Book picks similar to
Cop on the Scene: Life and Death on the Street by Peter J. Puleo
biography-memoir
nonfiction
true-crime
Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis: A Life Beyond Her Wildest Dreams
Darwin Porter - 2014
So does Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis, who lives again in this "warts-and-all" portrait. It's being released on the 20th anniversary of the tragic death, in 1994, of the icon who changed America's beliefs about what a woman of style, power, and influence could accomplish "behind the throne" of men whose careers changed the course of history. During her tumultuous life, she zealously guarded her privacy and her secrets, but in the wake of her death, more and more revelations have emerged about her frustrations, her rage, her passions, her towering strengths, and her delicate fragility, which she hid from the glare of the world behind oversized sunglasses. Within this posthumous biography, a three-dimensional woman emerges through the compilation of some 1,000 eyewitness testimonials from men and women who knew her over a period of decades. The public epitome of charm, grace, and elegance, the private, chain-smoking Jackie was known for her sharp wit and her acid tongue, dissing some of the great men and women she encountered. Examples include such figures as Nancy Reagan ("I heard she used to give the best head in Hollywood when she was a starlet at MGM"); Queen Elizabeth II ("pompous, stuffy, a heavy trip, and seriously pissed off at me for turning on Philip"); or Martin Luther King, Jr. ("a terrible man and a tricky, phony, skirt-chaser and race baiter"). This outspoken testimonial to the flimsier side of Camelot contains a cornucopia of gossip and intrigue, including details about Jackie's scandalous love affairs with her two brothers-in-law (Bobby and Teddy), and her penchant for movie star seductions (Warren Beatty, Paul Newman, William Holden). Also detailed are her famous feuds with Grace Kelly, Marilyn Monroe, and Maria Callas; her almost unknown love affairs with Spain's greatest matador and with Peter Lawford; her night in Georgetown coping with LBJ's aborted seduction; her friend Rudolf Nureyev's pursuit of both her and Bobby; her interchanges with Lem Billings, JFK's homosexual "First Friend" whom Bobby defined as "Jack's other wife"); her blood feud with Christina Onassis; her sibling rivalry with Lee Radziwill; her illicit affair with a senator nicknamed "Gorgeous George; her love-hate relationship with Frank Sinatra; and her Italian fling with Fiat's kingpin, Gianni Agnelli, who taught her all about La Dolce Vita during the summer of 1962. Conceived in direct and sometimes defiant contrast to the avalanche of more breathlessly respectful testimonials to the life and legacy of "America's Queen," this book is the latest installment in Blood Moon's endlessly irreverent BABYLON series.
Gone, Just Gone: Thirteen Baffling Disappearances
Harry M. Bobonich - 2015
We bring you some cases you may have heard of, but others that will be new to you. A Pennsylvania DA goes for a drive and doesn’t return, years later he’s found to have passed on the early prosecution of some involved in the Penn State molestation scandal. Two young lovers in the 1970’s head off for an iconic rock festival and are never seen again—their classmates still wonder. The man behind the most important civil rights case before the landmark Brown decision steps into a cold rainy Chicago night and vanishes. A beautiful, but troubled, young Indian doctor goes missing in New York City on 9/11—or was it the night before? One of the richest and most unscrupulous men in the world falls out a small plane filled with his associates--or at least that was their story. Only one cadet in the history of West Point has gone missing and never been found—where in the world did Richard Cox go? As a bonus, you’ll read of people who went missing only to eventually turn up in the most unusual places.
The Acid Alchemist
Robert Brown - 2020
As a young child his life was shaped by his parent’s extreme beliefs. Little did he know that the recurring nightmares of his early life would lead to one of the most horrific cases in British criminal history. Other than his obsession with cleanliness, John George Haigh was described by his acquaintances as someone who was as normal as any young man during the 1940s in England. In fact, most people said he was a true gentleman with exceptional manners and a profound love for classical music. However, in the back of John’s crisp mind was a much darker side; a craving for wealth combined with a lust for blood… After spending many years in prison for fraud and theft, John Haigh concluded that the only reason he always got caught was because people talked. What if I can make them disappear? he thought one evening. What if I can stop them from talking to the police? Using his scientific knowledge (and a tiny bit of the legal system he had read about while in prison) he derived a new sinister plan to get rich. That was the disturbing turning point in his life. That was the point when John The Gentleman became John The Serial Killer. This is the true story of the notorious Acid Bath Murderer, a cold-blooded murderer who imagined he was above the law. A man who believed he could literally get away with murder… Caution: The material in this publication has a strong adult theme and is intended for an adult audience. Reader discretion is advised.
Small-town Slayings in South Carolina (True Crime)
Rita Y. Shuler - 2009
After working with the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division as special agent/forensic photographer for twenty-four years, Rita Shuler has a passion for remembering the victims. In Small-town Slayings, Shuler takes us back in time, showing differences and similarities of crime solving in the past and present and some surprising twists of court proceedings, verdicts and sentences. From an unsolved case that has haunted her for thirty years to a cold case that was solved after fifteen years by advanced DNA technology, Shuler blends her own memories with extensive research, resulting in a fast-paced, factual and fascinating look at crime in South Carolina.
Murder Is A Family Affair
Donalie Beltran - 2013
More than one.Some stories just have to be told and so it is with the Tuxhorn family. Murder Is A Family Affair follows August Tuxhorn to America in the mid 1850s where Charles was born in Illinois. The boy grew up with a beautiful face and a stone heart. Evil set in motion by his grandfather and then his father, Charles carries on the family’s violent temper and disregard for human life. Did he inherit these traits shared by others? More important, did he pass them on? Follow their lives and watch the carnage they leave behind. The lives lost or destroyed in their wake.Has the evil in this family been buried with them?Or is it just the beginning?
Innocent: A murdered son. A grieving mother. The fight to clear her name.
Sarah Rose - 2015
I couldn’t speak to any of my family. It was like I’d been found guilty before I could be proved innocent’Losing a child is any mother’s worst nightmare, but how do you grieve when you’re being blamed for his death? When Sarah Rose discovered her 15-month-old son Kamran had been brutally murdered, she was immediately put under arrest. The days she spent in jail were terrifying and harrowing, but it was when she heard the results of the post-mortem that the truth hit her: her boyfriend, Nicholas, the man she’s loved and trusted, had beaten her little boy to death. Heartbroken, isolated and alone, she knew she’d have to fight to prove her innocence and put Nicholas behind bars.Tragic, moving, yet ultimately uplifting, this is story of a mother’s love and her battle for the truth.
The Narrowboat Lad
Daniel Mark Brown - 2013
in his home.Dan recounts the first trip day by day, the highs of being a homeowner where every room has a view that can change daily, the lows of having steam burst from below deck and an overheating engine and everything in between from the perfect natural surrounds to the long hard days of lock working.After the long trip home we are then given a view of his first year onboard as Tilly the narrowboat is transformed into a full time home and the seasons bring their own tint to boat life, particularly a winter that wont soon be forgotten.Written with honesty and humour Dan gives readers an insight into living on a boat, his own life and personality and why people in his local area instantly know who someone is referring to when they say "The Narrowboat Lad".
The Trafficantes, Godfathers from Tampa, Florida: The Mafia, the CIA and the JFK Assassination
Ron Chepesiuk - 2006
For nearly seven decades, Santo Trafficante, Sr. and his son, Santo, Jr. were prominent gangsters on the Tampa crime scene. Santo, Sr. arrived in Tampa in 1902 and settled in the Ybor City area where he slowly began his climb to the top of the Tampa mob scene. Along the way, he became a clever and ruthless gangster who preferred to operate in the shadows. By the mid 1920s, Santo, Sr. had become a powerful force in the Tampa mafia. Two decades later, the U.S. government reported that he was “strongly suspected of having financed important narcotics transactions.” During Tampa’s “Era of Blood” from 1930 through the 1950s, in which several local gangsters were murdered, Santo, Sr. emerged as Tampa’s most powerful mobster. He would remain so until his death in 1954.His successor, Santo, Jr., lead the Tampa mob for more than three decades and became involved in some of history’s most seminal events. They include mob dominance of the gambling scene in pre-Castro Cuba, the CIA plots to kill Castro, the spectacular mob hit of godfather Albert Anastasia in 1957, the famous mob meeting at Apalachin in upstate New York that followed shortly after, the John F. Kennedy assassination, and the development of narcotics networks in Latin America and Southeast Asia, among others. Unlike most other godfathers, Santo, Jr. never spent more than a night in an American jail. When he died in 1987, organized crime expert Ralph Salerno described Santo, Jr.’s death as “the end of an era” and the godfather as “the last of the old time (gangland) leaders.” In vivid prose and concise detail, Chepesiuk weaves the fascinating story of the legendary gangsters, the Trafficantes.“Ron Chepesiuk’s book on the Trafficantes takes the reader behind the headlines to the real story, uncensored and without filters. The book is fast-paced with fascinating factual details told in Chepesiuk's trademark tell-it-as-it-is writing style. A must read for true crime aficionados.”--Elle Andra-Warner, author of several best-selling books, including Edmund Fitzgerald: The Legendary Great Lakes Shipwreck and The Mounties; Robert Service.
True Crime Stories: Twisted Tales of True Crime: Murders, Disappearances, and Serial Killers
Hannah J. Tidy - 2020
The Totally Awesome Book of Crazy Stories: Crazy But True Stories That Actually Happened!
Bill O'Neill - 2020
Why Not Kill Her: A Juror's Perspective: The Jodi Arias Death Penalty Retrial
Paul A. Sanders Jr. - 2015
The killer went to great lengths to cover up her crime including sending his grandmother flowers, going to the memorial service, driving by the victim’s house and calling the lead investigator, Detective Esteban Flores. This incident took place in a suburb of Phoenix, Arizona. It would be five years before this case of capital murder would be put in front of a jury to decide the fate of Jodi Arias although the fate of Travis Alexander had been set in stone. Was she a cold, calculating murderess or was she a victim of extreme domestic violence at the hands of an abusive boyfriend? The first jury was left to decide in 2013. It was the most watched trial of the century. The jury decided that Jodi Arias was guilty of first-degree murder with cruel and heinous circumstances which qualified her for the death penalty. The jury could not reach a decision in the penalty phase and justice was delayed. A new jury, drawn from a pool of four hundred people, was drawn for the highly anticipated retrial of Jodi Arias. On October 21, 2014, a jury of nineteen was given the responsibility of deciding whether Jodi Arias should live or die for her crime. So began a retrial that would last almost five months with Juan Martinez and Detective Flores representing the State of Arizona and the return of Kirk Nurmi and Jennifer Willmott speaking to the defense of the convicted killer. The journey will walk the reader through the meticulous actions of the courtroom and extend to an appellate court, a municipal court and a day in the in the original courthouse in phoenix, Arizona. The trial speaks toward the long arm of the law and the implications of decisions made daily. With the help of former jurors of the Jodi Arias death penalty retrial, the reader will step into the jury box when Jodi Arias was on the witness stand and reach a climax when the reader accompanies the jury foreman into the deliberation room as the jury decides the fate of the defendant. “The lambs to the law were now executors of the law. It was humbling, intimidating and powerful at the same time. It was also the time that the jurors’ souls would be tested for truths and experiences that would mark many discussions in the deliberation room. The jury would remember Travis Alexander and what was done to him.” Why Not Kill her is the suspenseful follow-up to the authors first book, Brain Damage: A Juror’s Tale, the true story of being a death penalty juror on the case of Marissa DeVault and the brutal killing of Dale Harrell. The third revised edition is now available in honor of Dale Harrell. Take a journey into the life of Travis Alexander and a search for truth and justice. Somehow, Lady Justice will wield her sword and the end of a seven year saga would be realized but in no way that anyone could have anticipated. Special thanks to True Crime Radio, Trial Talk Live, the Trial Diaries, FOX 10, ABC, NBC and CBS. The author would also like to thank those who supported this work on Go Fund Me with extra recognition to the administrators and fans of Juan Martinez Prosecutor Support Page, The State vs. Jodi Arias, Joey Jackson Fan Page, Justice For Travis, Justice 4 Dale, Justice For Travis Alexander and His Family, Court Chatter, Beth Karas on Crime, Gavel geeks, Trial Watchers, The House That Travis Built, Understanding The Travesties of Unexpected Murder Trials and For The Love of Travis. This work could not have happened without your support! Why Not Kill Her is dedicated to Travis Alexander, his family and all those whom he touched in his short life.
Missing: True Cases of Mysterious Disappearances
Andrew J. Clark - 2018
disappeared without leaving a trace. This book shed lights on some of the most intriguing missing person cases.There are countless stories all over the globe of average, everyday people suddenly vanishing under the strangest and most inopportune of circumstances. These cases have baffled the experts and remained unsolved for decades. The missing person cases presented in this book have diverse backgrounds, but they are all equally mysterious. Here we will dive headfirst into some of the most unusual disappearing acts on record. Rational explanations have been put forward for some, but many lack any plausible theories whatsoever.This book relates the true yet astonishing tales of prime ministers lost at sea, esteemed physicists vanishing without a trace, great explorers lost in the wilderness. From the World War II veteran who seemed to literally disappear into thin air on a bus ride home, to the ill-fated singer-songwriter Connie Converse who right around her 50th birthday decided to pull a 'Bilbo Baggins' (Connie’s own words) on the ones she loved by slipping on her very own ring of invisibility and vanishing out of sight, this book takes us through some of the saddest, the most intriguing, and the most downright bizarre accounts of lost souls that you will ever find.
The Jefferson County Egan Murders: Nightmare on New Year's Eve 1964 (True Crime)
Dave Shampine - 2014
The police suspected the trio in a long string of burglaries, and they were under investigation by the FBI for grand theft auto. But on that New Year's night, the Egans were shot execution style at a rest stop off Interstate 81. The gruesome gangland-style killings puzzled local and state police. Theories ranged from a simple confrontation gone awry to a premeditated act of retribution by hardened criminals who feared the Egans would turn state's witness. With interviews from key witnesses, authors Dave Shampine and Daniel Boyer recount the grisly story of this New Year's Eve North Country nightmare, which is still shrouded in mystery today.
Blood on the Rosary
Sue Smethurst - 2019
Her twin brother. The secrets and lies that would tear them apart.There is a special bond that twins share, an ethereal connection that can't be put into words.Margaret Harrod shared that unique bond with her twin brother, Michael.As children they were inseparable, and at age 22, together, they gave their lives to the Catholic Church. Margaret became a nun and Michael a Salesian priest - it was the proudest day of their deeply religious parents' lives. Margaret cherishes those carefree childhood memories because the brother she adored is now in jail. Father Michael Aulsebrook pleaded guilty to multiple charges of molesting children, some as young as seven. And the unlikely whistle-blower was his courageous twin sister.It cost Margaret everything, but she couldn't stay silent any longer about the damage her brother was wreaking in his community. Margaret knows of that damage firsthand, having had that trust betrayed herself.Blood on the Rosary is a heartfelt, brave and inspiring memoir that tells Margaret Harrod's story - how she sacrificed everything she held dear in the pursuit of the truth and how she bravely fought her church and her community to bring paedophile priests, including her beloved brother, to justice.
A City Owned
O.J. Modjeska - 2018
Police begin to suspect that their target is a rogue operator who has emerged from their own ranks. And then, all hell breaks loose in Los Angeles… An arrest in the strangling murders of two co-eds across state lines finally leads to a break in the case, but the mild-mannered suspect remembers nothing about the crime of which he is accused. His attorney and a team of psychiatrists are convinced this is no lust murderer, but a mentally ill man tormented by an evil alter personality, the terrifyingly malevolent sexual sadist “Steve”. But what if Steve is the final triumphant act in a psychopath’s lifelong career in deception? None are prepared for the dark journey through the mazes of the human mind it will take to unlock the door to justice. From the author of the aviation disaster ebook bestseller “Gone: Catastrophe in Paradise”, “A City Owned” is the first installment of the two-part series “Murder by Increments”, the true story of the worst case of serial sex homicide in American history.