Mission: Jimmy Stewart and the Fight for Europe


Robert Matzen - 2016
    Stewart, beginning with his family “mission” passed on from his grandfather (a Civil War hero) and father (who served in World War I) that military service in time of war was mandatory for the Stewarts. Jim tailored his life to this eventual outcome, learning to be a pilot so he could serve as an aviator in the war.MISSION describes Stewart’s childhood, college years at Princeton, Broadway career, and meteoric rise to Academy Award-winning actor in Hollywood. People today can’t imagine that Stewart was a ladies’ man, but he had a reputation as one of the most active bachelors in Hollywood, with a list of lovers that includes the A-list of female movie stars.In 1941, before America entered World War II, Jim was drafted into the Army and gleefully left Hollywood behind to fulfill that family mission. What happened to him in the service has never been covered in detail because he refused to talk about his experiences afterward. MISSION begins and ends with production of the first film Stewart made after returning from the war: It's a Wonderful Life, which in December 2016 will celebrate its 70th anniversary.MISSION also includes the stories of three other supporting characters, a radio man who flew with Stewart, a German civilian girl, and the German general in charge of fighter aircraft. They provide perspective on what Stewart was attempting to do and why.

Zodiac Unmasked: The Identity of America's Most Elusive Serial Killer Revealed


Robert Graysmith - 2002
    Claiming responsibility for thirty-seven murders, he manipulated the media with warnings, dares, and bizarre cryptograms that baffled FBI code-breakers. Then as suddenly as the murders began, Zodiac disappeared into the Bay Area fog.After painstaking investigation and more than thirty years of research, Robert Graysmith finally exposes Zodiac's true identity. With overwhelming evidence he reveals the twisted private life that led to the crimes, and provides startling theories as to why they stopped. America's greatest unsolved mystery has finally been solved.INCLUDES PHOTOS AND A COMPLETE REPRODUCTION OF ZODIAC'S LETTERS

The Asylum


John Harwood - 2013
    She has no memory of the past few weeks. The doctor, Maynard Straker, tells her that she admitted herself under the name Lucy Ashton the day before, then suffered a seizure. When she insists he has mistaken her for someone else, Dr. Straker sends a telegram to her uncle, who replies that Georgina Ferrars is at home with him in London: “Your patient must be an imposter.” Suddenly her voluntary confinement becomes involuntary. Who is the woman in her uncle’s house? And what has become of her two most precious possessions, a dragonfly pin left to her by her mother and a writing case containing her journal, the only record of those missing weeks? Georgina’s perilous quest to free herself takes us from a cliffside cottage on the Isle of Wight to the secret passages of Tregannon House and into a web of hidden family ties on which her survival depends. Another delicious read from the author praised by Ruth Rendell as having “a gift for creating suspense, apparently effortlessly, as if it belongs in the nature of fiction.”

Bind, Torture, Kill: The Inside Story of the Serial Killer Next Door


Roy Wenzl - 2007
    A bloodthirsty serial killer, self-named "BTK"—for "bind them, torture them, kill them"—he slaughtered men, women, and children alike, eluding the police for decades while bragging of his grisly exploits to the media. The nation was shocked when the fiend who was finally apprehended turned out to be Dennis Rader—a friendly neighbor . . . a devoted husband . . . a helpful Boy Scout dad . . . the respected president of his church.Written by four award-winning crime reporters who covered the story for more than twenty years, Bind, Torture, Kill is the most intimate and complete account of the BTK nightmare told by the people who were there from the beginning. With newly released documents, evidence, and information—and with the full cooperation, for the very first time, of the Wichita Police Department’s BTK Task Force—the authors have put all the pieces of the grisly puzzle into place, thanks to their unparalleled access to the families of the killer and his victims.

Hanging Hill


Mo Hayder - 2010
    Married to a successful business man, she’s always been a bit of a dreamer. Until now.Her sister Zoe is her polar opposite. A detective inspector working out of Bath Central, she loves her job, and oozes self-confidence. No one would guess that she hides a crippling secret that dates back twenty years, and which – if exposed – may destroy her.Then Sally’s daughter gets into difficulties, and Sally finds she needs cash – lots of it – fast. With no one to help her, she is forced into a criminal world of extreme pornography and illegal drugs; a world in which teenage girls can go missing.Two sisters intent on survival. Until one does something so terrifying that there’s no way back …

Signs of Murder: A small town in Scotland, a miscarriage of justice and the search for the truth


David Wilson - 2020
    will leave true crime readers with more to ponder than they bargained for' - The HeraldBefore David Wilson became the UK's pre-eminent criminologist, he was just a young boy growing up in the Scottish town of Carluke. When he was a child, the brutal murder of a young woman rocked this small community, but very quickly a man was arrested for the crime, convicted and put behind bars. For most, life slowly carried on - case closed. But there were whispers in the town that the wrong man was imprisoned. Over the years, these whispers grew louder, to the point that any time David would visit, he'd be asked in hushed tones, 'What are you going to do about the Carluke Case?'Carluke believed the real killer had evaded justice. A murderer was still on the loose.Forty years later, it's time for David to return home, and find out the truth.

True Crime Case Histories - (Books 1, 2 & 3): 32 Disturbing True Crime Stories


Jason Neal - 2019
    The true crime short stories within this three book collection are unimaginably gruesome. I start all of my True Crime books with a quick word of warning. Most news articles and television true crime shows skim over the vile details of truly horrible crimes. In my books I don’t gloss over the facts, regardless of how disgusting they may be. I try to give my readers a clear and accurate description on just how demented the killers really were. I do my best not to leave anything out. The stories included in these books are not for the squeamish.What you are about to read are my first three books. The stories in this collection will make you realize just how fragile the human mind can be.A sampling of the stories include:The Canal Killer - A violent psychopath cuts off the head, hands, and feet of his girlfriends and dumps them in the canals of London and Rotterdam.The Head in the Bucket - A drug kingpin chops off the head of one of his dealers and carries it around in a Home Depot bucket.Captain Cash - Another drug dealer butchers an entire family so he can take over a man’s fruit shipping business and transform it into a drug shipping business.The Coffee Killer - A young woman, jealous of her rich socialite friend, poisons her by lacing her coffee with cyanide in a public coffee shop.The Arizona Torso Killer - A petite trophy-wife shoots her husband, freezes his body, hacks him up with a jigsaw and dumps his torso in a dumpster behind a grocery store.The Oxford Murder - A young college student strangles his girlfriend and crams her body into an eight-inch crawlspace beneath the stairs.The Girl in the Barrel - A homeowner finds a fifty-five gallon barrel in the crawl space beneath his home. What they find inside the barrel unlocks a murder mystery dating back thirty years.The Dexter Wannabe - A young man obsessed with the TV show Dexter lures unsuspecting victims to his "kill room" and keeps a detailed diary of the dismemberment of his prey.The Murder of Elizabeth Olten - A fifteen-year-old girl wants to know what it feels like to kill a person. Interpol's Most Wanted - When fishermen pull up the dead body of a man in the English Channel, police stumble upon one of Interpol's Most Wanted criminals.The Girl in the Box - An unbelievable story of a psychopath who kidnaps a young girl and keeps her as a slave locked beneath his bed for seven years.The Green Chain Rapist - A beautiful young mother is butchered in broad daylight in a London park and the only witness is her two-year-old son. Police then waste three years chasing the wrong man while the real killer slaughters another woman.Paige’s Secret Life - A young single-mother of three goes missing and police realize she's been living a secret life that her friends and family didn't know about.A Walking Shadow - A suicidal teenager, frustrated with the bank threatening to foreclose on the family home, kidnaps the bank manager's ten-year-old son and holds him for ransom.Plus 18 more truly disturbing true crime stories.

Twas the Nightshift Before Christmas


Adam Kay - 2019
    With twenty-five tales of intriguing, shocking and incredible Christmas incidents, the British public will finally appreciate the sacrifices made and the challenges faced by the unsung heroes of the NHS.Twas The Nightshift Before Christmas will be fully illustrated (as tastefully as possible) and will delight all of Adam’s fans throughout the festive period of Christmas 2019 and for many years to come.

The Mystery of the Clockwork Sparrow


Katherine Woodfine - 2015
    WONDER at the daring theft of the priceless CLOCKWORK SPARROW! TREMBLE as the most DASTARDLY criminals in London enact their wicked plans! GASP as our bold heroines, Miss Sophie Taylor and Miss Lilian Rose, CRACK CODES, DEVOUR ICED BUNS and vow to bring the villians to justice… Perfect for fans of Jacqueline Wilson, Chris Riddell and Enid Blyton.

Very British Problems: Making Life Awkward for Ourselves, One Rainy Day at a Time


Rob Temple - 2013
    Symptoms include:*Acute embarrassment at the mere notion of making a fuss;*Extreme awkwardness when faced with any social greeting beyond a brisk handshake;*An unhealthy preoccupation with meteorology.Doctors have also reported several cases of unnecessary apologising, an obsessive interest in correct queuing etiquette and dramatic sighing in the presence of loud teenagers on public transport. If you have experienced any of these symptoms, you may be suffering from VERY BRITISH PROBLEMS. VERY BRITISH PROBLEMS are highly contagious. There is no known cure.Rob Temple's hilarious new book reveals all the ways in which we are a nation of socially awkward but well-meaning oddballs, struggling to make it through every day without apologising to an inanimate object. Take comfort in misfortunes of others. You are not alone.

My Friend Anna: The True Story of a Fake Heiress


Rachel DeLoache Williams - 2019
    She was also generous. When Anna proposed an all-expenses-paid trip to Marrakech, Rachel jumped at the chance. But when Anna’s credit cards mysteriously stopped working, the dream vacation quickly took a dark turn. Anna asked Rachel to begin fronting costs—first for flights, then meals and shopping, and, finally, for their $7,500-per-night private villa. Before Rachel knew it, more than $62,000 had been charged to her credit cards. Anna swore she would reimburse Rachel the moment they returned to New York. Back in Manhattan, the repayment never materialized, and a shocking pattern of deception emerged. Rachel learned that Anna had left a trail of deceit—and unpaid bills—wherever she’d been. Mortified, Rachel contacted the district attorney, and in a stunning turn of events, found herself helping to bring down one of the city’s most notorious con artists.

The Perfect Father: The True Story of Chris Watts, His All-American Family, and a Shocking Murder


John Glatt - 2020
    It was the last time anyone would see her alive. By the next day, Shanann and her two young daughters, Bella and Celeste, had been reported missing, and her husband, Chris Watts, was appearing on the local news, pleading for his family's safe return.But Chris Watts already knew that he would never see his family again. Less than 24 hours after his desperate plea, Watts made a shocking confession to police: he had strangled his pregnant wife to death and smothered their daughters, dumping their bodies at a nearby oil site. Heartbroken friends and neighbors watched in shock as the movie-star handsome, devoted family man they knew was arrested and charged with first degree murder. The perfect mask Chris had presented to the world in his TV interviews and the family's Facebook accounts was slipping--and what lay beneath was a horrifying image of instability, infidelity, sexual ambivalence, and boiling rage.In this first major account of the case, bestselling author and journalist John Glatt reveals the truth behind the tragedy and constructs a chilling portrait of one of the most shocking family annihilator cases of the 21st century.

Traces: The Memoir of a Forensic Scientist and Criminal Investigator


Patricia Wiltshire - 2019
    She'll take you searching for bodies of loved ones - through woodlands, along hedgerows, field-edges, and through plantations - solving time since death, and disposal of remains, from ditches to living rooms. She will give you glimpses of her own history: her loves, her losses, and the narrow little valley in Wales where she first woke up to the wonders of the natural world. Pat will show you how her work with a microscope reveals tell-tale traces of the world around us, and how these have taken suspects of the darkest criminal activities to court.From flowers, fungi, tree trunks to car pedals, walking boots, carpets, and corpses' hair, Traces is a unique book on life, death, and one's indelible link with nature.

A Killer Among Us: A True Story of Murder and Justice


Charles Bosworth Jr. - 1998
    Her husband Rick was immediately suspect, having previously struck her "accidentally" with the family van after taking out a $100,000 life insurance policy on her. A Killer Among Us presents the true shocking story of Elizabeth's family and their search for justice against the man who continued to play father to the children whose mother he had killed. Charles Bosworth, Jr. is the author of the New York Times bestsellers Previous Victims and Silent Witness.

Blood & Sugar


Laura Shepherd-Robinson - 2019
    An unidentified body hangs upon a hook at Deptford Dock – horribly tortured and branded with a slaver’s mark.Some days later, Captain Harry Corsham – a war hero embarking upon a promising parliamentary career – is visited by the sister of an old friend. Her brother, passionate abolitionist Tad Archer, had been about to expose a secret that he believed could cause irreparable damage to the British slaving industry. He’d said people were trying to kill him, and now he is missing . . .To discover what happened to Tad, Harry is forced to pick up the threads of his friend's investigation, delving into the heart of the conspiracy Tad had unearthed. His investigation will threaten his political prospects, his family’s happiness, and force a reckoning with his past, risking the revelation of secrets that have the power to destroy him.And that is only if he can survive the mortal dangers awaiting him in Deptford...