the Victorian serial killer and the vanished East End he terrorized.

    These stories, the first of three short collections, are unified by a single theme: they all involve physicians. And not for the autopsy, but as perpetrators or accused perpetrators. You may never see your family care giver again in the same light. Told in the characteristic wry, anecdotal reportorial style that made Alan Hynd famous in his day (two wartime best sellers in 1943, contributions to The Reader's Digest, Colliers, Coronet, The Saturday Evening Post, True, Liberty, The American Mercury and almost every true detective magazine in print) these tales will have you cringing one minute, laughing the next, and gasping in shock a moment later. Truly, no one could make up classics like these. Take for example, the murder ring of South Philadelphia in which a faith healer and two Lotharios helped restless wives rid themselves of abusive unwanted husbands...or the respected French war hero who was a pillar of the community by day but prowled brothels and music halls by night and was caught with a cadaver sealed within the walls of his home....or the traveling physician who married a farmer's ex-wife and had four step-sons, then three, then two, then...... And finally, as a bonus track, relax and savor the wickedly evil doings of "Sister Amy Archer" at the Archer convalescent home in Connecticut, where old folks checked out just a little too quickly for comfort. The events eventually became the basis of "Arsenic and Old Lace," the hit play and iconic movie. As the old adages go, you couldn't make this stuff up... and true crime is always farther out there than fiction. (With illustrations)

    For the first time, the files have been opened, the detectives are talking and the victims are reliving the nightmare. For over 20 years, the dark secrets of the biggest criminal manhunt in British history have remained a closed book. Detectives refused all requests to tell the inside story of the Yorkshire Ripper investigation that logged over two million man-hours of police work. The victims who survived maintained a wall of silence. And the detailed forensic evidence, witness statements and autopsy reports have remained locked away. Until now. Michael Bilton has persuaded the key people to talk. After years of research he can finally reveal the truth behind the murder enquiry that left Peter Sutcliffe free to kill again and again. With exclusive access to the detectives involved, to pathologist's archives and confidential police reports, the story of the hunt is revealed.

    Paul, where the victims were mostly prostitutes Costa Rica's elusive "El Psicópata" (The Psychopath), thought to have murdered at least 19 people in this small, quiet Central American country "The Monster of Florence," responsible for a series of 15 sexual slayings just outside Florence, where all the victims were courting couples

    Kennedy, Groucho Marx, Charles Dickens, Katharine Hepburn, Mick Jagger, Steve Martin, Clementine Churchill, Ray Bradbury, Kurt Vonnegut and many more.

    Unsolved Serial Killings is a compilation of over twenty criminal dossiers on serial killers that were never caught, including:The Zodiac Serial KillerThe Frankford SlasherThe Original Night StalkerRapid City Serial KillerThe Babysitter Serial KillerHighway of Tears Serial KillerI-70/I-35 Texas Serial Killerand many more.

    From the trilogy's darker themes of violence and social control to fashion and weaponry, the collection's exploration of the Hunger Games reveals exactly how rich, and how perilous, protagonist Katniss' world really is.• How does the way the Games affect the brain explain Haymitch's drinking, Annie's distraction, and Wiress' speech problems?• What does the rebellion have in common with the War on Terror?• Why isn't the answer to "Peeta or Gale?" as interesting as the question itself?• What should Panem have learned from the fates of other hedonistic societies throughout history and what can we?The Girl Who Was On Fire covers all three books in the Hunger Games trilogy.