iBooks Top True Crime Ebooks

The top most popular and best selling true crime ebooks at the Apple iBookstore. Chart of the top true crime ebook best sellers updated daily.

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Top True Crime Ebook Best Sellers

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London Falling - Patrick Radden Keefe Cover Art

London Falling

London Falling A Mysterious Death in a Gilded City and a Family's Search for Truth by Patrick Radden Keefe

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the bestselling, prizewinning author of Say Nothing and Empire of Pain , a spellbinding account of a family devastated by the sudden death of their nineteen-year-old son, only to discover that he had created a secret life which drew him into the dangerous criminal underworld that lies beneath London’s glittering surface “Another blockbuster feat of reportage. . . . I sprinted through this addictive book in three days and gasped more than once at the true story’s twists and turns.” — Esquire A NEW YORK TIMES BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR SO FAR In the early morning of November 29th, 2019, surveillance cameras at the headquarters of MI6, Britain’s spy agency, captured video of a young man pacing back and forth on a high balcony of Riverwalk, a luxury tower on the bank of the river Thames. At 2:24 a.m., he jumped into the river. In a quiet London neighborhood several miles away, Rachelle Brettler was worried about her son. Zac had told her that he had gone to stay with a friend for the weekend, but then he did not come home. Days later, a police car pulled up and two officers relayed the dreadful news: Her son was dead. In their unbearable grief, Rachelle and her husband, Matthew, struggled to understand what had happened to Zac. He had had his troubles, but in no way seemed suicidal. As they would soon discover, however, there was a lot they did not know about their son. Only after his death did they learn that he had adopted a fictitious alter ego: Zac Ismailov, son of a Russian oligarch and heir to a great fortune. Under this guise, Zac had become entangled with a slippery London businessman named Akbar Shamji and a murderous gangster known as Indian Dave. As the Brettlers set about investigating their son’s death, they were pulled into a different and more dangerous London than the one they’d always known, and came to believe that something much more nefarious than a suicide had claimed Zac’s life. But to their immense frustration, Scotland Yard seemed unable—or unwilling—to bring the perpetrators to justice.  In a bravura feat of reporting and writing, Patrick Radden Keefe chronicles the Brettlers’ quest, peeling back layers of mystery and exposing the seedy truths behind the glamorous London of posh mansions and private nightclubs, a city in which everything is for sale, and aspirational fantasies are underwritten by dirty money and corruption. London Falling is a mesmerizing investigation of an inexplicable death and a powerful narrative driven by suspense and staggering revelations. But it is also an intimate and deeply poignant inquiry into the nature of parental love and the challenges of being a parent today, a portrait of a family trying to solve the riddle not just of how their son died, but of who he really was in life.

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Filthy Rich - James Patterson, John Connolly & Tim Malloy Cover Art

Filthy Rich

Filthy Rich The Jeffrey Epstein Story: Ten Years Later by James Patterson, John Connolly & Tim Malloy

#1 New York Times Bestseller From the world's #1 bestselling author, Filthy Rich —the book that exposed Jeffrey Epstein’s shocking exploits as a multi-millionaire pedophile—now with an updated Author's Note and Afterword.  “Much more than a true crime book.”  — Town & Country  Charismatic college dropout Jeffrey Epstein amassed a huge fortune by expertly manipulating numbers, people, law, and decency—even after becoming a convicted sex offender. Then in 2019, Epstein was found dead in his jail cell. Before he could stand trial. Before his hundreds of victims could confront him. Featuring original police interviews and court transcripts, details of the criminal investigations and new material contextualizing the case, this riveting yet harrowing tale of wealth, power, and the easy price of justice for America’s wealthiest citizens reveals what we didn’t understand then—and what we know today.

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The Family Man - James Lasdun Cover Art

The Family Man

The Family Man Blood and Betrayal in the House of Murdaugh by James Lasdun

An immersive account of a seemingly loving father’s transformation into a "family annihilator." In March 2023, Alex Murdaugh was found guilty of murdering his wife and younger son at Moselle, their home in South Carolina’s Lowcountry. By then, the story had become headline news across the country, with its revelations of corruption in high places, massive fraud, opioid abuse, fake suicides, suspicious accidents, and the generational recklessness of the wealthy legal dynasty at its center. Having covered the case for The New Yorker, where his article became the magazine’s most read story of the year, the acclaimed novelist James Lasdun brings his long-standing interest in the darker drives of the human psyche to an investigation into the serial embezzlements, fatal boat crash, and other events leading up to the slaughter at Moselle. “Justice may have been served,” Lasdun writes in the preface to The Family Man, "but the human element of the story didn’t seem to add up." Having traveled extensively in the Lowcountry, Lasdun draws on original interviews (including with Murdaugh’s notorious "Cousin Eddie"), transcripts of phone calls Murdaugh made from prison, the literature of criminal psychology, and the murder trial itself. Deeply researched, sharply written, and with the page-turning intensity of a Southern gothic novel, The Family Man constructs a masterful portrait of Murdaugh and the mind-boggling crimes that wreaked havoc on his community.

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The Yahoo Boys - Carlos Barragán Cover Art

The Yahoo Boys

The Yahoo Boys Love, Deception, and the Real Lives of Nigeria's Romance Scammers by Carlos Barragán

A New York Times Most Anticipated Nonfiction Book of 2026 A People Best Book of June | A USA Today Most Anticipated Summer Read "What [Barragán has] produced feels miraculous: journalism that is simultaneously funny, devastating, wildly intimate, and righteous without veering into moralism." —Kate Knibbs, Wired (Book Club Pick) "I have found few books lately as immediately compelling as Barragán's, and as a reader, I could not put it down . . . The Yahoo Boys is a tour-de-force." —Jon Lee Anderson An astonishing work of immersion journalism about four young romance scammers in Lagos, Nigeria, exploring how and why they scam, and the moral dilemmas they face When his mother started emailing with a handsome American soldier who promised to send gold bars to her Madrid apartment, the journalist Carlos Barragán came face to face with the human toll of online romance fraud. After tracing the emails to an IP address in Nigeria, he set off on a journey to Lagos to find his mother’s scammer, where he stumbled on a much bigger story. There, in a crowded and impoverished neighborhood in the midst of Africa’s largest city, he encountered thousands of young men engaged in romance scamming. They call themselves “Yahoo Boys,” and each year they catfish millions of dollars from lonely victims overseas, building a dizzying local economy from their phones. In this astonishing work of immersion journalism, Barragán takes us inside the lives of four of the Yahoo Boys of Lagos. We meet Biggy and Chibuike, each struggling with the temptations of fast money; Azeez, a tailor’s apprentice caught between the lure of crime and Nigeria’s economic crisis; and Richie, who is convinced that he’s responsible for the death of a woman in Kentucky he manipulated online for years. Some Yahoo Boys attain the status of folk heroes, buying houses and cars with the money they make, while others become dependent on drugs and “cash out”—successfully scam a victim—only to lose it all. Through the Yahoo Boys’ twisting fortunes, Barragán discovers the psychological tactics they perfect, the brutal economic realities that drive them, and the moral dilemmas they confront. A work of radical empathy, this book reveals the human face behind a global phenomenon, and shows how loneliness in the West and poverty in Nigeria are two sides of the same screen.

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The Wager - David Grann Cover Art

The Wager

The Wager A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder by David Grann

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the author of Killers of the Flower Moon , a page-turning story of shipwreck, survival, and savagery, culminating in a court martial that reveals a shocking truth. The powerful narrative reveals the deeper meaning of the events on The Wager , showing that it was not only the captain and crew who ended up on trial, but the very idea of empire. A Best Book of the Year: The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The New Yorker , TIME , Smithsonian , NPR, Vulture, Kirkus Reviews “Riveting...Reads like a thriller, tackling a multilayered history—and imperialism—with gusto.” — Time "A tour de force of narrative nonfiction.” — The Wall Street Journal On January 28, 1742, a ramshackle vessel of patched-together wood and cloth washed up on the coast of Brazil. Inside were thirty emaciated men, barely alive, and they had an extraordinary tale to tell. They were survivors of His Majesty’s Ship the Wager, a British vessel that had left England in 1740 on a secret mission during an imperial war with Spain. While the Wager had been chasing a Spanish treasure-filled galleon known as “the prize of all the oceans,” it had wrecked on a desolate island off the coast of Patagonia. The men, after being marooned for months and facing starvation, built the flimsy craft and sailed for more than a hundred days, traversing nearly 3,000 miles of storm-wracked seas. They were greeted as heroes. But then ... six months later, another, even more decrepit craft landed on the coast of Chile. This boat contained just three castaways, and they told a very different story. The thirty sailors who landed in Brazil were not heroes – they were mutineers. The first group responded with countercharges of their own, of a tyrannical and murderous senior officer and his henchmen. It became clear that while stranded on the island the crew had fallen into anarchy, with warring factions fighting for dominion over the barren wilderness. As accusations of treachery and murder flew, the Admiralty convened a court martial to determine who was telling the truth. The stakes were life-and-death—for whomever the court found guilty could hang. The Wager is a grand tale of human behavior at the extremes told by one of our greatest nonfiction writers. Grann’s recreation of the hidden world on a British warship rivals the work of Patrick O’Brian, his portrayal of the castaways’ desperate straits stands up to the classics of survival writing such as The Endurance , and his account of the court martial has the savvy of a Scott Turow thriller. As always with Grann’s work, the incredible twists of the narrative hold the reader spellbound.

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Laci - Michael Fleeman Cover Art

Laci

Laci Inside the Laci Peterson Murder by Michael Fleeman

An in-depth look at one of the most shocking and controversial crimes to capture the nation's attention from the New York Times –bestselling author. Praying for a happy ending, friends and family stood by Laci Peterson's grieving husband Scott. Four months later, Laci's decomposed body was found in the murky waters of San Francisco Bay. The body of her child had washed ashore about a mile away, after a possible "coffin birth." It was a sad closure to an exhaustive search, and a grim end to a marriage that by all accounts had appeared to be perfect. Scott Peterson's behavior had cast a mysterious shadow over the death of his pregnant wife: his alibi on the day of the disappearance was questionable; he admitted to an affair with another woman; and when he was finally charged with capital murder, he had altered his appearance. Almost immediately, the media condemned Scott, even though he maintains his innocence. Is Scott Peterson a victim of circumstantial evidence? Despite the state attorney general's claim of a "slam dunk," the case that has gripped the nation is much more complex, and is yielding even more questions, doubts, accusations, and shocking revelations.

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The Cold Vanish - Jon Billman Cover Art

The Cold Vanish

The Cold Vanish Seeking the Missing in North America's Wildlands by Jon Billman

Perfect for readers of Jon Krakauer and Douglas Preston, this "authentic and encyclopedic" book examines real-life cases of those who vanish in the wilderness without a trace (Roman Dial)—and those eccentric, determined characters who try to find them. These are the stories that defy conventional logic. The proverbial vanished without a trace incidences, which happen a lot more (and a lot closer to your backyard) than almost anyone thinks. These are the missing whose situations are the hardest on loved ones left behind. The cases that are an embarrassment for park superintendents, rangers and law enforcement charged with Search & Rescue. The ones that baffle the volunteers who comb the mountains, woods and badlands. The stories that should give you pause every time you venture outdoors. Through Jacob Gray's disappearance in Olympic National Park, and his father Randy Gray who left his life to search for him, we will learn about what happens when someone goes missing. Braided around the core will be the stories of the characters who fill the vacuum created by a vanished human being. We'll meet eccentric bloodhound-handler Duff and R.C., his flagship purebred, who began trailing with the family dog after his brother vanished in the San Gabriel Mountains. And there's Michael Neiger North America's foremost backcountry Search & Rescue expert and self-described "bushman" obsessed with missing persons. And top researcher of persons missing on public wildlands Ex-San Jose, California detective David Paulides who is also one of the world's foremost Bigfoot researchers. It's a tricky thing to write about missing persons because the story is the absence of someone. A void. The person at the heart of the story is thinner than a smoke ring, invisible as someone else's memory. The bones you dig up are most often metaphorical. While much of the book will embrace memory and faulty memory—history— The Cold Vanish is at its core a story of now and tomorrow . Someone will vanish in the wild tomorrow. These are the people who will go looking.

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Killers of the Flower Moon - David Grann Cover Art

Killers of the Flower Moon

Killers of the Flower Moon The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI by David Grann

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A twisting, haunting true-life murder mystery about one of the most monstrous crimes in American history, from the author of The Wager and The Lost City of Z, “one of the preeminent adventure and true-crime writers working today."— New York Magazine • NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST • NOW A MARTIN SCORSESE PICTURE “A shocking whodunit…What more could fans of true-crime thrillers ask?”— USA Today “A masterful work of literary journalism crafted with the urgency of a mystery.” — The Boston Globe A Kirkus Reviews Best Nonfiction Book of the Century In the 1920s, the richest people per capita in the world were members of the Osage Nation in Oklahoma. After oil was discovered beneath their land, the Osage rode in chauffeured automobiles, built mansions, and sent their children to study in Europe. Then, one by one, the Osage began to be killed off. The family of an Osage woman, Mollie Burkhart, became a prime target. One of her relatives was shot. Another was poisoned. And it was just the beginning, as more and more Osage were dying under mysterious circumstances, and many of those who dared to investigate the killings were themselves murdered. As the death toll rose, the newly created FBI took up the case, and the young director, J. Edgar Hoover, turned to a former Texas Ranger named Tom White to try to unravel the mystery. White put together an undercover team, including a Native American agent who infiltrated the region, and together with the Osage began to expose one of the most chilling conspiracies in American history. Look for David Grann’s latest bestselling book, The Wager !

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Under the Banner of Heaven - Jon Krakauer Cover Art

Under the Banner of Heaven

Under the Banner of Heaven A Story of Violent Faith by Jon Krakauer

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • From the author of Into the Wild and Into Thin Air , this extraordinary work of investigative journalism takes readers inside America’s isolated Mormon Fundamentalist communities. • Now a n acclaimed FX limited series streaming on HULU. “Fantastic.... Right up there with In Cold Blood and The Executioner’s Song. ” — San Francisco Chronicle Defying both civil authorities and the Mormon establishment in Salt Lake City, the renegade leaders of these Taliban-like theocracies are zealots who answer only to God; some 40,000 people still practice polygamy in these communities.  At the core of Krakauer’s book are brothers Ron and Dan Lafferty, who insist they received a commandment from God to kill a blameless woman and her baby girl. Beginning with a meticulously researched account of this appalling double murder, Krakauer constructs a multi-layered, bone-chilling narrative of messianic delusion, polygamy, savage violence, and unyielding faith. Along the way he uncovers a shadowy offshoot of America’s fastest growing religion, and raises provocative questions about the nature of religious belief.

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Judgment Ridge - Dick Lehr & Mitchell Zuckoff Cover Art

Judgment Ridge

Judgment Ridge The True Story Behind the Dartmouth Murders by Dick Lehr & Mitchell Zuckoff

This "irresistibly absorbing" true crime investigation uncovers the brutal murder of two Dartmouth professors by a pair of students in 2001 ( Publishers Weekly ). On a cold night in January 2001, the idyllic community of Dartmouth College was shattered by the discovery that Half and Susanne Zantop, two of its most beloved professors, had been hacked to death in their own home. Investigators searched helplessly for clues linking the victims to their murderers. Weeks later, in the nearby town of Chelsea, Vermont, they sought out a pair of high school seniors for questioning. Then Robert Tulloch and his best friend, Jim Parker, fled. Suddenly, two of Chelsea's brightest and most popular sons had become fugitives, wanted for the murders of Half and Susanne Zantop. Authors Mitchell Zuckoff and Dick Lehr provide a vivid explication of a murder that captivated the nation, as well as dramatic revelations about the forces that turned two popular teenagers into killers.  Judgement Ridge  conveys the devastating loss of Half and Susanne Zantop, while also providing a clear portrait of the killers, their families, and their community—and, perhaps, a warning to any parent about what evil may lurk in the hearts of boys.

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In Cold Blood - Truman Capote Cover Art

In Cold Blood

In Cold Blood by Truman Capote

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • The most famous true crime novel of all time "c hills the blood and exercises the intelligence" ( The New York Review of Books ) — and haunted its author long after he finished writing it. On November 15, 1959, in the small town of Holcomb, Kansas, four members of the Clutter family were savagely murdered by blasts from a shotgun held a few inches from their faces. There was no apparent motive for the crime, and there were almost no clues.  In one of the first non-fiction novels ever written, Truman Capote reconstructs the murder and the investigation that led to the capture, trial, and execution of the killers, generating both mesmerizing suspense and astonishing empathy. In Cold Blood is a work that transcends its moment, yielding poignant insights into the nature of American violence.

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Last Call - Elon Green Cover Art

Last Call

Last Call A True Story of Love, Lust, and Murder in Queer New York by Elon Green

**WINNER OF THE EDGAR® AWARD FOR BEST FACT CRIME** A "terrific, harrowing, true-crime account of an elusive serial killer who preyed upon gay men in the 1990s." - The New York Times (Editor's Pick) "In this astonishing and powerful work of nonfiction, Green meticulously reports on a series of baffling and brutal crimes targeting gay men. It is an investigation filled with twists and turns, but this is much more than a compelling true crime story. Green has shed light on those whose lives for too long have been forgotten, and rescued an important part of American history." -David Grann, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Killers of the Flower Moon The gripping true story, told here for the first time, of the Last Call Killer and the gay community of New York City that he preyed upon. The Townhouse Bar, midtown, July 1992: The piano player seems to know every song ever written, the crowd belts out the lyrics to their favorites, and a man standing nearby is drinking a Scotch and water. The man strikes the piano player as forgettable. He looks bland and inconspicuous. Not at all what you think a serial killer looks like. But that’s what he is, and tonight, he has his sights set on a gray haired man. He will not be his first victim. Nor will he be his last. The Last Call Killer preyed upon gay men in New York in the ‘80s and ‘90s and had all the hallmarks of the most notorious serial killers. Yet because of the sexuality of his victims, the skyhigh murder rates, and the AIDS epidemic, his murders have been almost entirely forgotten. This gripping true-crime narrative tells the story of the Last Call Killer and the decades-long chase to find him. And at the same time, it paints a portrait of his victims and a vibrant community navigating threat and resilience.

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Chaos - Tom O'Neill & Dan Piepenbring Cover Art

Chaos

Chaos Charles Manson, the CIA, and the Secret History of the Sixties by Tom O'Neill & Dan Piepenbring

NEW YORK TIMES  BESTSELLER | NOW A NETFLIX DOCUMENTARY A journalist's twenty-year fascination with the Manson murders leads to "gobsmacking" (The Ringer) new revelations about the FBI's involvement in this "kaleidoscopic" (The New York Times) reassessment of an infamous case in American history.   Over two grim nights in Los Angeles, the young followers of Charles Manson murdered seven people, including the actress Sharon Tate, then eight months pregnant. With no mercy and seemingly no motive, the Manson Family followed their leader's every order -- their crimes lit a flame of paranoia across the nation, spelling the end of the sixties. Manson became one of history's most infamous criminals, his name forever attached to an era when charlatans mixed with prodigies, free love was as possible as brainwashing, and utopia -- or dystopia -- was just an acid trip away.   Twenty years ago, when journalist Tom O'Neill was reporting a magazine piece about the murders, he worried there was nothing new to say. Then he unearthed shocking evidence of a cover-up behind the "official" story, including police carelessness, legal misconduct, and potential surveillance by intelligence agents. When a tense interview with Vincent Bugliosi -- prosecutor of the Manson Family and author of Helter Skelter -- turned a friendly source into a nemesis, O'Neill knew he was onto something. But every discovery brought more questions:   Who were Manson's real friends in Hollywood, and how far would they go to hide their ties? Why didn't law enforcement, including Manson's own parole officer, act on their many chances to stop him? And how did Manson -- an illiterate ex-con -- turn a group of peaceful hippies into remorseless killers?   O'Neill's quest for the truth led him from reclusive celebrities to seasoned spies, from San Francisco's summer of love to the shadowy sites of the CIA's mind-control experiments, on a trail rife with shady cover-ups and suspicious coincidences. The product of two decades of reporting, hundreds of new interviews, and dozens of never-before-seen documents from the LAPD, the FBI, and the CIA, Chaos mounts an argument that could be, according to Los Angeles Deputy District Attorney Steven Kay, strong enough to overturn the verdicts on the Manson murders. This is a book that overturns our understanding of a pivotal time in American history.  

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The Idaho Four - James Patterson & Vicky Ward Cover Art

The Idaho Four

The Idaho Four An American Tragedy by James Patterson & Vicky Ward

#1 New York Times bestseller! “A vivid portrait ... a sensitive tribute … a paean to youth, community, and the tenacity of local law enforcement.” — New York Times     “This is much more than a true crime book. It’s a vivid exploration of the range of human response when faceless terror strikes. It’s a portrait of America in this polarized moment.” — Town & Country   The Idaho Four, an instant #1  New York Times  bestseller, chronicles the story that began on November 13, 2022, in Moscow, Idaho. In the dark early hours, the lives of four friends and college students were cut short by unspeakable violence. The book—now featuring a newly reported conclusion—is an exploration of a complex criminal investigation and its devastating aftermath. It is a timeless portrait of the worst and best in us.      “Clearest profile yet of the twisted quadruple killer and his motives.” — New York Post “Perhaps the definitive account of the murders—a disturbing, necessary portrait of a killer and his victims.” — Guardian

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Small Sacrifices - Ann Rule Cover Art

Small Sacrifices

Small Sacrifices by Ann Rule

Ann Rule 's shocking and powerful account of the destructive forces that drove Diane Downs , a beautiful young mother, to shoot her three young children in cold blood.

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The Franklin Scandal - Nick Bryant Cover Art

The Franklin Scandal

The Franklin Scandal A Story of Powerbrokers, Child Abuse & Betrayal by Nick Bryant

A chilling exposé of corporate corruption and government cover-ups, this account of a nationwide child-trafficking and pedophilia ring in the United States tells a sordid tale of corruption in high places. The scandal originally surfaced during an investigation into Omaha, Nebraska's failed Franklin Federal Credit Union and took the author beyond the Midwest and ultimately to Washington, DC. Implicating businessmen, senators, major media corporations, the CIA, and even the venerable Boys Town organization, this extensively researched report includes firsthand interviews with key witnesses and explores a controversy that has received scant media attention.

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The Man Who Stole the Gods - Matthew Campbell Cover Art

The Man Who Stole the Gods

The Man Who Stole the Gods A True Story of War, Obsession, and a Global Art Conspiracy by Matthew Campbell

From the Killing Fields of Cambodia to the gilded halls of New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, a tale of stolen treasures and the battle to reclaim a nation’s soul. Amidst the chaos of Cambodia's brutal genocide, a new crime wave emerged—one that would sweep across borders and entangle the world's most prestigious art institutions. Priceless treasures of the ancient Khmer Empire, the civilization that produced Angkor Wat, vanished from sacred temples, looted by smugglers and trafficked into the hands of elite collectors. At the center of it all was a man named Douglas Latchford. Known later as "Dynamite Doug" for the ruthless methods used to extract statues from temple ruins, Latchford orchestrated one of history's most audacious cultural heists. From dusty Cambodian villages to the glittering auction houses of London and New York and institutions like the Met, he played a double game—presenting himself as an expert on Khmer art while secretly flooding the market with stolen antiquities. In The Man Who Stole the Gods , award-winning journalist Matthew Campbell unravels the gripping story of Latchford's criminal enterprise, and a global conspiracy of greed and collusion—one that involves some of the world's most powerful museums and collectors. A masterful blend of true crime, history, and investigative journalism, The Man Who Stole the Gods is the definitive account of one man's greed, an industry's complicity, and the fight to expose the truth and restore stolen treasures to their rightful home.

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Whatever Mother Says . . . - Wensley Clarkson Cover Art

Whatever Mother Says . . .

Whatever Mother Says . . . A True Story of a Mother, Madness and Murder by Wensley Clarkson

In this true crime exposé, a single mother is accused of torturing and murdering her own daughters—and involving their siblings in the coverup. Raising her five kids alone in a rundown section of Sacramento, Theresa Cross Knorr seemed like the ultimate survivor. But her youngest daughter, sixteen-year-old Terry, told police another story: one in which Theresa—no longer the petite brunette she once was—became insanely jealous of her pretty eldest daughters and enlisted the help of her two teenaged sons in a vicious campaign against them. According to Terry, Theresa drugged, handcuffed, and shot sixteen-year-old Suesan, allowing her wounds to fester until the day she ordered her sons to burn their sister alive. Next, Terry said Theresa severely beat twenty-year-old Sheila and then locked her in a broom closet, so that when the girl finally starved to death, her brothers dumped her body in the same desolate mountain range where they had cremated Suesan. It took Terry five agonizing years to convince authorities to investigate her grisly account of a mother so sadistic and deranged that she became her children's own executioner.

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House of Evil - John Dean Cover Art

House of Evil

House of Evil The Indiana Torture Slaying by John Dean

A true crime history of the 1965 torture and murder of Indiana teenager Sylvia Likens, the case that served as basis for the film An American Crime . In the heart of Indianapolis in the mid-1960s, through a twist of fate and fortune, a pretty, young girl came to live with a thirty-seven-year-old mother and her seven children. What began as a temporary childcare arrangement between Sylvia Likens's parents and Gertrude Baniszewski turned into a crime that would haunt cops, prosecutors, and a community for decades to come . . . When police found Sylvia's emaciated body, with a chilling message carved into her flesh, they knew that she had suffered tremendously before her death. Soon they would learn how many others—including some of Baniszewski's own children—participated in Sylvia's murder, and just how much torture had been inflicted in one HOUSE OF EVIL . Please note: This ebook edition does not contain the photos found in the print edition.

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Blind Faith - Joe McGinniss Cover Art

Blind Faith

Blind Faith by Joe McGinniss

The sordid, #1 New York Times bestselling true crime story of adultery, addiction, gambling debt, and murder in a privileged suburban town—from author and journalist Joe McGinniss. The Marshalls were the model family of Tom’s River, New Jersey, living the American dream and seemingly in possession of all that money could buy. Rob Marshall, a successful insurance broker, was the big breadwinner, king of the country club set. Maria Marshall was his stunningly beautiful wife and the perfect mom to their three great kids.  Then one night while the couple drove home from Atlantic City, Rob, his head bloodied, reported Maria had been brutally slain. Sympathy poured in—until disquieting facts began to surface…and the true story of adultery, gambling, drugs and murder tore the mask off Rob Marshall and the blinders off the town that thought he could do no wrong.

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MATERNAL INSTINCT - Cole Drayton Cover Art

MATERNAL INSTINCT

MATERNAL INSTINCT The Untold Story of Taylor Parker, the Woman Who Faked a Pregnancy and Murdered for a Baby by Cole Drayton

She needed a baby. She found one. For ten months, Taylor Parker wore a silicone belly, forged ultrasound photographs, and stood at the center of a gender reveal party thrown in her honor, accepting the congratulations of people who loved her for a child she was not carrying. When the calendar ran out and the due date arrived, she did not confess. She did not disappear. She drove forty miles through the piney backroads of northeast Texas to a young woman's house and took what she needed. Reagan Simmons-Hancock was twenty-one years old. She was days from meeting her daughter. She never got the chance. MATERNAL INSTINCT is the unflinching, deeply researched true account of one of the most calculated crimes in modern American history. It is the story of a woman who built an entire false life on a lie and followed that lie to its most brutal conclusion. It is the story of the investigators who connected two crime scenes forty miles apart before the sun went down. And it is, above all, the story of Reagan and her daughter Braxlynn Sage, two people who deserved every year they did not get. ________________________________________ Inside this book you will discover: • The psychology behind Taylor Parker's ten-month deception and what the experts say drove her past the point of no return • How a routine traffic stop on Highway 82 unraveled a crime that was never supposed to be found • The FBI profile of fetal abduction and the chilling pattern that investigators say repeats itself again and again across America • The capital murder trial that laid bare the full architecture of the lie, from the silicone belly to the forged documents to the forty-mile drive • The death sentence, the appeals, and the community of New Boston still carrying what October 9, 2020 left behind ________________________________________ This is not just true crime. It is a reckoning with what human beings are capable of when desperation, obsession, and the refusal to face the truth are allowed to run unchecked. If you believe some stories demand to be told, MATERNAL INSTINCT will not let you go. Scroll up and claim your copy today.

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The Fort Bragg Cartel - Seth Harp Cover Art

The Fort Bragg Cartel

The Fort Bragg Cartel Drug Trafficking and Murder in the Special Forces by Seth Harp

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER A New Yorker Best Book of 2025 A Forbes Best True Crime Book of 2025 “Probably the most gripping, memorable, eye-opening book I’ve read in months.” —David Wallace-Wells, The New York Times “Propulsive.” — The Washington Post “Engrossing. . . . Truly shocking.” — The New Republic “The most mind-blowing piece of investigative journalism I’ve read since Chaos .” —Spike Carter, Air Mail A groundbreaking investigation into a string of unsolved murders at America’s premier special operations base, and what the crimes reveal about drug trafficking and impunity among elite soldiers in today’s military In December 2020, a deer hunter discovered two dead bodies that had been riddled with bullets and dumped in a forested corner of Fort Bragg, North Carolina. One of the dead men, Master Sergeant William “Billy” Lavigne, was a member of Delta Force, the most secretive “black ops” unit in the military. A deeply traumatized veteran of America’s classified assassination program, Lavigne had done more than a dozen deployments in his lengthy career, was addicted to crack cocaine, dealt drugs on base, and had committed a series of violent crimes before he was mysteriously killed. The other victim, Chief Warrant Officer Timothy Dumas, was a quartermaster attached to the Special Forces who used his proximity to clandestine missions to steal guns and traffic drugs into the United States from abroad, and had written a blackmail letter threatening to expose criminality in the special operations task force in Afghanistan. As soon as Seth Harp, an Iraq war veteran and investigative reporter, begins looking into the double murder, he learns that there have been many more unexplained deaths at Fort Bragg recently, other murders connected to drug trafficking in elite units, and dozens of fatal overdoses. Drawing on declassified documents, trial transcripts, police records, and hundreds of interviews, Harp tells a scathing story of narco-trafficking in the Special Forces, drug conspiracies abetted by corrupt police, blatant military cover-ups, American complicity in the Afghan heroin trade, and the pernicious consequences of continuous war.

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Say Nothing - Patrick Radden Keefe Cover Art

Say Nothing

Say Nothing A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland by Patrick Radden Keefe

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • NOW AN FX LIMITED SERIES STREAMING ON HULU • NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD WINNER • From the author of London Falling— a stunning, intricate narrative about a notorious killing in Northern Ireland and its devastating repercussions. One of The New York Times ’s 20 Best Books of the 21st Century • A Kirkus Reviews Best Nonfiction Book of the Century • A Los Angeles Times Best Nonfiction Book of the Last 30 Years "Masked intruders dragged Jean McConville, a 38-year-old widow and mother of 10, from her Belfast home in 1972. In this meticulously reported book—as finely paced as a novel—Keefe uses McConville's murder as a prism to tell the history of the Troubles in Northern Ireland. Interviewing people on both sides of the conflict, he transforms the tragic damage and waste of the era into a searing, utterly gripping saga." — New York Times Book Review " Reads like a novel. . . . Keefe is . . . a master of narrative nonfiction. . . . An incredible story. "—Rolling Stone A Best Book of the Year: The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, TIME, NPR, and more! Jean McConville's abduction was one of the most notorious episodes of the vicious conflict known as The Troubles. Everyone in the neighborhood knew the I.R.A. was responsible. But in a climate of fear and paranoia, no one would speak of it. In 2003, five years after an accord brought an uneasy peace to Northern Ireland, a set of human bones was discovered on a beach. McConville's children knew it was their mother when they were told a blue safety pin was attached to the dress--with so many kids, she had always kept it handy for diapers or ripped clothes. Patrick Radden Keefe's mesmerizing book on the bitter conflict in Northern Ireland and its aftermath uses the McConville case as a starting point for the tale of a society wracked by a violent guerrilla war, a war whose consequences have never been reckoned with. The brutal violence seared not only people like the McConville children, but also I.R.A. members embittered by a peace that fell far short of the goal of a united Ireland, and left them wondering whether the killings they committed were not justified acts of war, but simple murders. From radical and impetuous I.R.A. terrorists such as Dolours Price, who, when she was barely out of her teens, was already planting bombs in London and targeting informers for execution, to the ferocious I.R.A. mastermind known as The Dark, to the spy games and dirty schemes of the British Army, to Gerry Adams, who negotiated the peace but betrayed his hardcore comrades by denying his I.R.A. past-- Say Nothing conjures a world of passion, betrayal, vengeance, and anguish.

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Fatal Vision - Joe McGinniss Cover Art

Fatal Vision

Fatal Vision A True Crime Classic by Joe McGinniss

The electrifying true crime story of Dr. Jeffrey MacDonald, the handsome, Princeton-educated physician convicted of savagely slaying his young pregnant wife and two small children—murders he vehemently denies committing.... “Chilling. . . . A haunting resurrection of Crime and Punishment .”— Time Bestselling author Joe McGinniss chronicles every aspect of this horrifying and intricate crime and probes the life and psyche of the magnetic, all-American Jeffrey MacDonald—a golden boy who seemed destined to have it all. The result is a penetration to the heart of darkness that enshrouded one of the most complex criminal cases ever to capture the attention of the American public. It is a haunting, stunningly suspenseful work that no reader will be able to forget. Includes a Special Epilogue by the author OVER ONE MILLION COPIES SOLD

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Captain's Dinner - Adam Cohen Cover Art

Captain's Dinner

Captain's Dinner A Shipwreck, An Act of Cannibalism, and a Murder Trial That Changed Legal History by Adam Cohen

A Barnes & Noble Best History Book of 2025 Four men in a lifeboat. Two weeks without food. One impossible choice that would reshape the boundaries between survival and murder. “A perfect enunciation of the classic philosophical conundrum: can you sacrifice one innocent life to save many?" (Yann Martel, author of Life of Pi ) On May 19, 1884, the yacht Mignonette set sail from England on what should have been an uneventful voyage. When their vessel sank in the Atlantic, Captain Thomas Dudley and his crew found themselves adrift in a tiny lifeboat. As days turned to weeks, they faced an unthinkable choice: starve to death or resort to cannibalism. Their decision to sacrifice the youngest—17-year-old cabin boy Richard Parker—ignited a firestorm of controversy upon their rescue. Instead of being hailed as heroes and survivors, Dudley and his crew found themselves at the center of Regina v. Dudley and Stephens , a landmark murder trial that would establish the legal precedent that necessity cannot justify murder—a principle that continues to shape Anglo-American law today. In Captain's Dinner , acclaimed journalist, Pulitzer Prize juror, and New York Times bestselling author Adam Cohen masterfully depicts both the harrowing weeks at sea and the sensational trial that followed. "Is killing one innocent person justified if it saves the lives of three others? Cohen's answer—in this riveting account—reads like a thriller" (former U.S. Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken). Through this Victorian tragedy, Cohen reveals an enduring conflict between primal instincts and moral principles. This book will “make you think long and hard about what you might do to survive” (Ezekiel J. Emanuel, M.D., Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania). Perfect for readers of David Grann's The Wager and Nathaniel Philbrick's In the Heart of the Sea , this pulse-pounding true story has become a real-life example of one of life's greatest moral dilemmas. “Thoroughly researched and impeccably argued” (Martel). Rich with narrative detail and real-life courtroom twists, “brilliant and profound,” (bestselling author Amy Chua), Captain's Dinner strikes at the heart of a question that haunts us all: When does survival justify murder?

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Among the Bros - Max Marshall Cover Art

Among the Bros

Among the Bros A Fraternity Crime Story by Max Marshall

“ Among the Bros  is a harrowing and disturbing book. I have read about fraternity life but nothing like this. This book will blow your mind, each page digging deeper into the unimaginable. Except every word is true.”—Buzz Bissinger, #1  New York Times  bestselling author of  The Mosquito Bowl  and  Friday Night Lights A brilliant young investigative journalist traces a murder and a multi-million-dollar drug ring, leading to an unprecedented look at elite American fraternity life. When Max Marshall arrived on the campus of the College of Charleston in 2018, he hoped to investigate a small-time fraternity Xanax trafficking ring. Instead, he found a homicide, several student deaths, and millions of dollars circulating around the Deep South. He also opened up an elite world hidden to outsiders. Behind the pop culture cliches of “Greek life” lies one of the major breeding grounds of American power: 80 percent of Fortune 500 executives, 85 percent of Supreme Court justices, and all but four presidents since 1825 have been fraternity members. With unprecedented immersion, this book takes readers inside that bubble. Under the live oaks and Spanish moss of Travel + Leisure ’s “Most Beautiful Campus in America,” Marshall traces several “C of C” boys’ journeys from fraternity pledges to interstate drug traffickers. The result is a gripping work of narrative nonfiction, a true-life story of hubris, status, money, drugs, and murder—one that lifts a curtain on an ecstatic and disturbing way of life. With expert pacing and a cool eye, he follows a never-ending party that continues after funerals and mass arrests. An addictive and haunting portrait of tomorrow’s American establishment, Among the Bros is true crime storytelling at its finest. This immersive true crime investigation reveals the full story: The Wolves of King Street: Go inside the multi-million-dollar drug ring run by fraternity brothers at the College of Charleston, a conspiracy of Xanax and cocaine that ended in tragedy. A Southern Murder Mystery: Follow the author’s harrowing investigation as he traces a homicide back to the very boys who ran the campus, exposing a cover-up that reached millions of dollars. Elite Fraternity Life: A shocking, unprecedented look behind the closed doors of Greek life, where the sons of the American establishment forge bonds through excess, crime, and secrecy. A Culture of Impunity: With expert pacing and a cool eye, Marshall documents a never-ending party that continues even after funerals and mass arrests, crafting a story that reads like a thriller.

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Eye of the Beholder - Lowell Cauffiel Cover Art

Eye of the Beholder

Eye of the Beholder The Almost Perfect Murder of Anchorwoman Diane Newton King by Lowell Cauffiel

"A fascinating psychological study of an unrepentant murderer" from a New York Times –bestselling author ( Library Journal ). Battle Creek, Michigan, is famous as the birthplace of breakfast cereal, and the nearby suburb of Marshall is as wholesome as shredded wheat. Well-known for its colorful Victorian mansions, this stately slice of nineteenth-century Americana became infamous on a frigid night in February of 1991. Newscaster Diane Newton King was stepping out of her car, her children strapped into the backseat, when a sniper's bullet cut her down. The police assumed that the killer was her stalker—a crazed fan who had been terrorizing King for weeks. But as their investigation ground to a standstill, the police turned to another suspect—one much closer to home.   In this gripping retelling of the crime and its aftermath, journalist Lowell Cauffiel re-creates the atmosphere of terror that marked King's last days, giving us a story of celebrity, obsession, and what it means to kill.

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Cuckoo's Egg - Clifford Stoll Cover Art

Cuckoo's Egg

Cuckoo's Egg by Clifford Stoll

Before the Internet became widely known as a global tool for terrorists, one perceptive U.S. citizen recognized its ominous potential. Armed with clear evidence of computer espionage, he began a highly personal quest to expose a hidden network of spies that threatened national security. But would the authorities back him up? Cliff Stoll's dramatic firsthand account is "a computer-age detective story, instantly fascinating [and] astonishingly gripping" (Smithsonian). Cliff Stoll was an astronomer turned systems manager at Lawrence Berkeley Lab when a 75-cent accounting error alerted him to the presence of an unauthorized user on his system. The hacker's code name was "Hunter"—a mysterious invader who managed to break into U.S. computer systems and steal sensitive military and security information. Stoll began a one-man hunt of his own: spying on the spy. It was a dangerous game of deception, broken codes, satellites, and missile bases—a one-man sting operation that finally gained the attention of the CIA . . . and ultimately trapped an international spy ring fueled by cash, cocaine, and the KGB.

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Donnie Brasco - Joseph D. Pistone Cover Art

Donnie Brasco

Donnie Brasco by Joseph D. Pistone

Posing as jewel thief "Donnie Brasco," FBI agent Joseph D. Pistone carried out the most audacious sting operation ever, working undercover for six years to infiltrate the flamboyant community of mafia soldiers, "connected guys," captains and godfathers. Now his unforgettable eyewitness account brings to pulsating life the entire world of wiseguys—their code of honor and their treachery, their wives, girlfriends and whores, their lavish spending and dirty dealings. With the drama and suspense of a high-tension thriller, Joseph Pistone reveals every incredible aspect of the jealously guarded world he penetrated...and draws a chilling picture of what the mafia is, does, and means in America today.

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Helter Skelter - Vincent Bugliosi & Curt Gentry Cover Art

Helter Skelter

Helter Skelter The True Story of the Manson Murders by Vincent Bugliosi & Curt Gentry

The #1 True Crime Bestseller of All Time—7 Million Copies Sold In the summer of 1969, in Los Angeles, a series of brutal, seemingly random murders captured headlines across America. A famous actress (and her unborn child), an heiress to a coffee fortune, a supermarket owner and his wife were among the seven victims. A thin trail of circumstances eventually tied the Tate-LeBianca murders to Charles Manson, a would-be pop singer of small talent living in the desert with his "family" of devoted young women and men. What was his hold over them? And what was the motivation behind such savagery? In the public imagination, over time, the case assumed the proportions of myth. The murders marked the end of the sixties and became an immediate symbol of the dark underside of that era. Vincent Bugliosi was the prosecuting attorney in the Manson trial, and this book is his enthralling account of how he built his case from what a defense attorney dismissed as only "two fingerprints and Vince Bugliosi." The meticulous detective work with which the story begins, the prosecutor's view of a complex murder trial, the reconstruction of the philosophy Manson inculcated in his fervent followers…these elements make for a true crime classic. Helter Skelter is not merely a spellbinding murder case and courtroom drama but also, in the words of The New Republic, a "social document of rare importance."

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Lying in Wait - Ann Rule Cover Art

Lying in Wait

Lying in Wait Ann Rule's Crime Files: Vol.17 by Ann Rule

In this gripping collection of investigative accounts from her private archives, “America’s best true-crime writer” ( Kirkus Reviews) exposes the most frightening aspect of the murderous mind: the waiting game. Trusted family members or strangers, these cold-blooded killers select their unsuspecting prey, wait for the perfect moment to strike, then turn normality into homicidal mayhem in a matter of moments. Ann Rule will have you seeing the people and places around you with heightened caution as you read these shattering cases, including: • New mothers murdered, their infants kidnapped, in an atrocious baby-selling scheme • The man who kept his criminal past hidden from his wife—and his wife from his mistress—until he coldly disposed of one of them • The beautiful daughter of a State Department official ran away from the privileged world she knew and hitched a ride with a man she didn’t...with fatal consequences • For months, a vicious, rage-filled serial rapist eluded police and terrorized Seattle’s women—when would he strike next, and how far would his violence escalate? • A criminal known for his Houdini-like escapes is serving time for murder in a botched robbery—now the convict is being served dinner in a civilian’s home, where he has one more trick up his sleeve • A long-lost relative who came home to visit, leaving a bloody trail through Washington and Oregon; no one realized how dangerous he and his ladylove were—until it was far too late... With her ability to translate the most complex cases into storytelling “as dramatic and chilling as a bedroom window shattering at night” ( The New York Times ), Rule expertly analyzes the thoughts and deeds of the sociopath, in this seventeenth essential Crime Files volume.

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A Killing in Amish Country - Gregg Olsen & Rebecca Morris Cover Art

A Killing in Amish Country

A Killing in Amish Country Sex, Betrayal, and a Cold-blooded Murder by Gregg Olsen & Rebecca Morris

New York Times bestselling authors Gregg Olsen and Rebecca Morris investigate the 2009 death of an Amish wife and mother found murdered in her own bed. At just 30 years old, with dark-blonde hair and freckles, Barbara Weaver was as pretty as the women depicted on the covers of her favorite "bonnet" stories - romance novels set in Amish America. Barbara had everything she'd ever wanted: five beautiful children, a home, her faith, and a husband named Eli. But while Barbara was happy to live as the Amish have for centuries - without modern conveniences, Eli was tempted by technology: cell phones, the Internet, and sexting. Online he called himself "Amish Stud" and found no shortage of "English" women looking for love and sex. Twice he left Barbara and their children, was shunned, begged for forgiveness, and had been welcomed back to the church. Barb Raber was raised Amish, but is now a Conservative Mennonite. She drove Eli to appointments in her car, and she gave him what he wanted when he wanted: a cell phone, a laptop, rides to his favorite fishing and hunting places, and, most importantly, sex. When Eli starts asking people to kill his wife for him, Barb offers to help. One night, just after Eli had hitched a ride with a group of men to go fishing in the hours before dawn, Barb Raber entered the Weaver house and shot Barbara Weaver in the chest at close range. It was only the third murder in hundreds of years of Amish life in America, and it fell to Edna Boyle, a young assistant prosecutor to seek justice for Barbara Weaver.

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Beautifully Cruel - M. William Phelps Cover Art

Beautifully Cruel

Beautifully Cruel by M. William Phelps

The New York Times bestselling true crime author investigates a shocking case of a wife, mother, and murder in the Iowa suburbs.   Iowa housewife Tracey Pittman Roberts seemed to have it all: natural beauty, three loving children, and a fairy tale second marriage to a wealthy businessman. But beneath the happy façade was a woman who used lies, manipulation, sex, ugly allegations, blackmail—and even murder—to serve her own selfish ends.   On December 13, 2001, police rushed to Tracey’s home after a shooting left her young neighbor dead. Tracey claimed it was an act of self-defense. Nine gunshot wounds—and a decades-long trail of extortion, fabrication, fraud, and intimidation—said otherwise. Ten years after the crime, Tracey’s case finally went to trial in an explosive courtroom showdown. In a searing exploration of the criminal mind, acclaimed investigative journalist M. William Phelps traces the saga of a psychopath who hid in plain sight—until her wicked ways caught up with her.   “Phelps is one of America’s finest true-crime authors.” —Vincent Bugliosi   “Phelps is the Harlan Coben of real-life thrillers.” —Allison Brennan

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Season of Madness - Robert Scott Cover Art

Season of Madness

Season of Madness by Robert Scott

California Nightmare. . . Annette Edwards was a vivacious 19-year-old on her way to watch the Fourth of July fireworks. Eighteen-year-old Pam Moore was a former beauty pageant contestant, hitching a ride on a busy street. Linda Slavik was a young mother enjoying a night out with a friend. Annette Selix was just eleven, an innocent child on her way home from the market. Each of them was attacked without warning, brutally assaulted, and left for dead by a bitter, disfigured man in the grip of a violent frenzy: the so-called "Hilltop Rapist." But serial predator Darrell Rich didn't stop at just four victims. He couldn't stop. . . "Scott tells a true story with compassion and taste." -- Reviewing the Evidence Praise for Robert Scott and Shattered Innocence "Compelling and shocking. . .a ground-breaking book." --Robert K. Tanenbaum "Fascinating and fresh. . .a fast-paced, informative read." --Sue Russell

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The Girl in the Leaves - Robert Scott, Sarah Maynard & Larry Maynard Cover Art

The Girl in the Leaves

The Girl in the Leaves by Robert Scott, Sarah Maynard & Larry Maynard

The shocking true crime story of one of the most bizarre mass murders ever recorded—and the girl who escaped with her life. In the fall of 2010, in the all-American town of Apple Valley, Ohio, four people disappeared without a trace: Stephanie Sprang; her friend, Tina Maynard; and Tina’s two children, thirteen-year-old Sarah and eleven-year-old Kody. Investigators began scouring the area, yet despite an extensive search, no signs of the missing people were discovered. On the fourth day of the search, evidence trickled in about neighborhood “weirdo” Matthew Hoffman. A police SWAT team raided his home and found an extremely disturbing sight: every square inch of the place was filled with leaves and a terrified Sarah Maynard was bound up in the middle of it like some sort of perverted autumn tableau. But there was no trace of the others. Then came Hoffman’s confession to an unspeakable crime that went beyond murder and defied all reason. His tale of evil would make Sarah’s survival and rescue all the more astonishing—a compelling tribute to a young girl’s resilience and courage and to her fierce determination to reclaim her life in the wake of unimaginable trauma.

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A Civil Action - Jonathan Harr Cover Art

A Civil Action

A Civil Action by Jonathan Harr

#1 NATIONAL BESTSELLER • NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD WINNER • The true story of one man so determined to take down two of the nation's largest corporations accused of killing children from water contamination that he risks losing everything.  " The legal thriller of the decade." — Cleveland Plain Dealer Described as “a page-turner filled with greed, duplicity, heartache, and bare-knuckle legal brinksmanship" by The New York Times , A Civil Action is the searing, compelling tale of a legal system gone awry—one in which greed and power fight an unending struggle against justice. Yet it is also the story of how one man can ultimately make a difference.  Representing the bereaved parents, the unlikeliest of heroes emerges: a young, flamboyant Porsche-driving lawyer who hopes to win millions of dollars and ends up nearly losing everything, including his sanity. With an unstoppable narrative power reminiscent of Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood , A Civil Action is an unforgettable reading experience that will leave the reader both shocked and enlightened.   A Civil Action was made into a movie starring John Travolta and Robert Duvall.

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Raging Heart - Sheila Weller Cover Art

Raging Heart

Raging Heart The Intimate Story of the Tragic Marriage of O.J. and Nicole Brown Simpson by Sheila Weller

Raging Heart is so revealing that the book itself became part of the actual O.J. Simpson murder trial.  It is the only book to trace the path of O.J. and Nicole’s fatal love story through the eyes of the people who really knew them. Acclaimed journalist Sheila Weller gained the unprecedented cooperation of Nicole Brown Simpson’s family, and had exclusive access to O.J. and Nicole’s friends who reveal private information here for the first time. Though the story that unfolds in Raging Heart was never fully explored in court, the revelations from its incisive reporting sent shock waves through the trial. Raging Heart is full of explosive information from people who knew, but couldn’t—or wouldn’t—tell their stories on the witness stand.  As vivid as a home movie, Raging Heart is an explicit, heartrending look behind the verdict of the century—and the one book the O.J. Simpson jurors would be astonished to read.

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Who Killed These Girls? - Beverly Lowry Cover Art

Who Killed These Girls?

Who Killed These Girls? Cold Case: The Yogurt Shop Murders by Beverly Lowry

A riveting investigation into the infamous 1991 yogurt shop murders in Austin, Texas, exploring false confessions, overturned convictions, and the enduring mystery behind the savage killing of four teenage girls. Featured in the HBO Documentary Series The Yogurt Shop Murders. “A true-crime page-turner.... Lowry exhausts every possible scenario behind the shocking, unsolved quadruple murder ... and offers a theory on what really happened.” — New York Post "Gripping, moving, and as good as any depiction of a murder case since In Cold Blood .... Brilliant." — Ann Patchett, award-winning, bestselling author The facts are brutally straightforward. On December 6, 1991, the naked, bound-and-gagged, burned bodies of four girls — each one shot in the head — were found in a frozen yogurt shop in Austin, Texas. Grief, shock, and horror overtook the city. But after eight years of misdirected investigations, only two suspects (teenagers at the time of the crime) were tried; their convictions were later overturned and detectives are still working on what is now a very cold case. The story has grown to include DNA technology, coerced false confessions, and other developments in crime and punishment. But this story belongs to the scores of people involved, and from them Beverly Lowry has fashioned a riveting saga that reads like a novel, heart-stopping and thoroughly engrossing.

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Cosa Nostra: A History of the Sicilian Mafia - John Dickie Cover Art

Cosa Nostra: A History of the Sicilian Mafia

Cosa Nostra: A History of the Sicilian Mafia by John Dickie

The Italian-American mafia has its roots in a mysterious and powerful criminal network in Sicily. While the mythology of the mafia has been widely celebrated in American culture, the true origins of its rituals, laws, and methods have never actually been revealed. John Dickie uses startling new research to expose the secrets of the Sicilian mafia, providing a fascinating account that is more violent, frightening, and darkly comic than anything conceived in popular movies and novels. How did the Sicilian mafia begin? How did it achieve its powerful grip in Italy and America? How does it operate today? From the mafia's origins in the 1860s to its current tense relationship with the Berlusconi government, Cosa Nostra takes us to the inner sanctum where few have dared to go before. This is an important work of history and a revelation for anyone who ever wondered what it means to be "made" in the mob.

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And the Sea Will Tell - Vincent Bugliosi Cover Art

And the Sea Will Tell

And the Sea Will Tell by Vincent Bugliosi

"Grips you by the throat from beginning to end."—Cleveland Plain Dealer ALONE WITH HER NEW HUSBAND on a tiny Pacific atoll, a young woman, combing the beach, finds an odd aluminum container washed up out of the lagoon, and beside it on the sand something glitters: a gold tooth in a scorched human skull. The investigation that follows uncovers an extraordinarily complex and puzzling true-crime story. Only Vincent Bugliosi, who recounted his successful prosecution of mass murderer Charles Manson in the bestseller Helter Skelter, was able to draw together the hundreds of conflicting details of the mystery and reconstruct what really happened when four people found hell in a tropical paradise. And the Sea Will Tell reconstructs the events and subsequent trial of a riveting true murder mystery, and probes into the dark heart of a serpentine scenario of death.

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There Will Be Fire - Rory Carroll Cover Art

There Will Be Fire

There Will Be Fire Margaret Thatcher, the IRA, and Two Minutes That Changed History by Rory Carroll

**A Goodreads Choice Awards Nomination for Best History & Biography** **An NPR Book We Love** A race-against-the-clock narrative that finally illuminates a history-changing event: the IRA’s attempt to assassinate Margaret Thatcher and the epic manhunt that followed.     A bomb planted by the Irish Republican Army exploded at 2:54 a.m. on October 12, 1984. It was the last day of the Conservative Party Conference at the Grand Hotel in the coastal town of Brighton, England. Rooms were obliterated, dozens of people wounded, five killed. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was in her suite when the explosion occurred; had she been just a few feet in another direction, flying tiles and masonry would have sliced her to ribbons. As it was, she survived—and history changed.    There Will Be Fire is the gripping story of how the IRA came astonishingly close to killing Thatcher, in the most spectacular attack ever linked to the Northern Ireland Troubles. Journalist Rory Carroll reveals the long road to Brighton, the hide-and-seek between the IRA and British security services, the planting of the bomb itself, and the painstaking search for clues and suspects afterward.     In There Will Be Fire , Carroll draws on his own interviews and original reporting, reveals new information, and weaves together previously unconnected threads. There Will Be Fire is journalistic nonfiction that reads like a thriller, propelled by a countdown to detonation.

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Journey Into Darkness - John E. Douglas & Mark Olshaker Cover Art

Journey Into Darkness

Journey Into Darkness by John E. Douglas & Mark Olshaker

New York Times bestselling author of Mindhunter John Douglas reveals more unique cases from his time as head of the FBI’s elite Investigative Support Unit. In Mindhunter , John Douglas—who headed the FBI’s elite Investigative Support Unit—told the story of his brilliant and terrifying career tracking down some of the most heinous criminals in history. Now, in Journey into Darkness , Douglas profiles vicious serial killers, rapists, and child molesters. He is straightforward, blunt, often irreverent, and outspoken, but takes pains not to glorify any of these murderers. Some of the unique cases Douglas discusses include: -The Clairemont killer -The schoolgirl murders -Richmond’s first serial murderer -The brutal and sadistic murder of Suzanne Marie Collins -Polly Klaas’s abduction and murder by Richard Allen Davis -The tragedy that lead to the creation of Megan’s Law With Journey into Darkness , Douglas provides more than a glimpse into the minds of serial killers; he demonstrates what a powerful weapon behavioral science has become. Profiling criminals not only helps to capture them, but also helps society understand how these predators work and what can be done to prevent them from striking again. Douglas focuses especially on pedophiles and child abductors, fully explaining what drives them, and how to keep children away from them. As he points out, “The best way to protect your children is to know your enemy.” He includes eight rules for safety, a list of steps parents can take to prevent child abduction and exploitation, tips on how to detect sexual exploitation, basic rules of safety for children, and a chart, based on age, which details the safety skills children should have to protect themselves. Journey into Darkness continues the perilous trip into the psyche of the serial killer, but also offers a glimmer of hope that profiling may enable law enforcement to see the indicators of a serial killer’s mind and intervene before he kills, or kills again.

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Deviant - Harold Schechter Cover Art

Deviant

Deviant by Harold Schechter

From the author of “top-drawer true crime” ( Booklist ) books comes the definitive account of Ed Gein—the man whose shocking crimes inspired Psycho , The Texas Chain Saw Massacre , and The Silence of the Lambs . The year was 1957. To his Wisconsin neighbors, Ed Gein was a slight, Midwestern farmhand with a twisted little smile. To an unsuspecting nation, he would become one of the most notorious crime figures in history, having lived for ten years in his own secret world of brutal murder and unthinkable depravity. Here is the grisly true story of “the Butcher of Plainfield,” a deranged killer whose fiendish fantasies inspired such works as Psycho , The Texas Chainsaw Massacre , and The Silence of the Lambs . More horrifying than any movie or novel however, Deviant dares to explore in chilling detail the life and times of one of the most twisted madmen in the annals of true crime—one who still haunts us to this day—and how he transformed his small, nondescript farmhouse in the American heartland into his own private and inescapable domain of ghoulishness and blood.

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A Warrant to Kill - Kathryn Casey Cover Art

A Warrant to Kill

A Warrant to Kill A True Story of Obsession, Lies and a Killer Cop by Kathryn Casey

She tried to tell her friends. She even went to the police. No one would believe her--and now she was dead. Problems had always followed Susan White, but when she remarried and moved to Houston's posh suburbs, she thought the past was behind her--until she met a deputy sheriff named Kent McGowen who would soon become her worst nightmare. McGowen was an aggressive cop with a spotty record. When Susan rebuffed his advances, she claimed he stalked and harassed her, using her troubled teenage son as bait. And then, in an act of arrogance and revenge, he made good on his threats, setting her up for the kill. In A Warrant to Kill, Kathryn Casey meticulously pieces together the tragic shards of the case to create a riveting story of vengeance, fear, and justice--of the terrifying power a badge can have in the wrong hands.

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Bitter Blood - Jerry Bledsoe Cover Art

Bitter Blood

Bitter Blood A True Story of Southern Family Pride, Madness, and Multiple Murder by Jerry Bledsoe

The "riveting" #1 New York Times bestseller: A true story of three wealthy families and the unbreakable ties of blood ( Kirkus Reviews ).   The first bodies found were those of a feisty millionaire widow and her daughter in their posh Louisville, Kentucky, home. Months later, another wealthy widow and her prominent son and daughter-in-law were found savagely slain in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Mystified police first suspected a professional in the bizarre gangland-style killings that shattered the quiet tranquility of two well-to-do southern communities. But soon a suspicion grew that turned their focus to family.   The Sharps. The Newsoms. The Lynches. The only link between the three families was a beautiful, aristocratic young mother named Susie Sharp Newsom Lynch. Could this former child "princess" and fraternity sweetheart have committed such barbarous crimes? And what about her gun-loving first cousin and lover, Fritz Klenner, son of a nationally renowned doctor?   In this tale of three families connected by marriage and murder, of obsessive love and bitter custody battles, Jerry Bledsoe recounts the shocking events that ultimately took nine lives, building to a truly horrifying climax that will leave you stunned.   "Recreates . . . one of the most shocking crimes of recent years." — Publishers Weekly   "Absorbing suspense." — Chicago Tribune   "Astonishing . . . Brilliantly chronicled." — Detroit Free Press   "An engrossing southern gothic sure to delight fans of the true-crime genre. Bledsoe maintains the suspense with a sure hand." — The Charlotte Observer

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A Hunger to Kill - Kim Mager & Lisa Pulitzer Cover Art

A Hunger to Kill

A Hunger to Kill A Serial Killer, a Determined Detective, and the Quest for a Confession That Changed a Small Town Forever by Kim Mager & Lisa Pulitzer

In this fascinating & profoundly chilling account, Detective Kim Mager , a real-life version of Clarice Starling, reveals how she closed in on—and broke—one of Ohio’s most infamous serial killers. On September 13, 2016, in the small town of Ashland, Ohio, emergency dispatchers received a 911 call from a terrified woman who claimed to be kidnapped. The man holding her hostage was Shawn Grate, a serial killer whom the press later dubbed “The Ladykiller.” A key to his conviction and death sentence were Grate’s extensive recorded confessions—all extracted by one woman: Detective Kim Mager. As an experienced specialist in sex offenses, Detective Mager was one of the officers assigned to Grate’s case upon his arrest. Grate immediately latched onto her, repeatedly demanding to speak to her and presumably convinced that he could somehow exercise his power over her in much the same way that he’d overpowered and controlled his female victims. He was wrong. Over a period of eight days, Mager conducted one interview after another, risking her life by sitting alone in the interview room with a malevolent predator. Using brilliant psychological strategy in a lethal game of wits, Mager successfully elicited his damning confessions to five murders, kidnapping, and multiple sexual assaults of women across Ohio. Deeply personal and shocking, A Hunger to Kill takes readers behind the scenes of one of the most appalling criminal cases in American history from the woman who stopped his murderous rampage in collaboration with New York Times bestselling author Lisa Pulitzer.

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Playing With Fire - John Glatt Cover Art

Playing With Fire

Playing With Fire The True Story of a Nurse, Her Husband, and a Marriage Turned Fatal by John Glatt

A beautiful nurse. A lethal injection. A gruesomely charred corpse. Nothing could have shocked the sleepy community of Morgantown, West Virginia, more than the lurid details that surfaced after a house fire claimed the life of Shelly Michael's husband Jimmy. Local authorities suspected possible arson. Then they discovered that Jimmy had been dead before the fire even started—paralyzed by a fatal dose of muscle relaxant… Did Shelly Michael, a respected nurse and mother, kill her second husband and torch her own home? Were the rumors true that she'd had an affair with her husband's employee only two weeks before the murder? Or did she kill Jimmy simply for the insurance money? Charged with first-degree murder and first-degree arson, Shelly would never stop claiming her innocence—even to this day

48

Dark Wire - Joseph Cox Cover Art

Dark Wire

Dark Wire The Incredible True Story of the Largest Sting Operation Ever by Joseph Cox

Written “in the manner of a good crime thriller” ( The Wall Street Journal ), the inside story of the largest law-enforcement sting operation ever, in which the FBI created its own tech start-up to wiretap the world In 2018, a powerful app for secure communications called Anom took root among organized criminals. They believed Anom allowed them to conduct business in the shadows. Except for one thing: It was secretly run by the FBI.      Backdoor access to Anom and a series of related investigations granted American, Australian, and European authorities a front-row seat to the underworld. Tens of thousands of criminals worldwide appeared in full view of the same agents they were trying to evade. International smugglers, money launderers, hitmen: a sprawling illicit global economy as efficient and interconnected as the legal one. Officers watched drug shipments and murder plots unfold, making arrests without blowing their cover.      Featuring a new epilogue with crucial updates to the case,  Dark Wire  reveals the true scale and stakes of this unprecedented operation through the agents and criminals who were there. This is a fly-on-the-wall thriller for the modern world, where no one can be sure who is watching.

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The Peepshow - Kate Summerscale Cover Art

The Peepshow

The Peepshow The Murders at Rillington Place by Kate Summerscale

A New York Times Notable Book • A New York Times Review Editors' Choice • Named a Best Book of the year by FT • Nominated for the Women's prize for nonfiction • Winner of the 2025 ALCS Gold Dagger for Non-fiction “ A trove of thrilling material . . . skillfully examines the racism, sexism, economic privation and class prejudices that permeated postwar England . . . There’s so much to admire in this engaging, deeply researched book. ” —The New York Times Book Review “ An absorbing portrait of post-WWII London .” —Booklist From the Edgar Award–winning author of The Haunting of Alma Fielding , the tale of two journalists competing to solve the notorious Christie murders in postwar London In March 1953, London police discovered the bodies of three young women hidden in a wall at 10 Rillington Place, a dingy rowhouse in Notting Hill. On searching the building, they found another body beneath the floorboards, then an array of human bones in the garden. They launched a nationwide manhunt for the tenant of the ground-floor apartment, a softly spoken former policeman named Reg Christie. But they had already investigated a double murder at 10 Rillington Place three years before, and the killer was hanged. Did they get the wrong man? The story was an instant sensation. The star reporter Harry Procter chased after the scoop on Christie. The eminent crime writer Fryn Tennyson Jesse begged her editor to let her cover the case. To Harry and Fryn, Christie seemed a new kind of murderer: he was vacant, impersonal, a creature of a brutish postwar world. Christie liked to watch women, they discovered, and he liked to kill them. They realized that he might also have engineered a terrible miscarriage of justice. In this riveting true story, Kate Summerscale mines the archives to uncover the lives of Christie’s victims, the tabloid frenzy that their deaths inspired, and the truth about what happened inside the house. What she finds sheds fascinating light on the origins of our fixation with true crime—and suggests a new solution to one of the most notorious cases of the century.

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Hometown Betrayal - Emily Benedek Cover Art

Hometown Betrayal

Hometown Betrayal A Tragic Story of Secrecy and Sexual Abuse in Mormon Country by Emily Benedek

No one believed it could happen in their town. Valarie Clark Miller seemed to have it all. Smart, beautiful, and athletic, with a wealthy, successful husband and growing family, Valarie appeared to be the picture-perfect Mormon wife. But it was all a façade. Inside, she was crumbling from the pressures of long-repressed memories of a childhood plagued with sexual and physical abuse. In Hometown Betrayal , author Emily Benedek brings you behind the closed doors of the remote Mormon community of Clarkston, Utah. With the help of hundreds of individual stories, she pieces together not only what happened to Valarie, but also the conditions and culture that allowed it. Hometown Betrayal culminates in an account of the Miller family’s fight to hold accountable the men—including the local cop-- who abused Valarie and controlled the systems designed to look the other way.

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