The Doctor, The Murder, The Mystery


Barbara D'Amato - 1992
    John Branion was found guilty of murdering his wife in their posh Chicago home. After exhausting his appeals, he evaded authorities by fleeing to Africa. He was finally captured in 1983—but his case was far from over. It would take another seven years for Dr. Branion to finally win his freedom—and for those who prosecuted him to admit that he could not have committed the murder, and that they knew it all along.Acclaimed mystery writer Barbara D'Amato was drawn to this story two decades after the murder, as Dr. Branion languished in prison, ill and without hope. Her meticulous research repeatedly led her to one startling conclusion: that it was impossible for Donna Branion's murder to have unfolded the way the police alleged. In this award-winning account, D'Amato deftly explores the intriguing facts of this shocking case—from the tragic blunders made by authorities to Branion's arrest, conviction, and years practicing medicine in Africa as a fugitive from justice. The result is a damning indictment of our criminal system—and the vindication of an innocent man.The Doctor, The Murder, The Mystery by Barbara D'Amato won the Anthony and Agatha Awards for Best True Crime. She is also the author of the highly acclaimed Cat Marsala mysteries, including Hard Case and Hard Christmas. She lives in Chicago.The 1992 Anthony Award for Best True Crime and the 1993 Agatha Award for Nonfiction for The Doctor, the Murder, the Mystery

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.

Run at Destruction: A True Fatal Love Triangle


Lynda Drews - 2009
    Drews unfolds the drama brilliantly, right through to the sentencing of the husband to a life in prison and even an afterword from the mistress apologizing years later. Sent to prison, the husband and mistress still can't let go and she becomes a prison bride.Readers are left to decide for themselves if it was murder, suicide, or manslaughter by neglect. Run at Destruction is lust, murder, and obsession delivered with the beat of a runner's heart, as the theme of running is woven throughout. The book grabs at a large cross-section of readers because everyone can relate to the desire and often disaster that comes with affairs.This is true-crime court drama and author Drews exposes the characters to such a depth that readers will feel like they are reading a novel, only, this really happened.

Tragedy in the North Woods: The Murders of James Hicks (True Crime)


Trudy Scee - 2009
      Jennie Cyr disappeared in 1977. Jerilyn Towers vanished in 1982. Lynn Willette never came home on a night in 1994. Each woman had a relationship with James Hicks, who in 2000 confessed to murdering them, dismembering their bodies and burying the remains alongside rural roads in Aroostook County. This is their story. Trudy Irene Scee follows Hicks from the North Woods to west Texas, detailing three decades of evasion, investigation and prosecution. She interviews police officers and victims’ families—and meets Hicks at the state prison in Thomaston, where he remains remorseless as he lives out his days behind bars. Thoroughly researched and carefully documented, Tragedy in the North Woods is the definitive history of one of Maine's most ruthless killers.   Includes photos!

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

Who Killed Scott Guy?: The Case That Gripped a Nation


Mike White - 2013
    A behind the scenes view of the murder trial that gripped the nation.

I Am Cain


Gera-Lind Kolarik - 1994
    Chronicles the terrifying murder of newlyweds Nancy and Richard Langert, who were shot to death in their basement in April, 1990, and the investigation that lead to the identity of their killer--a man they both knew well.

Mafia Boss Sam Giancana: The Rise and Fall of a Chicago Mobster


Susan McNicoll - 2015
    Born in 1908, in The Patch, Chicago, Giancana joined the Forty-Two gang of lawless juvenile punks in 1921 and quickly proved himself as a skilled 'wheel man' (or getaway driver), extortionist and vicious killer. Called up to the ranks of the Outfit, he reputedly held talks with the CIA about assassinating Fidel Castro, shared a girlfriend with John F. Kennedy and had friends in high places, including Sammy Davis Jr., Frank Sinatra, Shirley MacLaine, Marilyn Monroe and, some say, the Kennedys, although he fell out with them.The story of Sam Giancana will overturn many of your beliefs about America during the Kennedy era. If you want to know Giancana's role in the brother's deaths, and more of the intrigue surrounding that of Marilyn Monroe, this book will fill you in on the murky lives of many shady characters who really ruled the day, both in Chicago and elsewhere.

Long Island’s Vanished Heiress: The Unsolved Alice Parsons Kidnapping (True Crime)


Steven Drielak - 2020
    The crime shocked the nation and was front-page news for several months. J. Edgar Hoover personally assigned his best FBI agents to the case, and within a short time, Parsons's husband and their live-in housekeeper, Anna Kupryanova, had become prime suspects. Botched ransom attempts, clashes between authorities and romantic intrigue kept the investigation mired in drama. The crime remained unsolved and has captivated Long Island audiences ever since. Former Suffolk County detective Steven C. Drielak reveals previously classified FBI documents and pieces together the mystery of the Alice Parsons kidnapping.

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.

The Devil of Williamsburg


Allison Yarrow - 2013
    There, an insular community of Satmar Hasidim shirk the Internet, the president and the rules of secular America, even hiding crimes within the community from police and the courts. The narrative centers on two women—the traditional heroine, a young and beautiful newlywed, who challenged her community's rules and her abuser's many supporters to throw him behind bars, and the abuser’s wife, who continues to stand beside her husband and profess his innocence. Convicted sex abuser Nechemya Weberman's 103-year sentence was a record for a Hasidic man in a Brooklyn court and a victory for Brooklyn’s longtime district attorney, who had been accused of cowtowing to religious leaders. The story also provides a rare glimpse into the cloistered Satmar Hasidic community, which claims to be the world's largest ultra-Orthodox group with 150,000 followers worldwide. Cover designed by Evan Twohy.

The Irishman: Frank Sheeran’s True Crime Story


Daniel Brand - 2018
    The world knew him as a union official, a long-time member of the Teamsters Union; he was a member of Jimmy Hoffa’s inner circle at the top of the national union. He had run-ins with the law in this position. He was charged with the murder of a rebel union member in a riot that occurred outside the Teamster’s Local Philadelphia Union Hall, but the charges were later dropped. He went to prison in the 80s after being caught on a wire instructing once of his crew to break someone’s legs and was named in Rudy Giuliani’s Mafia Commission Trial as an unindicted co-conspirator and one of only two non-Italian members of the Mafia Commission. As an old man suffering from cancer that would soon kill him, Frank Sheeran shared his story with his attorney. He told him of the things that were already known, but he shared much, much more. This book explores Frank Sheeran’s confessions as a lifelong criminal with ties to some of the biggest crimes of the 20th century. Inside this book, you will find: A detailed account of Frank Sheeran’s time in the army during the second world war, where he was in combat for an astounding four hundred and eleven days, with a focus on the war crimes he has admitted to; A look into Sheeran’s post-war slides into a life of crime, finding himself working for the Mafia before he even knew what the Mafia was; Information on his time as a hitman for the Mafia and how that led him to work for Jimmy Hoffa as muscle and hitman for the powerful Teamster Boss; Frank Sheeran’s accounts of his connections to the Bay of Pigs Invasion and the Assassination of JFK; and His confession to the murders of Crazy Joe Gallo and of his friend, Jimmy Hoffa.

One Handler's Journey


Sharolyn L. Sievert - 2011
    Deceased. The first words out of the Operations Officer's mouth, after saying Sam was found, were "You are going to kick yourself."A volunteer search and rescue dog handler, Rebekkah has always put duty and responsibility first. She lives by the rules, believing that success means having a plan and not deviating from it. Dreams are things that happen at night and don't ever seem to come true for her. Things in Rebekkah's life are about to change, and she’s not really sure she’s ready for it. With her K-9 partners Ariel and Gus, Rebekkah faces decisions that could jeopardize their lives every time they deploy. As she responds to missing person searches through treacherous terrain, emotional battles and bitter disappointment, she finds that there is a fine line between success and failure; but that the search for life is definitely worth the risk.Sharolyn Sievert, a seasoned K-9 handler herself, takes the reader with her on fictional missions in K-9 SEARCH—One Handler’s Journey, weaving the laughter, fears, faith and tears of a life that isn’t sensational or sexy, and definitely not glamorous, but a heartwarming and genuine reflection of a SAR dog handler and her dogs.

The Making of a Detective: A Garda's Story of Investigating Some of Ireland's Most Notorious Crimes


Pat Marry - 2019
    He soon realised he would have to learn on the job - put himself forward and show that he had what it took.Taking initiative, following up hunches (even far-fetched ones), obsessing about details, trying new investigative techniques, thinking laterally - these were essential. In addition, you had to be a bit of a psychologist.The Making of a Detective follows Pat Marry's path from rookie to Detective Inspector through the stories of key cases he worked on and investigations he led. It includes high profile cases like Rachel Calally's murder by her husband Joe O'Reilly. But there are also stories that have faded from public memory, such as the 1995 murder of Marilyn Rynn, which involved the first use of DNA evidence to solve a crime in Ireland. Or the 2001 murder of Mary Gough, a case solved mainly by scrutinizing her husband's internet use - then a new investigative tool.The Making of a Detective is a unique and gripping insight into the work of a dedicated garda operating at the very top of his profession.'An absolutely fascinating book ... Really interesting stories and insights' Sean O'Rourke, RTÉ Radio 1'An absolute must-read ... as page turning as a crime novel' Irish Examiner

Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip: Six Decades of Love, Marriage and Monarchy (Royal Couples Book 1)


Jessica Jayne - 2012
    Theirs was not an arranged marriage but a love match. This book will show you a love story that transcended the times and remained strong unto this day.What’s InsideThe Queen and her Consort are celebrities in their own right, and their lives have always had that quality that made them interesting for ordinary people. Every little thing about them was a thing of wonder, and you’ll be surprised to know:• How old Elizabeth was when she fell in love with a dashing young man named Philip• How they nurtured their relationship amid the war and in their separation as they go about their duties• Why Philip gave up his naval career• The circumstances that led to Elizabeth being the Queen, and what it meant for her and Philip• The last-minute glitches that occurred on the day of the couple’s highly publicized wedding• Why it was difficult for Philip to find his own role within the royal family• Why the House of Windsor remained as it is and not the House of Mountbatten-Windsor following the couple’s wedding, and what the Queen did as a compromise for her husband• The problems they encountered as a married couple, and how their marriage remained intact when those of their children’s crumbled…Table Of ContentsChapter 1 – The Future QueenChapter 2 – The Future ConsortChapter 3 – The CourtshipChapter 4 – The Wedding of the CenturyChapter 5 – Between Family and DutiesChapter 6 – The Queen’s CoronationChapter 7 – The Queen and the ConsortChapter 8 – The Modern TimesWhy Buy NowThe intertwining lives of Queen Elizabeth II and her faithful consort, Prince Philip, is an interesting read, mainly for what it is, the workings of a love story. Theirs is an inspiration for many people, a testimony of how love, respect, and tolerance (in Philip’s word) carried their marriage through the good and the bad times and emerged to become the longest married couple in the history of British monarchy. Take part in that history and read this book.