Book picks similar to
Drunks, Whores and Idle Apprentices: Criminal Biographies of the Eighteenth Century by Philip Rawlings


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The Hangman Murders


Alan Fisher - 2014
    His gentle story is more of a puzzle where readers are asked to look at the evidence shared throughout the book and find the killer before their identity is revealed. June 2014. Oliver Cole graduates from Hendon Police College as a Detective Constable and heads off to his choice of posting to Northumbria Police in the North East of England. Cole is a shy but highly regarded new recruit with a talent for puzzle solving; from his first day he comes under the instructional wing of long-serving Detective Chief Inspector Jack Collier and his education really begins. Within weeks the body of a young girl is found neatly laid out on a gravestone in a local churchyard with an unusual addition of a noose around her neck. Cole is instructed to work with DCI Collier to find the killer but soon another body is found in identical circumstances and a picture begins to unfold of a serial killer.

The Doll: A Jack Nightingale Short Story


Stephen Leather - 2017
    But when a child's doll appears in the middle of the road, the vacation comes to an abrupt end and Nightingale finds himself fighting for his life. The Doll is a fast-paced supernatural story about 10,000 words long.

Driving Jarvis Ham


Jim Bob - 2012
    Jarvis may be an all-round irritant, but he's harmless & deep down he's got a heart of gold. As his oldest (& only) friend reflects on his life with Jarvis Ham, he wonders what it would have been like if they had never met.

From F-4 Phantom to A-10 Warthog: Memoirs of a Cold War Fighter Pilot


Steven K. Ladd - 2020
    Volumes have been written about them, past and present. Understandably, most of these revolve around the skill, cunning and bravery that characterizes this distinctive band of brothers, but there are other dimensions to those who take to the skies to do battle that have not been given the emphasis they deserve - until now.You do not have to be an aviation aficionado to enjoy Colonel Steve Ladd's fascinating personal tale, woven around his 28-year career as a fighter pilot. This extremely engaging account follows a young man from basic pilot training to senior command through the narratives that define a unique ethos. From the United States to Southeast Asia; Europe to the Middle East; linking the amusing and tongue-in-cheek to the deadly serious and poignant, this is the lifelong journey of a fighter pilot.The anecdotes provided are absorbing, providing an insight into life as an Air Force pilot, but, in this book, as Colonel Ladd stresses, the focus is not on fireworks or stirring tales of derring-do. Instead, this is an articulate and absorbing account of what life is really like among a rare breed of arrogant, cocky, boisterous and fun-loving young men who readily transform into steely professionals at the controls of a fighter aircraft.From F-4 Phantom to A-10 Warthog is a terrific read: the legacy of a fighter pilot.

Val McDermid 3-Book Thriller Collection: The Mermaids Singing, The Wire in the Blood, The Last Temptation (Tony Hill and Carol Jordan)


Val McDermid - 2016
    1 bestselling crime series featuring clinical psychologist Dr Tony Hill, hero of TV’s much loved WIRE IN THE BLOOD.THE MERMAIDS SINGINGUp till now, the only serial killers Tony Hill had encountered were safely behind bars. This one’s different – this one’s on the loose.Four men have been found mutilated and tortured. As fear grips the city, the police turn to clinical psychologist Tony Hill for a profile of the killer. But soon Tony becomes the unsuspecting target in a battle of wits and wills where he has to use every ounce of his professional nerve to survive.THE WIRE IN THE BLOODYoung girls are disappearing around the country, and there is nothing to connect them to one another, let alone the killer whose charming manner hides a warped and sick mind.Dr Tony Hill, head of the new National Profiling Task Force, sets his team an exercise: they are given the details of missing teenagers and asked to discover any possible links between the cases. Only one officer comes up with a theory – a theory that is ridiculed by the group … until one of their number is murdered and mutilated.For Tony Hill, the murder becomes a matter for personal revenge and, joined by colleague Carol Jordan, he embarks on a campaign of psychological terrorism – a game where hunter and hunted can all too easily be reversed.THE LAST TEMPTATIONA twisted killer targeting psychologists has left a grisly trail across Europe.Dr Tony Hill, expert at mapping the minds of murderers, is reluctant to get involved. But then the next victim is much closer to home…Meanwhile, his former partner DCI Carol Jordan is working undercover in Berlin, on a dangerous operation to trap a millionaire trafficker. When the game turns nasty, Tony is the only person she can call on for help.Confronting a cruelty that has its roots in Nazi atrocities, Tony and Carol are thrown together in a world of violence and corruption, where they have no one to trust but each other.

Sabbath Bloody Sabbath


Joel McIver - 2006
    In the world of heavy metal, no other band have lived life to the fullest, stared death in the face so many times, battled addiction, warred within themselves and still emerged, unbowed with as much bloody-minded persistence as Black Sabbath.

The Ferris Conspiracy


Paul Ferris - 2001
    How did he become Glasgow's most feared gangster, deemed a risk to national security?Arthur Thompson, Godfather of the crime world and senior partner of the Krays, recruited young Ferris as a bagman, debt collector and equaliser. Feared for his capacity for extreme violence, respected for his intelligence, Ferris was the Godfather's heir apparent. But when gang warfare broke, underworld leaders traded in flesh, colluding with their partners - the police. Disgusted, Ferris left the Godfather and stood alone. They gave him weeks to live.While Ferris was caged in Barlinnie Prison's segregation unit accused of murdering Thompson's son, Fatboy, his two friends were shot dead the night before the funeral and grotesquely displayed in a car on the cortége's route. Acquitted against all the odds, Ferris moved on, determined to make an honest living.They would not let him.The National Crime Squad, MI5, the police and two of the country's most powerful gangsters saw to that. A maximum-security prisoner, Ferris is known as 'Lucky' because he is still alive.This is one man's unique insight into Britain's crime world and the inextricable web of corruption - a revealing story of official corruption and unholy alliances.

Discovering the Rommel Murder


Charles F. Marshall - 1994
    Contains previously unpublished letters and photographs from the Rommel family.

A Life Inside: A Prisoner's Notebook


Erwin James - 2003
    A young man when he was sent down, he has matured in prison and has reflected on the wasted years he has spent inside. This is the candid and hard-hitting account of those years. He tells of arriving in prison; about learning the who, what, why and when of prison life; about bullying and terror from other inmates and security staff; about replaying the crimes of his past over and over; and about discovering his talent for writing. This is a book that takes its readers on Erwin James's moving and terrible journey from vicious youth to reformed and reflective middle age.

Gypsy Jane - I've Been Shot Four Times and Served Three Prison Terms...This is the Incredible Story of My Life in London's Criminal Underworld


Jane Lee - 2012
    This is her true story. During a terrifying journey that began as a 14-year-old armed robber, she has been shot four times, tasered three times by police and served three jail terms. Convicted for armed robbery she was released from prison only to go out and attempt to murder four people. Gypsy Jane has led a life packed with crime, betrayal, drugs and murder but she classes herself as a woman of principles: she values loyalty and honour, and has only ever wanted a 'normal' life.

GENESIS


Matt K. Turner - 2016
    But his perfect life comes apart at the seams when he begins to experience blinding headaches and strange bursts of physical ability. Suspicion and paranoia lead him down a rabbit hole of corporate conspiracy where he finds out he’s not losing him mind, it’s much worse than that. Genesis is a mind-bending thrill ride through a near future where Aiden must face the possibility that he is a bio-fabricated being created by a ruthless multinational corporation. The closer Aiden gets to the truth, the more he becomes something unprecedented, a being more powerful than anyone thought possible. If he can learn to harness his newfound abilities in time, Aiden might find a way to save the woman he loves, his species, and possibly... the future of the human race. Film and television writer Matt K. Turner comes storming out of the gates with his debut sci-fi action thriller. Blending a surprisingly smart mixture of heart pounding action, heady reflections on the nature of humanity, and witty comedic flare, Genesis is a new brand of sci-fi for enthusiasts and newcomers alike.

On A Small Island


Grant Nicol - 2014
    Some unexpected news from one of her sisters and a brutal murder that’s far too close to home for comfort leave her wondering why life has turned on her so suddenly. When the police fail to take her seriously, her hands-on approach to the investigation soon lands her in hot water. Following a string of biblical messages left behind by a mysterious nemesis she stumbles upon a dark secret that has finally come home to roost. As she is about to find out, on a small island, what goes around, comes around. “A complex and chilling tale…” “An amazing read!” “The author has a terrific writing style that keeps the reader mesmerized until the very end of this fantastic tale of not just murder and mystery but of survival…” “A thrilling read...highly recommended…” “Hefty amounts of tension and fear, and a resolution that makes you wonder whether surviving sometimes isn't all it's cracked up to be…” From a review by book blogger Morana Blue… “Written entirely in the first person from the point of view of one of three sisters, you're drawn immediately into the sudden onset of Ylfa Einarsdóttir's living nightmare as, with frustratingly little help from the Reykjavík detective assigned to her mysterious case, she starts tracking down an obsessed, horribly violent murderer whose sole intent seems to be the destruction of her entire family. Because you're inside Ylfa's head, you can hear her thinking. Her honesty is startling: 'Most of my friends were sluts. That was a lie; they all were…' Her observation is wry: 'He looked as if his years of seeing the worst possible sides of people had left him enjoying the times now when his misgivings about how rotten they all were inevitably proved to be correct…' - and, as her despair compounds, you feel her self-knowledge sharpen as she knowingly ploughs on toward an inescapable, grimly portentous end: 'In this torment there would be an abyss that I either would see in time and avoid, or be consumed by…' You feel her heart beginning to ache - and you flinch when it breaks. It's observantly written as intimate party to the reasoning behind the dangerous investigative steps Ylfa takes - so as her determination and her desperation mount, although you fully understand what she's doing and why she's doing it, you still want to yell 'No! Don't! Don't go there…' But Ylfa can't help herself. And she takes you with her. The creepy biblical messages left at every murder scene foreshadow a killer with their own twisted tormented depths - but, though Ylfa can't yet open her eyes to it, it's a torment that Ylfa and the killer actually share - and they're on the same enslaving path to self-destruction. It's a good - disquieting - read; for the most part because you're entirely locked within Ylfa's world, the minutiae of which - the sandwiches in the car, the cold within her boots, her double cappuccinos - begin to bear auras of frightful magnitude because you can't help but feel that each of the simple things she does, she may never do again.”

Arsene Wenger: The Biography


Xavier Rivoire - 2007
    Including exclusive interviews with Wenger, former and current players, family, colleagues, and observers from across Japan, France, and England, this completely authorized and definitive biography is a testament to his success and dedication in the field—and to the loyalty of players and fans. This incisive account of the man famous for bringing free-flowing soccer to "boring, boring Arsenal" reveals Wenger as a standout in an industry of disposable contracts and ruthless politics, and is essential reading for fans of the game.

The Man Who Played with Fire: Stieg Larsson's Lost Files and the Hunt for an Assassin


Jan Stocklassa - 2018
    Now a journalist is following them.When Stieg Larsson died, the author of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo had been working on a true mystery that out-twisted his Millennium novels: the assassination on February 28, 1986, of Olof Palme, the Swedish prime minister. It was the first time in history that a head of state had been murdered without a clue who’d done it—and on a Stockholm street at point-blank range.Internationally known for his fictional far-right villains, Larsson was well acquainted with their real-life counterparts and documented extremist activities throughout the world. For years he’d been amassing evidence that linked their terrorist acts to what he called “one of the most astounding murder cases” he’d ever covered. Larsson’s archive was forgotten until journalist Jan Stocklassa was given exclusive access to the author’s secret project.In The Man Who Played with Fire, Stocklassa collects the pieces of Larsson’s true-crime puzzle to follow the trail of intrigue, espionage, and conspiracy begun by one of the world’s most famous thriller writers. Together they set out to solve a mystery that no one else could.

Wrestling With Madness: John E. Du Pont and the Foxcatcher Farm Murder


Tim Huddleston - 2013
    Part of one of the most prominent and richest families in America: The du Pont Family. Then, strangely, he started losing his mind. This is what is known: du Pont was a fan of amateur sports and established a wrestling facility at his Foxcatcher Farm. He befriended several Olympic champions--including Dave Schultz, who he murdered. It was a never a question of if he did it; the question is why. What turns an otherwise sane man into a psychotic killer? This page-turning true crime story will take you into the mind of a man who had everything and let it all fall away due to madness and paranoia.