Charles Manson: The Man Who Murdered the Sixties


David J. Krajicek - 2019
    Freshly paroled, he stumbled into San Francisco in 1967 just as thousands of impressionable young people were streaming into town for the Summer of Love.Posing as a musician-come-guru-come-Christ-figure, Manson built a commune cult of hippies, consisting mainly of troubled young women. But what made this group set out on the four-week killing spree that claimed seven lives? Former Journalism Professor, David J. Krajicek, seeks to discover just that.

The Last Godfather: The Life and Crimes of Arthur Thompson


Reg McKay - 2004
    Arthur Thompson proved them all wrong. For forty years Thompson ruled Glasgow's mean streets, always devising new terror.

The Killer of Little Shepherds: A True Crime Story and the Birth of Forensic Science


Douglas Starr - 2010
    At the end of the nineteenth century, serial murderer Joseph Vacher, known and feared as "The Killer of Little Shepherds," terrorized the French countryside. He eluded authorities for years--until he ran up against prosecutor Emile Fourquet and Dr. Alexandre Lacassagne, the era's most renowned criminologist. The two men--intelligent and bold--typified the Belle Epoque, a period of immense scientific achievement and fascination with science's promise to reveal the secrets of the human condition. With high drama and stunning detail, Douglas Starr revisits Vacher's infamous crime wave, interweaving the story of how Lacassagne and his colleagues were developing forensic science as we know it. We see one of the earliest uses of criminal profiling, as Fourquet painstakingly collects eyewitness accounts and constructs a map of Vacher's crimes. We follow the tense and exciting events leading to the murderer's arrest. And we witness the twists and turns of the trial, celebrated in its day. In an attempt to disprove Vacher's defense by reason of insanity, Fourquet recruits Lacassagne, who in the previous decades had revolutionized criminal science by refining the use of blood-spatter evidence, systematizing the autopsy, and doing groundbreaking research in psychology. Lacassagne's efforts lead to a gripping courtroom denouement. "The Killer of Little Shepherds" is an important contribution to the history of criminal justice, impressively researched and thrillingly told.

Serial Killers


Brian Innes - 2006
    Each chapter provides a biography of one killer, describing the formative experiences that turned them into monsters, their hidden lives and gruesome crimes. It explains how each was caught, including descriptions of psychological profiles and crime investigation procedures, and their ultimate fate. Timelines and victim panels detail their atrocities and horrific death tolls. Dramatic black and white photography shows each killer at their sinister worst.

The Rise and Fall of a 'Casino' Mobster: The Tony Spilotro Story Through A Hitman's Eyes


Frank Cullotta - 2017
    A feared enforcer, the bosses knew Tony would do whatever it took to protect their interests. The “Little Guy” built a criminal empire that was the envy of mobsters across the country, and his childhood pal, Frank Cullotta helped him do it. But Tony’s quest for power and lack of self-control with women cost the Mob its control of Vegas; and Tony paid for it with his life. ”I was a little nervous before my first meeting with former mobster Frank Cullotta. It turned out we had a pleasant conversation that ended with an agreement for me to write his book. As I drove home, I realized I had made a deal with a career thief and killer on a handshake. What was I thinking?”--Dennis N. Griffin, author of SURVIVING THE MOB

The Crime of the Century


Dennis L. Breo - 1993
    He broke in as his helpless victims slept, bound them one by one, and then stabbed, assaulted, and strangled all eight in a sadistic sexual frenzy. By morning only one young nurse had miraculously survived. The barbarity of the attack shocked a nation and opened a new chapter in the history of American crime: mass murder. Here is the never-before-told story of Richard Speck by the prosecutor who put him in prison for life."In the Crime of the Century," William J. Martin has teamed up with Dennis L. Breo to re-create the blood-soaked night that made American criminal history, offerning fascinating behind-the-scenes descriptions of Speck, his innocent victims, the desperate manhunt and massive investigation, and the trial that led to Speck's successful conviction. In 1991 Richard Speck died of a heart attack in prison, but the horror of his crime still haunts the conscience of a nation.

Murder, Interrupted


James Patterson - 2018
    Rich, cheating financier Frank Howard wants his wife dead, and he's willing to pay Billie Earl Johnson whatever it takes, to the tune of $750,000. When his bullet misses the mark, Billie Earl and Frank will turn on each other in a fight for their lives . . . MOTHER OF ALL MURDERS. Dee Dee Blancharde is a local celebrity. Television reports praise her as a single mother who tirelessly cares for her wheelchair-bound, chronically ill daughter. But when the teenaged Gypsy Rose realizes she isn't actually sick and Dee Dee has lied all these years, Gypsy Rose exacts her revenge . . .

Beyond Belief: The Moors Murderers. The Story of Ian Brady and Myra Hindley.


Emlyn Williams - 1967
    Emlyn Williams' classic account of the notorious Moors Murderers, Ian Brady and Myra Hindley, who between 1962 and 1965 abducted, brutally abused and murdered five children - Pauline Reade, John Kilbride, Keith Bennett, Lesley Ann Downey and Edward Evans - and buried them in shallow graves on Saddleworth Moor, in Lancashire.

After the Fire: A True Story of Friendship and Survival


Robin Gaby Fisher - 2004
    Among the victims were Shawn Simons and Alvaro Llanos, roommates from poor neighborhoods who made their families proud by getting into college. They managed to escape, but both were burned terribly.After the Fire is the story of these young men and their courageous fight to recover from the worst damage the burn unit at Saint Barnabas hospital had ever seen. It is the story of the extraordinary doctors and nurses who work with the burned. It is the story of mothers and fathers, of faith and family and the invisible ties that bind us to each other. It is the story of the search for the arsonists - and the elaborate cover-up that nearly obscured the truth. And it is the story of the women who came to love these men, who knew that real beauty is a thing not seen in mirrors.

Slow Death


Jim Fielder - 2001
    Transcripts of audio and videotapes are featured, as well as over 16 pages of shocking photos.

Body Dump


Fred Rosen - 2002
    All were young, pretty, and petite. Most were hustlers and crackheads. By August 1998, as the toll reached eight, a victim's mother said bitterly, “When they find one, they'll find them all.” She didn't know how horrifyingly right she was.HULKING AND HOMICIDALAt the height of the manhunt, prostitute Christine Sala, hysterical, told police she had barely escaped being strangled by Kendall Francois, 27, a 6'4," 300-lb. middle-school hall monitor whose slovenly personal hygiene had earned him the nickname “Stinky.” When caught, Francois said that he'd killed the women because they hadn't given him all the sex he claimed he'd paid for.HOUSE OF HORRORSInvestigators in white bio-hazard suits entered the house where Francois lived and found eight female corpses, almost all decomposed. Some were placed in plastic bags together in the attic. Others lay in shallow graves in the crawl space under the house. It was such a tangle of rotting flesh and bones, even the investigators couldn't tell how many bodies there were. Now, sentenced to life in prison without parole, the man whom others dismissed as a smell oaf had finally been unmasked as one of the most bizarre serial sex-killers of modern times.Includes pages of disturbing photos.

Breaking Point


Suzy Spencer - 2002
    The next, the nation was shocked by the death of her five innocent children...The 911 call that shocked the country. "I just killed my children." Why were they killed?On June 20, 2001, in a middle-class Houston suburb, Andrea Yates and her husband Russell, a NASA engineer, prepared for the routine week-day ahead. But before the morning was over, tragedy would strike the quiet family and turn the day into a nightmare. Shortly before 10 a.m., Andrea calmly summoned the police with a grim confession...One by one, Andrea Yates' children, ages 6 months to 7 years, had been drowned in their bathtub. No one who knew Andrea could picture the devoted mother capable of such an unbelievable crime or imagine the terror in the eyes of her trusting children. As their father struggled between overwhelming grief and loyalty to his imprisoned wife, an outraged nation struggled with an unfathomable question...Breaking Point provides a harrowing portrait of the suffocating darkness at the heart of one all-American family, and exposes the private demons that pushed a mother over the edge.With 8 pages of photographs.

Jack the Ripper: The 21st Century Investigation: A Top Murder Squad Detective Reveals the Ripper's Identity at Last!


Trevor Marriott - 2005
    Casting aside the rumors, fantasies, and urban legends which have haunted this case for so long, Trevor Marriott produces some startling results—while it has long been accepted that Jack the Ripper killed only five women, Marriott believes there were up to nine victims. Most astonishingly of all, a previously unconsidered suspect who also committed murders in America and Germany has been firmly put in the frame. All previous theories are refuted in what may possibly be the final word on the Ripper murders.

Shards: A Young Vice Cop Investigates Her Darkest Case of Meth Addiction—Her Own


Allison Moore - 2014
    . . . But when I started to come down, I couldn’t face being plunged into the icy cold water of my real life. I couldn’t bear to have those feelings return. I did another line, bigger than the first. It made me feel calm, confident, excited about my future. Meth was the answer to all my problems.As a beautiful, ambitious, and fearless young woman, Allison Moore had everything going for her: She had been the star student of her recruit class and was quickly promoted to vice cop at the Maui Police Department, while earning the respect of her colleagues and a stellar reputation. But when a doomed love affair with another cop led Allison to seek a desperate escape, her life took a sudden and violent plunge.Using her position of authority and skills of manipulation, Allison hid her addiction from her lover and her department for as long as possible. She fabricated an elaborate story that she had ovarian cancer and needed to seek treatment on the mainland, while actually traveling to get a steady supply of meth from a brutal Seattle drug dealer. When her intensifying dependence on meth put her at the mercy of the ruthless dealer, he made her a prisoner in his house, subjecting her to unthinkable physical and sexual abuse, and monitoring her every move through a web of hidden cameras.Astounding, gripping, and told firsthand in a deeply sympathetic voice, Shards spares no detail of Allison’s horrific experiences and the tangle of addiction and betrayal that cost her the career she loved, the colleagues who adored her, and the island that was once her paradise.

In Pursuit of the Truth


Clive Driscoll - 2015
    For Clive, it was the pinnacle of a 35-year career with the world’s most famous police force, the Metropolitan Police Service.Clive’s prodigious rise through the ranks of the Met saw him front some of the most high-profile units at Scotland Yard. He was put in charge of their policy for sexual offences, domestic violence, child protection and the paedophile unit before heading up the Racial and Violent Crime Task Force tackling their backlist of cold cases. From action-packed moments chasing down criminals to more tender occasions, like gaining the trust of a murder victim’s family, to making crucial legal history, and unearthing huge national scandals, In Pursuit of the Truth is the definitive account of modern day policing, its successes and failings included, seen through the eyes of a man who has dedicated his life to making a difference. This is a book that every part of society can learn from.