Book picks similar to
The Making of a Detective: A Garda's Story of Investigating Some of Ireland's Most Notorious Crimes by Pat Marry
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The Green Bicycle Mystery: The curious death of Bella Wright
Antony M. Brown - 2017
solve it. The first of a unique set of true crime dramas. Each one tells the story of an unsolved crime in an evocative and compelling way, it presents fresh evidence, exposes the strengths and weaknesses of past theories and then asks the reader to decide on what happened. The series begins with the tragic case of Bella Wright. In a lonely lane running through rural Leicestershire in 1919, a solitary bicycle lies on its side, its metal frame catching the glow of the fading evening light. The back wheel slowly turns about its axle, producing a soft clicking; a rhythmic sound, soothing like the ticking of a study clock. Next to the bicycle, lying at an angle across the road, is a young woman. She is partly on her back, partly on her left side, with her right hand almost touching the mudguard of the rear wheel. Her legs rest on the roadside verge, where fronds of white cow parsley and pink rosebay rise above luxuriant summer foliage. On her head sits a wide-brimmed hat, daintily finished with a ribbon and bow. She is dressed in a pastel blouse and long skirt underneath a light raincoat, the pockets of which contain an empty purse and a box of matches. The blood-flecked coat tells a story... Although each book is perfectly self-contained and offers the author's conclusion, there is a website (coldcasejury.com) for those who wish to share their own verdicts and opinions, making these the first truly interactive crime tales. Beautifully presented with uniquely illustrated covers they also contain evidence images, diagrams and maps. For lovers of crime stories, this new collection of Cold Case Jury books will not just bring a murder story to life, it will make you a part of it.
Inside the Firm: The Untold Story of the Krays' Reign of Terror
Tony Lambrianou - 1991
He had a unique insight into the workings of a criminal organization whose reputation in the underworld remains to this day. But he was not just an observer and his role in the Kray story ultimately led to him serving 15 years in prison. Inside the Firm tells, with searing honesty, his violent history with the Krays, and the horrors of his subsequent imprisonment in top security institutions. In exorcising his ghosts, he reveals an account that is more impartial and more terrifying than Ronnie and Reggie ever could have written. From the murder of Jack "The Hat" McVitie—and the mystery of his undiscovered body—to the role of the Kray legacy in Britain’s prisons today, here is the last confession of a gangster determined to turn his back on his brutal past.
Turning the Tide: One Man Against the Medellin Cartel
Sidney D. Kirkpatrick - 1991
Professor Richard Novak was in the Bahamas studying hammerhead sharks when the Medellin Cartel moved in and set up the nerve center of the world's largest drug operation. When officials refused to act, Novak used his underwater expertise to gather evidence, eventually leading to the cartel's downfall. 16 pages of photographs.
Mosquito Point Road: Monroe County Murder & Mayhem
Michael Benson - 2020
There’s Killer of the Cloth, The Baby in the Convent, Mosquito Point Road, Death of a First Baseman, The Blue Gardenia, and Pure/Evil. Three of the killers are female.
Undercover
Joe Carter - 2016
A must-read for fans of Donnie Brasco. For over 20 years Joe Carter has worked for the police as an undercover cop. He travelled the globe on different passports. He fraternised with thieves, international drugs and arms dealers. He worked alongside the most dangerous criminals. Always fearing that this life would come crashing down around him at any point. His story is a gripping account of the secret, solitary work of an undercover officer and the many ‘sticky’ situations he found himself in, as well as the moving confession of the difficulty in reconciling his two identities with his family life. It’s a story of his beginnings from a being a young east end apprentice to the mean streets he walks today – it reveals the many highs and the painful lows of going undercover. This book explores the resilience needed to lead a double life, the thrilling challenge of working with the biggest criminals in Britain, and maintaining a sense of justice through the many adventures he encounters.
Court TV Presents: Murder in Room 103
Harriet Ryan - 2006
Investigators zeroed in on soldiers, turning out barracks and trolling seedy bars for the GIs who partied with Jamie in the hours leading up to her death. But every lead produced only new mysteries. There were unbreakable alibis, a roommate who claimed she had slept through the crime, and lab tests that hinted at a secret lover. The investigation seemed destined for the cold case file until a high-powered American senator pressed for answers. Soon, a greenhorn detective settled on a shocking new suspect, a pretty blonde exchange student named Kenzi Snider. During an interrogation, the teenager confessed to killing Jamie during a lesbian encounter . . . but it was what happened next that was truly surprising.What really happened in Room 103?
Strange Crime
Portable Press - 2018
Dumb crooks, celebrities gone bad, unsolved mysteries, odd laws, and more—Strange Crime has plenty of stories that will make you ask yourself, “What could they possibly have been thinking?” This easily portable paperback book is ideal for readers on the go. Take it to school, to work, to jury duty!
Gang War: The Inside Story of the Manchester Gangs
Peter Walsh - 2005
Kingpin: Prisoner of the War on Drugs
Richard Stratton - 2017
Gulag America tells the story of the eight years that followed, through two federal trials and the underworld of the federal prison system, at a time when it was undergoing unprecedented expansion due to the War on Drugs. Stratton was shipped by bus from LA's notorious Glass House to jails and prisons across the country, a softening process known as diesel therapy. Resisting pressure to falsely implicate his friend and mentor, Norman Mailer, he was convicted in his second trial under the kingpin statute and sentenced to twenty-five years without the possibility of parole.While doing time in prisons from Manhattan's Criminal Hilton to rural Pennsylvania, Virginia, Kentucky, and New York, he witnessed brutality as well as camaraderie, rampant trafficking of contraband, and crimes by both guards and convicts. He first learned the lessons of survival. Then he learned to prevail, becoming a jailhouse lawyer and winning the reversal of his kingpin sentence and eventual release.Gulag America includes cameos by Norman Mailer and Muhammad Ali, and an account of the author's friendship with mafia don Joe Stassi, a legendary hitman from the early days of the mob who knew gangsters Meyer Lansky, Bugsy Siegel, and Abe Zwillman and has insights into the killing of Dutch Schultz and the Kennedy assassinationGulag America is the second volume in Richard Stratton's trilogy, Remembrance of the War on Plants.
The Kalinka Affair: A Father's Hunt for His Daughter's Killer
Joshua Hammer - 2012
Suspicions of murder began to surround her stepfather, a German doctor named Dieter Krombach, but Bamberski could only hope the truth would prevail. But when the authorities gave up their pursuit, he knew he had to act. So against the odds, Bamberski embarked on an obsessive quest to capture and punish his daughter’s killer. In this riveting true story by Joshua Hammer, a father travels to the limits of law in search of justice.
The Jaidyn Leskie Murder
Michael Gleeson - 1999
the case involved a subculture which is stranger than fiction - a place where your mother could also be your aunt, where revenge was sought in a pig?head thrown through a window, and where the main suspect?obsession with aliens was not considered unusual. Greg Domaszewicz, the boyfriend of Jaidyn?mother Bilynda was tried for Jaidyn?murder. Contains detailed interviews with Jaidyn?parents, Domaszewicz?former lover and his friends (who all turned police informers virtually from day one). the author was granted unprecedented access to police diaries and files.
Outlaw Biker: My Life At Full Throttle
Richard "Deadeye" Hayes - 2008
This is a man who stole a machine gun before he was seven and lost his left eye when a good friend shot him in the face. As a member-and then president-of the infamous Los Valientes Motorcycle Club, he broke more laws and had more fun that any six of the coolest guys you know. One of the last true Outlaw Bikers, Deadeye knows what it means to be a man, take shit from no one, and have tattoos that actually say something. Riding, drug dealing, and sending men to the hospital with his bare hands, Deadeye made himself a legend among bikers- all the while making sure his daughters never got mixed up with guys like him. In his own words, Deadeye tells it all. From earning his colors with an outlaw motorcycle club to his steady diet of drugs, sex, violence, and crime, this is his story: true to life, yet larger than life, and full throttle all the way.
Prisoner 4374
A.J. Griffiths-Jones - 2015
For more than a century, Dr. Thomas Neill Cream has been listed as a potential 'Jack the Ripper' suspect. He was a sinister character, preying on the unfortunate souls who were forced to make a living as streetwalkers in Victorian London, and ultimately led those poor women to an untimely and torturous death. These crimes eventually branded him the 'Lambeth Poisoner'. However, during the time of the heinous Ripper murders, Dr. Cream was incarcerated in Joliet Prison, Illinois. Over the decades, this fact alone has caused debate as to whether or not he deserves to be under suspicion of being the Whitechapel fiend. Was it possible that Dr. Cream bribed his way out of jail, perhaps using a doppelganger to take his place while secretly finding a passage to England with murder in mind? This fascinating book, told from the standpoint of Cream himself, explains the twisted logic behind his actions. The author has done considerable and meticulous research, tracing Cream's life from his adolescent years in Canada to his last moments on the gallows at Newgate.
Black Mass: Whitey Bulger, The FBI and a Devil's Deal
Dick,O'Neil, Gerard Lehr - 2015
Black Mass Film Tie In
Nightmare in the Sun - Their Dream of Buying a Home in Spain Ended in their Brutal Murder
Danny Collins - 2007
Within a week of their arrival, the couple had vanished. Welsh detectives, alerted by large sums of cash withdrawn from the couple's UK bank accounts, launched their own missing persons inquiry. Daughter Nicola Welch, frantic with worry but with no idea of what really happened, made an appeal on 'Crimewatch' for her parents to get in touch. Six months after the couple's disappearance, following emailed ransom demands from a mysterious figure codenamed Phoenix, Spainish police recovered the bodies of the couple from under the cellar floor of a villa in Alcoy, 40 kilometres inland.. The full horrifying story was pieced toegther in a painstaking investigation. The O'Malleys had been tricked into viewing a property, held captive for five days and forced to hand over the money they'd saved for their deposit. When they were no longer of use, they were callously disposed of in the cellar of the very house they'd hoped would be their dream home. In April 2006, two men from Venezuela were found guilty by a Spanish court of kidnap, robbery, torture and murder. Jorge Real Sierra was jailed for 62 years and Jose Antonio Velazquez Gonzales for 54 years.Investigative journalist Danny Collins helped North Wales officers track down the killers in a tense search that saw his life threatened and took him into the rough and tumble of a Benidorm underworld never seen by tourists. This story is a cautionary tale for all who seek an escape to the Mediterranean sun.