Everybody's Best Friend: The True Story of a Marriage That Ended In Murder (St. Martin's True Crime Library)


Ken Englade - 1999
    With no sign of a break-in, no history of marital problems, and the naïve belief that these things sometimes just happen, Stefanie Rabinowitz's family prepared to bury the 29-year-old wife and mother. But at the eleventh hour, because Stefanie was so young, and because there were no witnesses to her death, an autopsy was ordered. And what it revealed was unthinkable: Stefanie had been murdered-strangled in her home, then dragged into the tub to stage a fake drowning. Even more shocking was the suspected killer-Stefanie's 34-year-old husband, Craig: devoted family man, loyal husband, and "everybody's best friend."When the astounding truth began to emerge, so did the tawdry double life of Craig Rabinowitz, a man so obsessed with a two-thousand-dollar-a-week exotic dancer, that his habit caused him to look to the insurance money he would get from murdering his wife. Now, with exclusive interviews and startling inside details, bestselling author Ken Englade blows wide open the shocking true account of a storybook marriage that ended in bone-chilling murder.

True Crime Stories


Max Haines - 1987
    A wealthy and beloved philanthropist abandons his palatial home, leaving behind six corpses pickled in alcohol and 17 more buried in the surrounding neighborhood. After committing 27 "perfect" murders, a trio of sadistic killers is discovered when they begin torturing and slaying each other.In True Crime Stories, you'll discover vast and horrifying group of killers who have committed some of the most bizarre, brazen, and barbarous crimes in history. Among these pitiless perps are men and women of every station in life—from laborers and clerks to doctors, politicians, and millionaires. Some are hapless bumblers quickly brought to justice; others concocted desperate ploys to hide their crimes; a select few, either through devious brilliance or sheer luck, are still at large. Among the grizzliest episodes recounted in this expos

Murder in a Good Neighborhood


K.K. Chalmers - 2011
    So when Roxanne finds the body of a beautiful young woman the week before Halloween, she is more than happy to leave the detecting to her son Marc, an Eastport, Virginia homicide detective...until a retired astronaut who also happens to be an old flame is arrested and the abbess from a nearby monastery insists Roxanne must help clear his name. Only neither woman realizes that by unmasking a killer, Roxanne is placing someone she loves in mortal danger.MURDER IN A GOOD NEIGHBORHOOD was the 2009 winner of the Best Unpublished Novel Contest sponsored by James River Writers and Richmond Magazine. (63,800 words)The author is currently writing a sequel.

Practice to Deceive


Ann Rule - 2013
    presented with the clarity, authority, and emotional depth that Rule's readers expect. It's a case with enough drama, greed, sex, and scandal to be called "The Real Housewives of Whidbey Island"; but this was not reality television. This was murder: pure, cruel, ugly, and senseless. And someone had to pay the price. Nestled in Puget Sound, Whidbey Island is a gem of the Pacific Northwest. Accessible only by ferry and the soaring Deception Pass Bridge, it is known for its artistic communities and stunning natural beauty. Life there is low-key, insular, and the island's year-round residents tend to know one another's business. But when the blood-drenched body of Russel Douglas was discovered the day after Christmas in his SUV in a hidden driveway near Whidbey's most exclusive mansions, the whole island was shocked. A single bullet between his eyes was the cause of death, but no one could imagine who among them could plot such a devious, cold-blooded crime. At first, police suspected suicide, tragically common at the height of the holiday season. But when they found no gun in or near the SUV, Russel's manner of death became homicide. Like a cast of characters from a classic mystery novel, a host of Whidbey residents fell under suspicion. Brenna Douglas was Russel's estranged and soon-to-be-ex wife, who allowed him to come home for a Christmas visit with their children. The couple owned the popular Just B's salon. Brenna's good friend Peggy Sue Thomas worked there, and Brenna complained often to her that Russel was physically and emotionally abusive. Peggy Sue's own life has been one of extremes. Married three times, hers is a rags-to-riches-and-back-again tale in which she's played many roles: aircraft mechanic, basketball coach, the "drop-dead gorgeous vamp"; beauty queen as a former Ms. Washington, Las Vegas limousine driver, million-dollar horse breeder, wealthy divorcee. But in 2003, her love affair with married guitarist Jim Huden led the two Whidbey Island natives to pursue their ultimate dreams of wealth and privilege;even at the expense of human life. Unravel the tangled web woven by Russel Douglas's murder in Practice to Deceive, the newest heart pounding true-crime tour de force from Ann Rule.

The House of Closed Doors


Jane Steen - 2012
    Yet Nell is determined to elude the duties and restrictions of matrimony. So when she finds herself pregnant at the age of 17, she refuses to divulge the name of the father and even her childhood friend Martin is kept in the dark.Nell's stepfather Hiram sends Nell to live at the Poor Farm of which he is a governor, to await the day when her baby can be discreetly adopted. Nell is ready to go along with Hiram's plans until an unused padded cell is opened and two small bodies fall out.Nell is the only resident of the Poor Farm who is convinced that the unwed mother and her baby were murdered, and the incident prompts her to rethink her decision to abandon her own child to her fate. But the revelations to which her questions lead make her realize that even if she manages to escape the Poor Farm with her baby, she may have no safe place to run to.

The Clydach Murders: A Miscarriage of Justice


John Morris - 2017
    Morris contends that, although tried twice, Dai Morris, the man convicted for the murders in 2006, is innocent. No forensic evidence or DNA connected him to the crime; his conviction was based on the lack of a solid alibi, the presence of his gold chain in Power’s house and the lies he initially told the police in explanation. His case is currently being reviewed and will be heard in the Court of Appeal, probably in 2018, in the light of new evidence, including DNA testing and falsification of police documents. South Wales Police was notorious in the period 1980 to 2010 for false convictions on fabricated evidence and the Morris case appears to be another instance of this. Significantly, previous suspects for the murders include former police officers, one of whom was having a lesbian affair with Mandy Power.There is every possibility that the case is a miscarriage of justice. The author has corresponded with Morris, studied all the police files and court papers, discussed the case with key witnesses and experts, and is convinced that Morris is both innocent, and the victim of a conspiracy to convict him. The brutal murder of an entire family is a horrible event but to compound that with an unsafe conviction shows a disrespect to the victims, to their relatives, to the family of Dai Morris and to the law.

On the Road to Death's Door


M.J. Williams - 2011
    The retired couple find themselves at the center of a murder investigation involving a politician, a corporate executive, and a hippie priest. The rookie RVers inevitably butt heads with the local sheriff as their investigation takes them from a backwoods cabin in Wisconsin's scenic Door County to the Bishop's Chancery in Madison to an abandoned island in the infamous Death's Door Straits.

To the Bridge


Nancy Rommelmann - 2018
    Forty minutes later, rescuers found the body of four-year-old Eldon. Miraculously, his seven-year-old sister, Trinity, was saved. As the public cried out for blood, Amanda was arrested, convicted, and sentenced to thirty-five years in prison.Embarking on a seven-year quest for the truth, Rommelmann traced the roots of Amanda’s fury and desperation through thousands of pages of records, withheld documents, meetings with lawyers and convicts, and interviews with friends and family who felt shocked, confused, and emotionally swindled by a woman whose entire life was now defined by an unspeakable crime. At the heart of that crime: a tempestuous marriage, a family on the fast track to self-destruction, and a myriad of secrets and lies as dark and turbulent as the Willamette River. “In To the Bridge, Nancy Rommelmann takes what many consider the most unforgivable of crimes—a mother set on murdering her own children—and delivers something thoughtful and provocative: a deeply reported, sensitively told, all-too-relevant tragedy of addiction and codependency, toxic masculinity, and capricious justice. You won’t be able to look away—nor should any of us.” —Robert Kolker, New York Times bestselling author of Lost Girls: An Unsolved American Mystery “How do you understand the not understandable and forgive the unforgivable? So asks one of the characters in this clear-eyed investigation into something we all turn away from. To the Bridge is a tour de force of both journalism and compassion, in the lineage of such masterpieces as In Cold Blood and The Executioner’s Song. Word by word, sentence by sentence, Rommelmann’s writing is that good. And so is her heart.” —Nick Flynn, PEN/Martha Albrand Award–winning author of Another Bullshit Night in Suck City

Mind Games: The True Story of a Psychologist, His Wife, and a Brutal Murder


Carlton Smith - 2007
    Dr. Felix Polk was a married psychologist living in Berkeley, California. At forty years old, he had a successful practice and a towering reputation until he began a scandalous affair with one of his patients- Susan Bolling. She was fifteen years old. A troubled teenage girl. After divorcing his first wife, Felix married Susan. Susan would later claim that her marriage was built on lies, manipulation, and psychological abuse. She tried to divorce Felix, but no settlement could be reached. Susan seemed to believe that Felix had stashed up to $40 million in a secret bank account in the Caribbean. She wanted her half or else. A case that stunned the nation. In October 2002, Felix was found stabbed to death in his own home. Susan insisted she acted in self-defense. But what would a jury think when Susan claiming she was the victim of Felix's manipulation became her own defense attorney? This is the true story of marriage, murder, and mind games.

The Wicked Boy: The Mystery of a Victorian Child Murderer


Kate Summerscale - 2016
    Their father had gone to sea the previous Friday, the boys told their neighbours, and their mother was visiting her family in Liverpool. Over the next ten days Robert and Nattie spent extravagantly, pawning their parents' valuables to fund trips to the theatre and the seaside. But as the sun beat down on the Coombes house, a strange smell began to emanate from the building. When the police were finally called to investigate, the discovery they made sent the press into a frenzy of horror and alarm, and Robert and Nattie were swept up in a criminal trial that echoed the outrageous plots of the 'penny dreadful' novels that Robert loved to read. In The Wicked Boy, Kate Summerscale has uncovered a fascinating true story of murder and morality - it is not just a meticulous examination of a shocking Victorian case, but also a compelling account of its aftermath, and of man's capacity to overcome the past.

Blabbermouth (A Brit Moran Mystery)


Joel Travis - 2010
    Fortunately, Moran’s injuries are not fatal; unfortunately, his compromising admissions have been heard by a motley assortment of bedside visitors, including a local police detective and the younger brother of Cesar Hernandez, Moran’s backer in his bookmaking business. The book follows, courtesy of Moran’s often hilarious first-person narration, the consequences of his ill-timed frankness, which include assault, vandalism, theft and murder. When the police identify Moran as the prime suspect in the killing, he embarks on an amateurish and offbeat quest for the truth. Readers who like to smile while reading a whodunit should hope that the author manages to enmesh his creation in further investigations.

Bloodline


Jess Lourey - 2021
    Perfect homes. Perfect families. It’s enough to drive some women mad…In a tale inspired by real events, pregnant journalist Joan Harken is cautiously excited to follow her fiancé back to his Minnesota hometown. After spending a childhood on the move and chasing the screams and swirls of news-rich city life, she’s eager to settle down. Lilydale’s motto, “Come Home Forever,” couldn’t be more inviting.And yet, something is off in the picture-perfect village.The friendliness borders on intrusive. Joan can’t shake the feeling that every move she makes is being tracked. An archaic organization still seems to hold the town in thrall. So does the sinister secret of a little boy who vanished decades ago. And unless Joan is imagining things, a frighteningly familiar figure from her past is on watch in the shadows.Her fiancé tells her she’s being paranoid. He might be right. Then again, she might have moved to the deadliest small town on earth.

True Crime: The Worlds Weirdest And Most Vicious Killers Of All Time: True Crime Stories Of The Sick Minded Killers (Serial Killers True Crime Book 2)


Brody Clayton - 2015
    He did the crimes alone, and for many years, he had escaped the law. How did the police capture “The Beast”? Would it drive you out of your mind if you claimed that you were wrongfully accused and yet, you spent more than 6 decades in prison? William George Heirens was known as the Lipstick Killer, but apparently, his incarceration was filled with controversies. Did the police just use the 17 year old as their legal scape goat, or was he truly guilty? To what extent can paranoid schizophrenia ruin a young man’s mind? Herbert Mullin grew up in a loving family-- he was well-educated, a gentleman, and a doe-eyed, soft-spoken young man, but he killed 13 people and claimed that he did it because he wanted to save California from an impending earthquake. Was his schizophrenia real, or was it just an escape route? Find out about all these and more when we comprehensively discuss three cases of gruesome killers... Here Is A Preview Of What You'll Learn... True Crime – What Happens in a Killers Mind to make it 'Change'? True Crime – Three Bodies and a 17 Year Old True Crime – In Herbert's World True Crime – Luis and the Young Boys of Columbia True Crime – A Look into the Psyche of a Serial Killer Much, much more! >>> Download this book today! <<<If you like odd and unusual stories of our worlds serial killers, then download volume 2 of this popular series!Tags: serial killers, true crime, cold cases true crime, serial killers true crime, true crime stories, true murder stories, murder mysteries, cannibal killers, murder stories, cannibals, cold cases solved, unexplained mysteries

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.

Dead Harvest


Andrew Leatham - 2013
     But when the police look inside they find something they never expected. A mysterious, ornate, but apparently ancient coffin. And what appears to be an Egyptian Mummy. Detective Inspector Ray Wilson is about to be thrown into the most baffling case of his career. And the most dangerous. He has to find out where it came from and where it was going. And more importantly why would anyone smuggle an Egyptian Mummy across the UK? Out of his depth, he turns for help to Cambridge’s world famous Fitzwilliam Museum and its curator of Egyptology, Karen Bowen. As a romance blossoms between Wilson and Bowen, the pair find themselves embroiled in a deadly conspiracy. As other identical Mummies are found around the world the trail leads back to a Turkish people smuggler - and a man with links to an evil trade that stretches back thousands of years. It will be the biggest case of Wilson's career - but one that may end his life. 'Dead Harvest' is a gripping detective thriller that introduces a memorable new detective. It is the first gripping installment in the Ray Wilson Thriller series. It is certain to appeal to fans of Peter James, Ian Rankin and Peter Robinson. "A brilliant page-turner." - Tom Kasey, best-selling author of Trade-Off. "Chilling and realistic. A five-star read." - Robert Foster, best-selling author of The Lunar Code. Andrew Leatham is a former national newspaper and television journalist, turned public relations consultant. He lives in Lancashire. Endeavour Press is the UK's leading independent publisher of digital books.