Book picks similar to
The Myth of the Out of Character Crime by Stanton E. Samenow
non-fiction
forensic-psychology
true-crime
bucket-list
Terrible Secrets: Ted Bundy on Serial Murder
Robert D. Keppel - 2011
No sex criminal, from Jack the Ripper to Zodiac to the Green River Killer, inhabits the popular mind as does Bundy. Now, the two men who know Bundy’s criminal nature best – Dr. Robert Keppel and author Stephen Michaud – have teamed to write the definitive narrative of Bundy’s bloody career, as well as the inside story of how Keppel tracked the elusive killer for 15 years, from his first days as a rookie Seattle homicide investigator to a series of tense encounters within the Florida State Prison where Bundy, in a doomed attempt at forestalling his execution, finally gave up some of his Terrible Secrets. The story of Keppel’s long struggle to identify the handsome, articulate onetime law student, and confront him with his crimes, is abundantly illustrated with photos, drawings and documents from the investigator’s personal file. The book’s dozens of pictures include a map of Bundy’s Issaquah, Washington, hillside body dump that Ted drew for Keppel at the prison. Also shown for the first time are handwritten notes from Bundy’s investigative file. The authors also draw from Keppel’s extensive mail correspondence with Bundy. The result is a riveting, close-up portrait of a “diabolical genius,” as a federal judge described Bundy, stripped of myths and misinformation and revealed - in his own words – for the archly-sly, murder-obsessed predator he became. There’s never been a book quite like Terrible Secrets.
Missing
Tim Weaver - 2016
Over the course of an entire season, the show investigated the world of missing people - who disappears, why they disappear, the pressures of life on the run, and who tracks them down - and charts the progression of a missing persons search.Through these transcripts, join the investigation as Tim meets with leading experts from the worlds of investigation, surveillance, data, forensics, psychology, and technology. In each interview he challenges them - and himself - with the ultimate question: is it really possible to disappear? Also include a chapter from How to Disappear, by Frank M Ahearn
The Case of the Missing Moon Rocks
Joe Kloc - 2012
Decades ago, astronauts brought back 850 pounds of rocks from their lunar journeys; the U.S. gave some away as “goodwill” gifts to the world’s nations. Over time, many of them disappeared, stolen or lost in the aftermath of political turmoil, and offered for millions on the black market. Gutheinz, first as a NASA investigator and then the leader of a intrepid group of students, has dedicated his life to getting them back. Author Joe Kloc tells a wild story of geopolitics, crime, science, and one man’s obsession with keeping the moon out of the wrong hands.
The Sweater Letter
Dave Distel - 2002
When it comes to classics among murder mysteries,
In Pursuit of the Truth
Clive Driscoll - 2015
For Clive, it was the pinnacle of a 35-year career with the world’s most famous police force, the Metropolitan Police Service.Clive’s prodigious rise through the ranks of the Met saw him front some of the most high-profile units at Scotland Yard. He was put in charge of their policy for sexual offences, domestic violence, child protection and the paedophile unit before heading up the Racial and Violent Crime Task Force tackling their backlist of cold cases. From action-packed moments chasing down criminals to more tender occasions, like gaining the trust of a murder victim’s family, to making crucial legal history, and unearthing huge national scandals,
In Pursuit of the Truth
is the definitive account of modern day policing, its successes and failings included, seen through the eyes of a man who has dedicated his life to making a difference. This is a book that every part of society can learn from.
A Murder in Wellesley: The Inside Story of an Ivy-League Doctor's Double Life, His Slain Wife, and the Trial That Gripped the Nation
Tom Farmer - 2012
As the shock following the brutal killing slowly subsided, the community was further shaken when the focus of the investigation turned to her husband, Dirk Greineder, a prominent physician and family man who was soon revealed to be leading a secret double life involving prostitutes, pornography, and trysts solicited through the Internet.A Murder in Wellesley takes the reader far beyond the headlines and national news coverage spawned by "May" Greineder's killing and tells the untold story of the meticulous investigation led by Marty Foley, the lead State Police detective on the case, from the morning of the murder through Dirk Greineder's ultimate conviction. Exhaustive interviews with key figures in the case, including many who have not talked publicly until now, contribute to an unprecedented behind-the-scenes account of how investigators methodically built their case against Greineder and how the sides taken by Dirk and May's relatives aided the investigation but bitterly divided their families. A fascinating true-crime procedural that is also a deeply unsettling tale of the psychopath you thought you knew, of deceptions and double lives, and of families torn apart by an unthinkable crime. Culminating in one of the most dramatic courtroom spectacles in recent memory (aired nationally on Court TV), A Murder in Wellesley reveals the truth behind the murder that gripped a nation.
The Fall
Amy Dale - 2014
She is too late. A secret camera captures him covering her mouth to suppress her screams as he drags her back inside. 69 seconds later Lisa Harnum is dead. But Simon Gittany insists he has done nothing wrong - he claims his beautiful partner died for a secret she feared would be exposed. The grainy final image of Lisa alive would later horrify a nation, a chilling reminder that the greatest harm can come to us from the hands of those we love. It was also the first hint police had that all was not what it seemed with the outwardly charismatic Gittany. What was Lisa's secret? Did the bubbly Canadian hide a past she would die to protect? How far did Gittany, a man with a criminal past, go to watch her every move and conversation? Police sensed a ruse the man who installed cameras in every room in his luxury apartment was trying to lead them off track with tales of his troubled lover's final days. Their suspicions are further confirmed when it emerges his well-kept recording devices had been switched off only hours before Lisa died. With only two witnesses to that final minute, one who can no longer speak, detectives question if they could ever prove a charge of murder. A week later, a grieving, distraught mother in Toronto answers the phone. A man who looked up 15 storeys into the city skyline has come forward. And what he's seen changes everything. The Fall goes behind the headlines of the country's most captivating court case to bring the story of how Lisa fell in love and grew to fear her fiance. It reveals that while Lisa couldn't escape the danger of Simon Gittany she left behind clues to help catch a killer from beyond the grave.
The Serial Killer Files: The Who, What, Where, How, and Why of the World's Most Terrifying Murderers
Harold Schechter - 2003
Now, from the much-acclaimed author of Deviant, Deranged, and Depraved, comes the ultimate resource on the serial killer phenomenon.Rigorously researched and packed with the most terrifying, up-to-date information, this innovative and highly compelling compendium covers every aspect of multiple murderers—from psychology to cinema, fetishism to fan clubs, “trophies” to trading cards. Discover:WHO THEY ARE: Those featured include Ed Gein, the homicidal mama’s boy who inspired fiction’s most famous Psycho, Norman Bates; Angelo Buono and Kenneth Bianchi, sex-crazed killer cousins better known as the Hillside Stranglers; and the Beanes, a fifteenth-century cave-dwelling clan with an insatiable appetite for human fleshHOW THEY KILL: They shoot, stab, and strangle. Butcher, bludgeon, and burn. Drown, dismember, and devour . . . and other methods of massacre too many and monstrous to mention here.WHY THEY DO IT: For pleasure and for profit. For celebrity and for “companionship.” For the devil and for dinner. For the thrill of it, for the hell of it, and because “such men are monsters, who live . . . beyond the frontiers of madness.”
PLUS:
in-depth case studies, classic killers’ nicknames, definitions of every kind of deviance and derangement, and much, much more.For more than one hundred profiles of lethal loners and killer couples, Bluebeards and black widows, cannibals and copycats— this is an indispensable, spine-tingling, eye-popping investigation into the dark hearts and mad minds of that twisted breed of human whose crimes are the most frightening . . . and fascinating.
Unsolved Murders and Disappearances in Northest Ohio (Murder & Mayhem)
Jane Ann Turzillo - 2015
Louise Wolf and Mabel Foote, Parma teachers, were on their way to school one winter morning when a maniac sprang from the bushes and bludgeoned them to death. When young Melvin Horst went missing on his way home from playing with friends in 1928, many thought he was kidnapped or accidentally killed by a bootlegger's car. Charles Collins's death looked like suicide but was proved otherwise by two preeminent surgeons and has remained a mystery for more than one hundred years. Author Jane Ann Turzillo recounts eight unsolved murders and two chilling disappearances in Northeast Ohio's history.
When a Child Kills
Paul Mones - 1991
An exploration of the world of parracide presents the stories of eight children accused of killing their parents, discussing the facts in their cases and the outcome of their trials
Underbelly: True Crime Stories
John Silvester - 1997
This book delves into the crimes that police have to deal with day after day. Murderers, hitmen, kidnappers, and drug dealers all feature in this collection of true crime stories. Take the drug dealer who walked out of a restaurant bragging that he's killed a man—unaware that his fellow diner was an undercover policeman. Or the young mother, whose death was written off as suicide, but which subsequent investigation proved to be something much more sinister.
Into the Water
Diane Fanning - 2004
It was the lead they'd been desperate for in a multi-state manhunt for an elusive serial killer. Where the witness took them was to the last man anyone would have suspected.Richard Marc Evonitz was beloved by friends and family. He was handsome, intelligent, and compassionate. Serving a spotless eight years in the U.S. Navy, he was a town hero who lived in harmony in an exclusive South Carolina neighborhood. The only ones who saw Evonitz's dark side were his victims. They were helpless teenage girls who, one by one, were subjected to his twisted sexual fantasies of kidnap, rape, and murder—until his double life came undone by the brave cunning of his last young victim. But as authorities and the media descended upon him, Evonitz had one more shocking surprise in store for everyone—a stunning final act of violence and reckoning that would turn a bright sunlit morning blood red.
PERVERTING THE COURSE OF JUSTICE: The Hilarious and Shocking Inside Story of British Policing
Inspector Gadget - 2008
Arresting 10-year-olds for for stealing sweets… Nicking adults for denying the existence of Santa Claus… Investigating Kelly's ex's new girlfriend's sister's boyfriend's ex for sending her a nasty message on Facebook.These are the things the cops spend their time on (as well as fighting drunk thugs, finding toddlers dead in car crashes and cutting down men who have hanged themselves in public parks).Controversial, gripping, authoritative and, occasionally, very funny - this book takes readers where the powers-that-be don't want them to go. Forget everything you know about law and order: this is the truth.Inspector Gadget is a serving senior police officer. He has written for the New Statesman, The Daily Mail and The Daily Telegraph, and has been praised for his bravery and honesty by everyone from The Sun to The Guardian. His 'Police Inspector' online blog has received more than six million hits and was recently named one of Britain's Top 40 blogs by The Times who said that his writing is 'provocative stuff, and as an insight into life on the policing front line, it’s invaluable.'
The Phillip Island Murder
Vikki Petraitis - 2013
It also created an enduring mystery, for no one was ever brought to trial for her brutal death, and the main suspect disappeared – never to be seen again. Beth Barnard, a popular and attractive 23-year-old, had been having an affair with a local married man. On the night of her brutal murder, a car belonging to Vivienne Cameron – wife of Beth’s lover – was found abandoned near the bridge that connects the famous tourist island to the mainland. No trace of Vivienne was ever found, and her disappearance has never been adequately explained. Nevertheless, a Coroner's Court found that Vivienne had killed her rival then jumped to her death into the waters of Westernport Bay. The case was closed but not forgotten. Ever since their first edition of The Phillip Island Murder, in 1993, Vikki Petraitis and Paul Daley have been regularly contacted by people wanting to know more; people who, like the authors, let the case get under their skin. More than three decades later the mystery, rumours and arm-chair solutions continue.
A Mind for Murder: the Real-Life Files of a Psychic Investigator
Noreen Renier - 2005
From the discovery and development of her unique talents to becoming a respected figure in the police community, this is the true account of Noreen Renier's remarkable life and career.Included here are the stories of:Her prediction of the assassination attempt on Ronald Reagan.The client who was a professional mercenary.The police officer suspected of being a rapist and murderer.Her involvement in the Laci Peterson murder (she told the police where to find the body)A Mind for Murder has all the elements of true crime, memoir, and psychic mystery.