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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Killer Bodies - Michael Fleeman Cover Art

Killer Bodies

Killer Bodies A Glamorous Bodybuilding Couple, a Love Triangle, and a Brutal Murder by Michael Fleeman

A look behind the 2005 Las Vegas murder that ended a love triangle between a bodybuilding couple and their personal assistant. He was the "bad boy" of bodybuilding . . . Craig Titus once earned the championship title of Mr. USA, but that was before his illegal drug use and terrible temper got the best of his body—and his career. Soon he would redirect his attention toward a young, bubbly fitness professional who looked up to Craig as a mentor . . . and later became his wife. She was a cover girl for muscle magazines . . . Kelly Ryan quickly rose to the top of her field. She appeared on the cover of Ironman magazine's swimsuit issue and was named Ms. Fitness America. A crowd favorite, her fans were shocked to learn that Kelly had been taken into custody, along with Craig, on charges of murder. The victim: the couple's personal assistant, Melissa James. Their bodies were to die for . . . Did Craig have a romantic relationship with Melissa? And did Kelly find out about—and force Craig to put a deadly end to their affair? When Melissa's corpse was found in the back of Kelly's Jaguar, police made an arrest. Now, the burning question that remains is: Is America's favorite celebrity bodybuilding couple guilty as charged? With this shocking exposé, author Michael Fleeman attempts to find out. Please note: This ebook edition does not contain the photos found in the print edition.

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Inside the Cartel - Martin Suarez & Ian Frisch Cover Art

Inside the Cartel

Inside the Cartel How an Undercover FBI Agent Smuggled Cocaine, Laundered Cash, and Dismantled a Colombian Narco-Empire by Martin Suarez & Ian Frisch

“Truth is always stranger than fiction. . . A stunning, riveting and extraordinary real-life story of life in the shadows." –#1 International Bestselling Author Don Winslow The gripping true story, that reads like fiction, of how legendary FBI Special Agent Martin Suarez went deep undercover—and lived a double-life for years—to infiltrate Colombia's most insidious drug cartels. Martin Suarez, a legend within the FBI who specialized in Colombian drug cartels, holds the record for the longest time spent continuously undercover. As his alter ego Manny, Martin followed the unspoken rules of the cartels: He knew the right lingo to use, the right whiskey to drink, the right watch to wear, the wrong questions to ask. He smuggled over $1 billion worth of cocaine into the United States for the Medellín Cartel and, as his cover deepened, he graduated to become a high-level money launderer for the North Coast Cartel. He helped wash tens of millions of dollars worth of drug money, ensnaring himself in a high-stakes game of cat and mouse while simultaneously exposing the Black Market Peso Exchange, the most insidious money laundering apparatus in the world that involved billionaire bankers, blue-chip American corporations, and even the President of Colombia himself. Martin was raised by a father who served in the military and valorized the nobility of the FBI, and Martin stopped at nothing to allow his father to live vicariously through his son. He wanted nothing more than to make his father proud—and to be a good husband to his wife, and a loving father to his two young sons. He became a man caught between two worlds—that of an undercover agent who wanted to rid the world of its evils, but also that of a family man who was trying not to lose himself in this dark, brutal underworld that captivated the globe during the War on Drugs. And yet his worlds begin to collide as danger creeps dangerously close to his doorstep when his cover is blown and a cartel-hired sicario comes hunting for him. Inside the Cartel is told with the pulse-racing action of a Hollywood blockbuster. This is the story of Suarez and his time undercover and how maintaining the trust of hardened criminals can start to tear away at even the most principled soldier.

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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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End of Days - Chris Jennings Cover Art

End of Days

End of Days Ruby Ridge, the Apocalypse, and the Unmaking of America by Chris Jennings

“A riveting and thoroughly researched chronicle...reminiscent of Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood. ”   — The New York Times Book Review The gripping story of the Ruby Ridge siege, showing how the historic standoff between federal agents and a white-separatist family set the stage for the conspiracy-laced politics of the Trump era. “Vivid, frightening, and fascinating…This book blew me away and opened my eyes.”—Walter Isaacson, author of The Code Breaker and Elon Musk   On August 21, 1992, shots rang out while federal agents were surveilling a cabin in Boundary County, Idaho as part of an operation to arrest Randy Weaver—a reclusive, mountain-dwelling survivalist—for failure to appear in court on a gun charge. When Weaver finally surrendered to the authorities eleven days later, his wife, son, and dog lay dead, as did a US Marshal. Ever since, America has been trying to make sense of what happened on Ruby Ridge. Today, the question could not be more urgent, as the shock waves from Ruby Ridge have amplified and compounded, cracking the very foundations of our democracy.    In End of Days , Chris Jennings explains the significance of this historic siege by setting the story of the Weaver family within the long history of apocalyptic Christianity in the United States, illuminating the ways in which that faith has gradually transformed the nation. The strain of doomsday Christianity that gripped the Weavers, he shows, was grounded in a particular reading of biblical prophecy that can be traced back to the 1870s and up through the twentieth-century rise of Christian fundamentalism to the right-wing conspiracism that now defines American society and politics. The events at Ruby Ridge acted as an accelerant for this spreading worldview, and are essential to understanding the crisis that our nation confronts today.

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

Filthy Rich

Filthy Rich The Jeffrey Epstein Story by James Patterson, John Connolly & Tim Malloy

Now a #1 Netflix documentary series. Get the full shocking story about billionaire pedophile Jeffrey Epstein in this #1 New York Times bestselling and definitive book. Jeffrey Epstein rose from humble origins into the New York City and Palm Beach elite. A college dropout with an instinct for numbers — and for people — Epstein amassed his wealth through a combination of access and skill. But even after he had it all, Epstein wanted more. That unceasing desire — and especially a taste for underage girls — resulted in sexual-abuse charges, to which he pleaded guilty and received a shockingly lenient sentence. Included here are police interviews with girls who have alleged sexual abuse by Epstein, details of the investigation against him, and a new introduction with up-to-the-minute developments on the case, including Epstein's death by suicide. An explosive true story from the world's most popular thriller writer, Filthy Rich is a riveting tale of wealth, power, and the easy price of justice for America's wealthiest citizens.

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Dig Me a Grave - Richard A. Harpootlian & Shaun Assael Cover Art

Dig Me a Grave

Dig Me a Grave The Inside Story of the Serial Killer Who Seduced the South by Richard A. Harpootlian & Shaun Assael

The definitive true “Southern Gothic” account of the life, crimes, conviction, and execution of Donald “Pee Wee” Gaskins, the charismatic, brutal, well-liked, remorseless South Carolina serial killer who was dubbed the Charles Manson of the South—written by the prosecutor who brought him to justice. Of the hundreds of murder cases that noted South Carolina attorney Dick Harpootlian has prosecuted, one in particular haunts him. Donald “Pee Wee” Gaskins was a serial killer and rapist, a master manipulator who claimed to have killed over 100 people and is known to have murdered over a dozen, including a toddler, and his own teenage niece. Yet it was on Death Row that he pulled off his most audacious murder—killing another inmate with a military grade explosive. As personable as he was ruthless, Pee Wee defied easy categories. He killed to avenge minor slights as well as for pleasure, using any convenient method—including stabbing, shooting, poison, suffocation, and drowning. Evidence suggested he forced at least one victim to dig his own grave, stand in it, and be shot. With escalating callousness, Pee Wee murdered acquaintances, friends, family members, and strangers. Yet within his North Charleston community he was well-liked—a family man who took neighborhood kids to the beach and hosted cookouts. Ice-cold within but outwardly charming, he joked with judges, reporters, and Harpootlian himself, but didn’t hesitate to hatch a plot to kidnap the prosecutor’s daughter in order to extort an escape. Dig Me a Grave  is a haunting look at a prolific, remorseless killer, as well as a provocative exploration of justice and the death penalty.

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A Killing in Cannabis - Scott Eden Cover Art

A Killing in Cannabis

A Killing in Cannabis A True Story of Love, Murder, and California Weed by Scott Eden

“A deeply reported literary nonfiction masterpiece.”—Wright Thompson Santa Cruz is one of the country’s surf meccas and a favored getaway of the Silicon Valley elite. For decades, marijuana has been cultivated, consumed, and trafficked in these mountains, one of the most important regions in the country for the crop. It's where Ken Kelsey threw his wild parties, where back-to-the-land types came to live off the grid, and where Tushar Atre, Silicon Valley entrepreneur, was found brutally murdered. Charismatic, ambitious, arrogant, and rich, Atre was the leader among a clutch of tech execs with a voracious appetite for risk, work, and money, riding waves at dawn and then putting in fourteen-hour days. When he met Rachel Lynch, a maverick cannabis grower and mover of product, he had a vision of how their lives could come together in business and in love. Atre sought to disrupt the newly legal cannabis trade by funding a start-up with black-market capital. This illegal pursuit would entangle him with an array of colorful and dangerous characters, many of whom had compelling reasons to want him dead.  Award-winning journalist Scott Eden’s panoramic investigation exposes the symbiotic relationship between the legal weed business and its shadowy, black-market counterpart as the prohibition era ends and the gold rush takes off. It is a story of love, greed, and betrayal, set in a world where visionaries, hippies, masters of the universe, and stone-cold killers are all stakeholders, eager to exploit the power of the plant. 

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Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil - John Berendt Cover Art

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt

THE LANDMARK NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER, NOW A MAJOR MUSICAL COMING SOON TO BROADWAY • An enormously engaging portrait of a most beguiling Southern city: “Elegant and wicked.... [This] might be the first true-crime book that makes the reader want to book a bed and breakfast for an extended weekend at the scene of the crime." — The New York Times Book Review • 30th Anniversary Edition with a New Afterword by the Author. Shots rang out in Savannah's grandest mansion in the misty,early morning hours of May 2, 1981. Was it murder or self-defense? For nearly a decade, the shooting and its aftermath reverberated throughout this hauntingly beautiful city of moss-hung oaks and shaded squares. John Berendt's sharply observed, suspenseful, and witty narrative reads like a thoroughly engrossing novel, and yet it is a work of nonfiction. Berendt skillfully interweaves a hugely entertaining first-person account of life in this isolated remnant of the Old South with the unpredictable twists and turns of a landmark murder case. It is a spellbinding story peopled by a gallery of remarkable characters: the well-bred society ladies of the Married Woman's Card Club; the turbulent young redneck gigolo; the hapless recluse who owns a bottle of poison so powerful it could kill every man, woman, and child in Savannah; the aging and profane Southern belle who is the "soul of pampered self-absorption"; the uproariously funny black drag queen; the acerbic and arrogant antiques dealer; the sweet-talking, piano-playing con artist; young blacks dancing the minuet at the black debutante ball; and Minerva, the voodoo priestess who works her magic in the graveyard at midnight. These and other Savannahians act as a Greek chorus, with Berendt revealing the alliances, hostilities, and intrigues that thrive in a town where everyone knows everyone else. Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil is a sublime and seductive reading experience. Brilliantly conceived and masterfully written, this true-crime book has become a modern classic.

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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 Fort Bragg Cartel opens like a nonfiction thriller and never lets up. A page-turning investigation into the dark side of our forever wars.” —Steve Coll, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Ghost Wars and Directorate S 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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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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Chasing Evil - Robert Hilland & John Edward Cover Art

Chasing Evil

Chasing Evil Shocking Crimes, Supernatural Forces, and an FBI Agent’s Search for Hope and Justice by Robert Hilland & John Edward

How a skeptical FBI agent reached out to a famous psychic for help on a baffling case – and the twenty-five-year crime-solving journey that followed NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER AND A LIBRARY JOURNAL BEST BOOK OF 2025 In the summer of 1998, FBI agent Bob Hilland reluctantly picked up the phone to call the famous psychic John Edward. Bob didn’t expect much from the call, but he was working on an unsolvable cold case and had nowhere else to turn. What Bob never imagined was that the call would lead to a shattering of all his preconceived notions, a huge break in the cold case, and an unlikely crime-solving partnership that spanned twenty-five years. As Bob and John took on more cases together, they slowly learned how to rely on each other and trust their skills, ultimately finding not only justice for the crimes they solved, but resolution and healing in their own lives. Centering on the investigation of the gruesome John Smith murders that rocked the nation, Chasing Evil is a heart-stopping story of murder, justice, and finding help in unexpected places.

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Starvation Heights - Gregg Olsen Cover Art

Starvation Heights

Starvation Heights A True Story of Murder and Malice in the Woods of the Pacific Northwest by Gregg Olsen

In this true story—a haunting saga of medical murder set in an era of steamships and gaslights—Gregg Olsen reveals one of the most unusual and disturbing criminal cases in American history. In 1911 two wealthy British heiresses, Claire and Dora Williamson, arrived at a sanitorium in the forests of the Pacific Northwest to undergo the revolutionary “fasting treatment” of Dr. Linda Burfield Hazzard. It was supposed to be a holiday for the two sisters, but within a month of arriving at what the locals called Starvation Heights, the women underwent brutal treatments and were emaciated shadows of their former selves. Claire and Dora were not the first victims of Linda Hazzard, a quack doctor of extraordinary evil and greed. But as their jewelry disappeared and forged bank drafts began transferring their wealth to Hazzard’s accounts, the sisters came to learn that Hazzard would stop at nothing short of murder to achieve her ambitions.

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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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The Girl on the Velvet Swing - Simon Baatz Cover Art

The Girl on the Velvet Swing

The Girl on the Velvet Swing Sex, Murder, and Madness at the Dawn of the Twentieth Century by Simon Baatz

The true crime story of the Gilded Age revenge killing that shocked New York City and the world—from a New York Times –bestselling author. "A terrifically entertaining work of popular history: swiftly paced, richly evocative, engrossing from the first page." — Wall Street Journal In 1901 Evelyn Nesbit, a sixteen-year-old chorus girl in the musical  Florodora , dined alone with the architect Stanford White in his town house on 24th Street in New York City. White was forty-seven, the foremost architect of his day, and a celebrity responsible for designing numerous landmark buildings in Manhattan. That evening, after drinking champagne, Nesbit lost consciousness and awoke to find herself naked in bed with White, who had raped her. Evelyn spoke of it to no one until, sever years later, she confided in Harry Thaw, the millionaire playboy who would become her husband. Thaw, thirsting for revenge, shot and killed White in 1906 before hundreds of theatergoers during a performance at Madison Square Garden. The trial was a sensation that gripped the nation. Most Americans agreed that Thaw was justified in killing White, but the city's district attorney expected to send him to the electric chair. Evelyn Nesbit's testimony was so explicit and shocking that President Theodore Roosevelt himself called on the newspapers not to print it. The Girl on the Velvet Swing is a tale of glamour, excess, and danger—an immersive, fascinating look at the murder that made the Gilded Age and the trial that shocked the world. "Baatz has resurrected a forgotten saga of lust, lucre and lunacy that would seem improbable if it were merely fiction. . . . This true-life theater is packed with action [and] surprises." ―David Holahan,  USA Today "Simon Baatz has written a wickedly enjoyable book that enthralled me from start to finish. This multifaceted tale, rendered with an expert's touch, encompasses the aspirations and vices of an entire era." ―Laurence Bergreen, author of Capone

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Molly's Game - Molly Bloom Cover Art

Molly's Game

Molly's Game The True Story of the 26-Year-Old Woman Behind the Most Exclusive, High-Stakes Underground Poker Game in the World by Molly Bloom

Now a major motion picture, written and directed by Aaron Sorkin and starring Jessica Chastain, Idris Elba, Kevin Costner, and Michael Cera—the true story of "Hollywood’s poker princess" who gambled everything, won big, then lost it all. Molly Bloom reveals how she built one of the most exclusive, high-stakes underground poker games in the world for the Hollywood elite and Wall Street titans—an insider’s story of excess and danger, glamour and greed. In the late 2000s, Molly Bloom, a twentysomething petite brunette from Loveland Colorado, ran the highest stakes, most exclusive poker game Hollywood had ever seen—she was its mistress, its lion tamer, its agent, and its oxygen. Everyone wanted in, few were invited to play. Hundreds of millions of dollars were won and lost at her table. Molly’s game, the subject of a major FBI investigation, became the game for those in the know—celebrities, business moguls, and millionaires. Molly staged her games in palatial suites with beautiful views and exquisite amenities. She flew privately, dined at exclusive restaurants, hobnobbed with the heads of Hollywood studios, was courted by handsome leading men, and was privy to the world’s most delicious gossip, until it all came crashing down around her. This riveting true crime memoir, Molly’s Game , is a behind the scenes look at Molly’s game, the life she created, the life she lost, and what she learned in the process. How did a small-town girl from Colorado build a secret empire for the Hollywood elite and Wall Street titans—and what did it cost her? High-Stakes Poker: Go inside the ultra-exclusive, underground games where celebrities, moguls, and millionaires won and lost hundreds of millions of dollars in a single night. A-List Celebrities: Get a front-row seat to the secret lives of the rich and famous, with jaw-dropping stories about the most recognizable names in Hollywood and on Wall Street. An Insider's Story: From palatial suites to private jets, Molly Bloom reveals the intoxicating world of glamour, excess, and greed she built from nothing. The Ultimate Downfall: Discover what happened when it all came crashing down, turning Hollywood’s poker princess into the target of a massive organized crime investigation.

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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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Dark Tide - Edna Cowell Martin & Megan Atkinson Cover Art

Dark Tide

Dark Tide Growing Up With Ted Bundy by Edna Cowell Martin & Megan Atkinson

Including never-before-seen photos and handwritten letters from Bundy, Dark Tide ’s message is as gut-wrenching as it is clear, asking the question: how well do we know those we trust most? Edna’s world turned upside down when her close cousin, Ted Bundy, was linked to the gruesome murders that had plagued her hometown of Seattle. Both devastating and dangerous, she reveals her journey of discovering the truth about her cousin who was more like a sibling, a man she loved, admired, and thought she knew so well. Edna delves into the unbelievable and chilling episodes she experienced, from confronting Ted and discovering a side of him she never suspected to waking to the FBI at her door after he escaped jail. Whether searching memories for signs she’d missed or detailing scenes of life under the radar in a world still fixated on her cousin, Edna’s account tells the Ted Bundy story from a critical, new perspective: someone who called him family.

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The Stranger Beside Me: Ted Bundy: The Shocking Inside Story - Ann Rule Cover Art

The Stranger Beside Me: Ted Bundy: The Shocking Inside Story

The Stranger Beside Me: Ted Bundy: The Shocking Inside Story by Ann Rule

Utterly unique in its astonishing intimacy, as jarringly frightening as when it first appeared, Ann Rule's The Stranger Beside Me defies our expectation that we would surely know if a monster lived among us, worked alongside of us, appeared as one of us. With a slow chill that intensifies with each heart-pounding page, Rule describes her dawning awareness that Ted Bundy, her sensitive coworker on a crisis hotline, was one of the most prolific serial killers in America. He would confess to killing at least thirty-six young women from coast to coast, and was eventually executed for three of those cases. Drawing from their correspondence that endured until shortly before Bundy's death, and striking a seamless balance between her deeply personal perspective and her role as a crime reporter on the hunt for a savage serial killer -- the brilliant and charismatic Bundy, the man she thought she knew -- Rule changed the course of true-crime literature with this unforgettable chronicle.

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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

Instant #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  “A mesmerizing read and a great detective story, yet sadly all true…With their book The Idaho Four , James Patterson and Vicky Ward have written perhaps the definitive account of the murders—a disturbing, necessary portrait of a killer and his victims.” — Guardian “New revelations…James Patterson and Vicky Ward reveal new details and attempt to lift the veil of secrecy that has shrouded the Idaho college murders case for more than two years.” — Good Morning America “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 “A lot of brand-new reporting. Clears up a number of mysteries.” — Morning Joe The murders of four innocent college students attending the University of Idaho left us all with so many questions. Now, after more than 300 interviews, James Patterson and prize-winning journalist Vicky Ward finally have the answers. We know what it was like to live in Moscow, Idaho, on November 13, 2022, the day of the cold-blooded killings. We know what the local police and FBI did right. And what they did wrong. We’ve learned so much about the four heartbroken families—the Mogens, Goncalveses, Kernodles, and Chapins. And we have the backstory for Bryan Kohberger, brilliant grad student, loner, apparent incel. Now you are the jury. The evidence is in. You’ve watched the Prime documentary,  One Night in Idaho , now read the “clearest profile yet of the twisted quadruple killer and his motives” ( New York Post ).

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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 Empire of Pain— 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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Hell's Half-Acre - Susan Jonusas Cover Art

Hell's Half-Acre

Hell's Half-Acre The Untold Story of the Benders, a Serial Killer Family on the American Frontier by Susan Jonusas

One of NPR's "Books We Love" New York Times Book Review's "The Best True Crime of 2022" "Rich in historical perspective and graced by novelistic touches, grips the reader from first to last.” —Wall Street Journal A suspense filled tale of murder on the American frontier—shedding new light on a family of serial killers in Kansas, whose horrifying crimes gripped the attention of a nation still reeling from war. In 1873 the people of Labette County, Kansas made a grisly discovery. Buried by a trailside cabin beneath an orchard of young apple trees were the remains of countless bodies. Below the cabin itself was a cellar stained with blood. The Benders, the family of four who once resided on the property were nowhere to be found. The discovery sent the local community and national newspapers into a frenzy that continued for decades, sparking an epic manhunt for the Benders.   The idea that a family of seemingly respectable homesteaders—one among the thousands relocating farther west in search of land and opportunity after the Civil War—were capable of operating "a human slaughter pen" appalled and fascinated the nation. But who the Benders really were, why they committed such a vicious killing spree and whether justice ever caught up to them is a mystery that remains unsolved to this day. Set against the backdrop of postbellum America, Hell’s Half-Acre explores the environment capable of allowing such horrors to take place. Drawing on extensive original archival material, Susan Jonusas introduces us to a fascinating cast of characters, many of whom have been previously missing from the story. Among them are the families of the victims, the hapless detectives who lost the trail, and the fugitives that helped the murderers escape.   Hell’s Half-Acre is a journey into the turbulent heart of nineteenth century America, a place where modernity stalks across the landscape, violently displacing existing populations and building new ones. It is a world where folklore can quickly become fact and an entire family of criminals can slip through a community’s fingers, only to reappear in the most unexpected of places.

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Save Our Souls - Matthew Pearl Cover Art

Save Our Souls

Save Our Souls The True Story of a Castaway Family, Treachery, and Murder by Matthew Pearl

INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER From the bestselling author of The Taking of Jemima Boone , the unbelievable true story of a real-life Swiss Family Robinson (and their dog) who faced sharks, shipwreck, and betrayal in this gripping work of narrative nonfiction. On December 10, 1887, a shark fishing boat disappeared. On board the doomed vessel were the Walkers—the ship’s captain Frederick, his wife Elizabeth, their three teenage sons, and their dog—along with the ship’s crew. The family had spotted a promising fishing location when a terrible storm arose, splitting their vessel in two and leaving those onboard adrift on the perilous sea. When the castaways awoke the next morning, they discovered they had been washed ashore—on an island inhabited by a large but ragged and emaciated man who introduced himself as Hans. Hans appeared to have been there for a while and could quickly educate the Walkers and their crew on the island’s resources. But Hans had a secret . . . and as the Walker family gradually came to learn more, what seemed like a stroke of luck to have the mysterious man’s assistance became something ominous, something darker in this incredible survival story. Like David Grann and Stacy Schiff, Matthew Pearl unveils one of the most incredible yet little-known historical true stories of 19th-century adventure, and the only known instance in history of an actual family of castaways. Save Our Souls asks us to consider who we might become if we found ourselves trapped on a deserted island. A True Story of Survival at Sea: Follows the Walker family—a captain, his wife, their three sons, and their dog—as a violent storm splits their vessel in two, leaving them at the mercy of the unforgiving Pacific. Deserted Island Mystery: After washing ashore, their hopes are raised by a mysterious castaway named Hans. But his secrets and strange behavior soon turn their miraculous rescue into something far more sinister. Shipwreck and Betrayal: Based on an unbelievable but little-known historical event, this chronicle of endurance explores the dark side of human nature when all rules of society disappear. Meticulously Researched History: Perfect for fans of David Grann and Stacy Schiff, this immersive account unveils the only known instance of a real-life family of castaways surviving against all odds.

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Final Vows - Karen Kingsbury Cover Art

Final Vows

Final Vows Murder, Madness, and Twisted Justice in California by Karen Kingsbury

A New York Times –bestselling author and former Los Angeles Times reporter chronicles the marriage between a Christian woman and an ex-con that ends in murder.   When Carol Montecalvo began writing to a man in prison through a program at her church, she considered it her Christian duty. But the letters soon became her lifeline, something she actually looked forward to sending and receiving. She fell in love with the man behind the letters and just before Dan was released, they wed in the prison chapel. Their marriage lasted nine years, until the fateful night when Dan stoically called 911 to report his wife's murder.   With a half-million dollar insurance policy riding on his wife's death, and a string of adulterous affairs in his past, Dan is the most obvious suspect. But is this former felon really guilty? Or could he actually be a grieving widower, in the wrong place at the wrong time?   In this powerful true crime account of the gruesome murder and sensational trial that followed, New York Times –bestselling author Karen Kingsbury weaves an emotional story that leaves readers guessing until the final, harrowing conclusion.

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Tangled Vines - Frances Dinkelspiel Cover Art

Tangled Vines

Tangled Vines Greed, Murder, Obsession, and an Arsonist in the Vineyards of California by Frances Dinkelspiel

On October 12, 2005, a massive fire broke out in the Wines Central wine warehouse in Vallejo, California. Within hours, the flames had destroyed 4.5 million bottles of California's finest wine worth more than $250 million, making it the largest destruction of wine in history. The fire had been deliberately set by a passionate oenophile named Mark Anderson, a skilled con man and thief with storage space at the warehouse who needed to cover his tracks. With a propane torch and a bucket of gasoline-soaked rags, Anderson annihilated entire California vineyard libraries as well as bottles of some of the most sought-after wines in the world. Among the priceless bottles destroyed were 175 bottles of Port and Angelica from one of the oldest vineyards in California made by Frances Dinkelspiel's great-great grandfather, Isaias Hellman, in 1875. Sadly, Mark Anderson was not the first to harm the industry. The history of the California wine trade, dating back to the 19th Century, is a story of vineyards with dark and bloody pasts, tales of rich men, strangling monopolies, the brutal enslavement of vineyard workers and murder. Five of the wine trade murders were associated with Isaias Hellman's vineyard in Rancho Cucamonga beginning with the killing of John Rains who owned the land at the time. He was shot several times, dragged from a wagon and left off the main road for the coyotes to feed on. In her new book, Frances Dinkelspiel looks beneath the casually elegant veneer of California's wine regions to find the obsession, greed and violence lying in wait. Few people sipping a fine California Cabernet can even guess at the Tangled Vines where its life began.

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The Housemaid - Taylor A. Pierce Cover Art

The Housemaid

The Housemaid The True Story of How Domestic Intimacy Becomes a Weapon, Power Distorts Trust, and Secrets Turn Deadly by Taylor A. Pierce

The Housemaid The True Story of How Domestic Intimacy Becomes a Weapon, Power Distorts Trust, and Secrets Turn Deadly Every house tells a story. Some just hide it better. The Housemaid enters a space that appears orderly—clean counters, quiet hallways, familiar routines—and listens for what moves beneath the surface. It is a story about proximity: about how closeness can be engineered, how trust can be manufactured, and how power thrives most easily where it claims to be harmless. At the center is a domestic arrangement built on silence. The work is ordinary. The access is total. And the imbalance is absolute. As boundaries blur between service and belonging, observation becomes obligation, and intimacy—once mistaken for safety—reveals itself as leverage. This book does not rush toward shock. It traces how control accumulates slowly, how secrets are protected by politeness, and how violence often arrives wearing the language of care. The danger here is not chaos, but order—systems that function exactly as designed, leaving no visible rupture until it is too late. The Housemaid is a study of power at its most private. Of homes that are not neutral spaces. And of what happens when the person who sees everything is never meant to be believed. This is not a story about a house that went wrong. It is a story about a house that worked.

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Quest for Love - Anneke Lucas Cover Art

Quest for Love

Quest for Love Memoir of a Child Sex Slave by Anneke Lucas

Memoir of a trafficked girl, during a year-long, turbulent relationship with a charming, 20-year old gangster who initially protects her. Once she falls for him, she is soon cast into abject betrayal and violence, leading to her certain demise. A last-minute change of heart has the gangster negotiate for her release from the trafficking ring. His directives for her survival enable her to remain out of the street life and ultimately, to heal and thrive.

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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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Rogues - Patrick Radden Keefe Cover Art

Rogues

Rogues True Stories of Grifters, Killers, Rebels and Crooks by Patrick Radden Keefe

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the award-winning author of Empire of Pain and Say Nothing —and one of the most decorated journalists of our time—twelve enthralling true stories of skulduggery and intrigue "An excellent collection of Keefe's detective work, and a fine introduction to his illuminating writing." —NPR “Fast-paced...Keefe is a virtuoso storyteller." — The Washington Post Patrick Radden Keefe has garnered prizes ranging from the National Magazine Award to the Orwell Prize to the National Book Critics Circle Award for his meticulously-reported, hypnotically-engaging work on the many ways people behave badly. Rogues brings together a dozen of his most celebrated articles from The New Yorker . As Keefe says in his preface “They reflect on some of my abiding preoccupations: crime and corruption, secrets and lies, the permeable membrane separating licit and illicit worlds, the bonds of family, the power of denial.” Keefe brilliantly explores the intricacies of forging $150,000 vintage wines, examines whether a whistleblower who dared to expose money laundering at a Swiss bank is a hero or a fabulist, spends time in Vietnam with Anthony Bourdain, chronicles the quest to bring down a cheerful international black market arms merchant, and profiles a passionate death penalty attorney who represents the “worst of the worst,” among other bravura works of literary journalism. The appearance of his byline in The New Yorker is always an event, and collected here for the first time readers can see his work forms an always enthralling but deeply human portrait of criminals and rascals, as well as those who stand up against them.

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I Heard You Paint Houses - Charles Brandt Cover Art

I Heard You Paint Houses

I Heard You Paint Houses Frank "The Irishman" Sheeran & Closing the Case on Jimmy Hoffa by Charles Brandt

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER: This classic true crime account about the mafia hitman who claims he killed Jimmy Hoffa inspired Scorsese’s epic gangster movie, The Irishman . Now updated with substantial post-publication corroboration of Sheeran’s confessions to the killings of Jimmy Hoffa and Joey Gallo. “I heard you paint houses” are the first words Jimmy Hoffa ever spoke to Frank “the Irishman” Sheeran. To paint a house is to kill a man. The paint is the blood that splatters on the walls and floors. In the course of nearly 5 years of recorded interviews, Frank Sheeran confessed to Charles Brandt that he handled more than 25 hits for the mob, and for his friend Hoffa. He also provided intriguing information about the Mafia’s role in the murder of JFK. Sheeran learned to kill in the US Army, where he saw an astonishing 411 days of active combat duty in Italy during World War II. After returning home he became a hustler and hit man, working for legendary crime boss Russell Bufalino. Eventually Sheeran would rise to a position of such prominence that in a RICO suit the US government would name him as one of only 2 non-Italians in conspiracy with the Commission of La Cosa Nostra, alongside the likes of Anthony “Tony Pro” Provenzano and Anthony “Fat Tony” Salerno.  When Bufalino ordered Sheeran to kill Hoffa, the Irishman did the deed, knowing that if he had refused he would have been killed himself. Charles Brandt’s page-turner has become a true crime classic.   “Sheeran’s confession that he killed Hoffa . . . is supported by the forensic evidence . . . and solves the Hoffa mystery.”  — Michael Baden M.D., former Chief Medical Examiner of the City of New York

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American Kingpin - Nick Bilton Cover Art

American Kingpin

American Kingpin The Epic Hunt for the Criminal Mastermind Behind the Silk Road by Nick Bilton

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER. The unbelievable true story of the man who built a billion-dollar online drug empire from his bedroom—and almost got away with it   In 2011, a twenty-six-year-old libertarian programmer named Ross Ulbricht launched the ultimate free market: the Silk Road, a clandestine Web site hosted on the Dark Web where anyone could trade anything—drugs, hacking software, forged passports, counterfeit cash, poisons—free of the government’s watchful eye.   It wasn’t long before the media got wind of the new Web site where anyone—not just teenagers and weed dealers but terrorists and black hat hackers—could buy and sell contraband detection-free. Spurred by a public outcry, the federal government launched an epic two-year manhunt for the site’s elusive proprietor, with no leads, no witnesses, and no clear jurisdiction. All the investigators knew was that whoever was running the site called himself the Dread Pirate Roberts.   The Silk Road quickly ballooned into $1.2 billion enterprise, and Ross embraced his new role as kingpin. He enlisted a loyal crew of allies in high and low places, all as addicted to the danger and thrill of running an illegal marketplace as their customers were to the heroin they sold. Through his network he got wind of the target on his back and took drastic steps to protect himself—including ordering a hit on a former employee. As Ross made plans to disappear forever, the Feds raced against the clock to catch a man they weren’t sure even existed, searching for a needle in the haystack of the global Internet. Drawing on exclusive access to key players and two billion digital words and images Ross left behind, Vanity Fair correspondent and New York Times bestselling author Nick Bilton offers a tale filled with twists and turns, lucky breaks and unbelievable close calls. It’s a story of the boy next door’s ambition gone criminal, spurred on by the clash between the new world of libertarian-leaning, anonymous, decentralized Web advocates and the old world of government control, order, and the rule of law. Filled with unforgettable characters and capped by an astonishing climax, American Kingpin might be dismissed as too outrageous for fiction. But it’s all too real.

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Blood Aces - Doug J. Swanson Cover Art

Blood Aces

Blood Aces The Wild Ride of Benny Binion, the Texas Gangster Who Created Vegas Poker by Doug J. Swanson

The astonishing story of Benny Binion—a rip-roaring saga of murder, money, and the making of Las Vegas   Benny Binion was many things: a cowboy, a pioneering casino owner, a gangster, a killer, and founder of the hugely successful World Series of Poker.   Blood Aces tells the story of Binion’s crucial role in shaping modern Las Vegas. From a Texas backwater, Binion rose to prominence on a combination of vision, determination, and brutal expediency. His formula was simple: run a good business, cultivate the big boys, kill your enemies, and own the cops.   Through a mix of cold-bloodedness, native intelligence, folksiness, and philanthropy, Binion became one of the most revered figures in the history of gambling, and his showmanship, shrewdness, and violence would come to dominate the Vegas scene.   Veteran journalist Doug J. Swanson uses once-secret government documents and dogged reporting to show how Binion destroyed his rivals and outsmarted his adversaries—including J. Edgar Hoover.   As fast paced as any thriller, Blood Aces tells a story that is unmatched in the annals of American criminal justice, a vital yet untold piece of this country’s history.

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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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The Snakehead - Patrick Radden Keefe Cover Art

The Snakehead

The Snakehead An Epic Tale of the Chinatown Underworld and the American Dream by Patrick Radden Keefe

In this thrilling panorama of real-life events, the bestselling author of Empire of Pain investigates a secret world run by a surprising criminal: a charismatic middle-aged grandmother, who from a tiny noodle shop in New York’s Chinatown managed a multi-million dollar business smuggling people. “Reads like a mashup of The Godfather and Chinatown , complete with gun battles, a ruthless kingpin and a mountain of cash. Except that it’s all true.” — Time   Keefe reveals the inner workings of Sister Ping’s complex empire and recounts the decade-long FBI investigation that eventually brought her down. He follows an often incompetent and sometimes corrupt INS as it pursues desperate immigrants risking everything to come to America, and along the way, he paints a stunning portrait of a generation of illegal immigrants and the intricate underground economy that sustains and exploits them. Grand in scope yet propulsive in narrative force, The Snakehead is both a kaleidoscopic crime story and a brilliant exploration of the ironies of immigration in America.

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The Sinatra Club - Sal Polisi Cover Art

The Sinatra Club

The Sinatra Club My Life Inside the New York Mafia by Sal Polisi

An “exhilarating trip through Italian American Mafia history” ( Publishers Weekly , starred review) this is Sal Polisi’s riveting and darkly hilarious chronicle of the inner workings and larger-than-life characters inside the New York Mob. The Mob was the biggest, richest business in America…until it was destroyed from within by drugs, greed, and the decline of its traditional crime Family values. And by guys like Sal Polisi. As a member of New York’s feared Colombo Family, Polisi ran The Sinatra Club, an illegal after-hours gambling den that was a magic kingdom of crime and a hangout for up-and-coming mobsters like John Gotti and the three wiseguys immortalized in Martin Scorsese’s GoodFellas —Henry Hill, Jimmy Burke, and Tommy DeSimone. But the nonstop thrills of Polisi’s criminal glory days abruptly ended when he was busted for drug trafficking. Already sickened by the bloodbath that engulfed the Mob as it teetered toward extinction, he flipped and became one of a breed he had loathed all his life—a rat. In this shocking, pulse-pounding, and, at times, darkly hilarious first-person chronicle, he paints a never-before-seen picture of a larger-than-life secret underworld that, thanks to guys like him, no longer exists.

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Yellow Bird - Sierra Crane Murdoch Cover Art

Yellow Bird

Yellow Bird Oil, Murder, and a Woman's Search for Justice in Indian Country by Sierra Crane Murdoch

PULITZER PRIZE FINALIST • The gripping true story of a murder on an Indian reservation, and the unforgettable Arikara woman who becomes obsessed with solving it—an urgent work of literary journalism. “I don’t know a more complicated, original protagonist in literature than Lissa Yellow Bird, or a more dogged reporter in American journalism than Sierra Crane Murdoch.”—William Finnegan, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Barbarian Days In development as a Paramount+ original series WINNER OF THE OREGON BOOK AWARD • NOMINATED FOR THE EDGAR® AWARD • NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The New York Times Book Review • NPR • Publishers Weekly When Lissa Yellow Bird was released from prison in 2009, she found her home, the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation in North Dakota, transformed by the Bakken oil boom. In her absence, the landscape had been altered beyond recognition, her tribal government swayed by corporate interests, and her community burdened by a surge in violence and addiction. Three years later, when Lissa learned that a young white oil worker, Kristopher “KC” Clarke, had disappeared from his reservation worksite, she became particularly concerned. No one knew where Clarke had gone, and few people were actively looking for him.   Yellow Bird traces Lissa’s steps as she obsessively hunts for clues to Clarke’s disappearance. She navigates two worlds—that of her own tribe, changed by its newfound wealth, and that of the non-Native oilmen, down on their luck, who have come to find work on the heels of the economic recession. Her pursuit of Clarke is also a pursuit of redemption, as Lissa atones for her own crimes and reckons with generations of trauma. Yellow Bird is an exquisitely written, masterfully reported story about a search for justice and a remarkable portrait of a complex woman who is smart, funny, eloquent, compassionate, and—when it serves her cause—manipulative. Drawing on eight years of immersive investigation, Sierra Crane Murdoch has produced a profound examination of the legacy of systematic violence inflicted on a tribal nation and a tale of extraordinary healing.

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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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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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Prescription for Pain - Philip Eil Cover Art

Prescription for Pain

Prescription for Pain How a Once-Promising Doctor Became the "Pill Mill Killer" by Philip Eil

An obsessive true crime investigation of a bizarre and unlikely perpetrator, who’s serving the opioid epidemic’s longest term for illegal prescriptions — four life sentences Written in the tradition of I'll Be Gone in the Dark and True Crime Addict , combining Dopesick's heart rending portrayal of the epidemic's victims with Empire of Pain's examination of its perpetrators This haunting and propulsive debut follows a journalist’s years-long investigation into his father's old classmate: former high school valedictorian Paul Volkman, who once seemed destined for greatness after earning his MD and his PhD from the prestigious University of Chicago, but is now serving four consecutive life sentences at a federal prison in Arizona. Volkman was the central figure in a massive “pill mill” scheme in southern Ohio. His pain clinics accepted only cash, employed armed guards, and dispensed a torrent of opioid painkillers and other controlled substances. For nearly three years, Volkman remained in business despite raids by law enforcement and complaints from patients’ family members. Prosecutors would ultimately link him to the overdose deaths of 13 patients, though investigators explored his ties to at least 20 other deaths. This groundbreaking book is based on 12 years of correspondence and interviews with Volkman. Eil also traveled to 19 states, interviewed more than 150 people, and filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the Drug Enforcement Administration that led to the release of nearly 20,000 pages of trial evidence. The American opioid epidemic is, like this book, a true crime story. Through this one doctor’s story, an era of unfathomable tragedy is brought down to a tangible, and devastating, human scale.

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The Last Kilo - T. J. English Cover Art

The Last Kilo

The Last Kilo Willy Falcon and the Cocaine Empire That Seduced America by T. J. English

“T.J. English hits the bullseye again. This is true crime writing at its most gripping and immediate — a riveting epic about crooked cops, lawyers, prosecutors, judges, and politicians who corrupted a continent and got snow to flow out of the tropics. The Last Kilo is a revelation.” —Nicholas Pileggi, author of Goodfellas and Casino From true-crime legend T. J. English, the epic, behind-the-scenes saga of “Los Muchachos,” one of the most successful cocaine trafficking organizations in American history—a story of glitz, glamour, and organized crime set against 1980’s Miami crime. Despite what Scarface might lead one to believe, violence was not the dominant characteristic of the cocaine business. It was corruption: the dirty cops, agents, lawyers, judges, and politicians who made the drug world go round. And no one managed that carousel of dangerous players better than Willy Falcon. A Cuban exile whose family escaped Fidel Castro’s Cuba when he was eleven years old, Falcon, as a teenager, became active in the anti-Castro movement. He began smuggling cocaine into the U.S. as a way to raise money to buy arms for the Contras in Central America. This counter-revolutionary activity led directly to Willy’s genesis as a narco. He and his partners built an extraordinary international organization from the ground up. Los Muchachos, the syndicate founded by Falcon, thrived as a major cocaine distribution network in the U.S. from the late 1970’s into the early 1990’s. At their height, Los Muchachos made more than a hundred million dollars a year. At the same time, Willy, his brother Tavy Falcon, and partner Sal Magluta became famous as championship powerboat racers. Cocaine, used by everyone from A-list celebrities to lawyers and people in law enforcement, came to define an era, and for a time, Willy Falcon and those like him—major suppliers, of whom there were only a few—became stars in their own right. They were the deliverers of good times, at least until the downside of persistent cocaine use became apparent: delusions of grandeur, psychological addiction, financial ruin. Thus, the War on Drugs was born, and federal authorities came after Falcon and his crew with a vengeance. Willy found himself on the run, his marriage and family life in shambles, the halcyon days of boat races and lavish trips to Vegas and parties at the Mutiny night club seemingly a distant memory. T. J. English has been granted unprecedented access to the inner workings of Los Muchachos, sitting down with Willy Falcon and his associates for many lengthy interviews, and revealing never-before-understood details about drug trafficking. A classic of true-crime writing from a master of the genre,  The Last Kilo  traces the rise and fall of a true cocaine empire—and the lives left in its wake. This definitive true crime account reveals: A Narco Empire: Based on unprecedented access and lengthy interviews with Willy Falcon himself, revealing never-before-understood details about his organization, Los Muchachos. The Real Miami Vice: Step into the world of A-list celebrities, championship powerboat racers, and the infamous Mutiny night club, all fueled by a tidal wave of cocaine in the 1980s. A Story of Corruption: Discover the dirty cops, agents, lawyers, judges, and politicians who made the drug world go round—and how Willy Falcon managed them all. The War on Drugs: Go inside the federal takedown of Falcon and his crew, a sprawling investigation that marked the end of an era of glitz, glamour, and excess.

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The Perfect Father - John Glatt Cover Art

The Perfect Father

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

In The Perfect Father , New York Times bestselling author John Glatt reveals the tragedy of the Watts family, whose seemingly perfect lives played out on social media—but the truth would lead to a vicious and heartbreaking murder. In the early morning hours of August 13th, 2018, Shanann Watts was dropped off at home by a colleague after returning from a business trip. It was the last time anyone would see her alive. By the next day, Shanann and her two young daughters, Bella and Celeste, had been reported missing, and her husband, Chris Watts, was appearing on the local news, pleading for his family’s safe return. But Chris Watts already knew that he would never see his family again. Less than 24 hours after his desperate plea, Watts made a shocking confession to police: he had strangled his pregnant wife to death and smothered their daughters, dumping their bodies at a nearby oil site. Heartbroken friends and neighbors watched in shock as the movie-star handsome, devoted family man they knew was arrested and charged with first degree murder. The mask Chris had presented to the world in his TV interviews and the family’s Facebook accounts was slipping—and what lay beneath was a horrifying image of instability, infidelity, and boiling rage. In this first major account of the case, bestselling author and journalist John Glatt reveals the truth behind the tragedy and constructs a chilling portrait of one of the most shocking family annihilator cases of the 21st century.

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The Moscow Rules - Antonio Mendez & Jonna Mendez Cover Art

The Moscow Rules

The Moscow Rules The Secret CIA Tactics That Helped America Win the Cold War by Antonio Mendez & Jonna Mendez

A “devilishly fun” ( New York Times Book Review ) account of a deadly serious business: the undercover spies and the tactics they developed to survive the Cold War in Moscow, from legendary former-CIA operatives. Antonio Mendez and his future wife Jonna were CIA operatives working to spy on Moscow in the late 1970s, at one of the most dangerous moments in the Cold War. Soviets kept files on all foreigners, studied their patterns, and tapped their phones. Intelligence work was effectively impossible. The Soviet threat loomed larger than ever. The Moscow Rules tells the story of the intelligence breakthroughs that turned the odds in America's favor. As experts in disguise, Antonio and Jonna were instrumental in developing a series of tactics -- Hollywood-inspired identity swaps, ingenious evasion techniques, and an armory of James Bond-style gadgets -- that allowed CIA officers to outmaneuver the KGB. As Russia again rises in opposition to America, this remarkable story is a tribute to those who risked everything for their country, and to the ingenuity that allowed them to succeed.

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Framed - John Grisham & Jim Mccloskey Cover Art

Framed

Framed Astonishing True Stories of Wrongful Convictions by John Grisham & Jim Mccloskey

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “The master of the legal thriller” (Associated Press) teams up with “the godfather of the innocence movement” ( Texas Monthly ) to share ten harrowing true stories of wrongful convictions. “Each of these stories is told with astonishing power.”—David Grann, author of Killers of the Flower Moon “Gripping . . . compelling . . . What makes [ Framed ] important reading isn’t the shock value advertised in the title. It’s the exposure of the infuriating, recurrent factors involved in so many unrighteous convictions.”— The Washington Post John Grisham is known worldwide for his bestselling novels, but it’s his real-life passion for justice that led to his work with Jim McCloskey of Centurion Ministries, the first organization dedicated to exonerating innocent people who have been wrongly convicted. Together they offer an inside look at the many injustices in our criminal justice system. A fundamental principle of our legal system is a presumption of innocence, but once someone has been found guilty, there is very little room to prove doubt. These ten true stories shed light on Americans who were innocent but found guilty and forced to sacrifice friends, families, and decades of their lives to prison while the guilty parties remained free. In each of the stories, John Grisham and Jim McCloskey recount the dramatic hard-fought battles for exoneration. They take a close look at what leads to wrongful convictions in the first place and the racism, misconduct, flawed testimony, and corruption in the court system that can make them so hard to reverse. Impeccably researched and told with page-turning suspense as only John Grisham can deliver, Framed is the story of winning freedom when the battle already seems lost and the deck is stacked against you. Look for John Grisham’s forthcoming legal thriller, The Widow . This time, the verdict isn’t the end of the story.

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Long Haul - Frank Figliuzzi Cover Art

Long Haul

Long Haul Hunting the Highway Serial Killers by Frank Figliuzzi

"A true-crime masterpiece." —Don Winslow A Mystery Writers of America Edgar Award Finalist (Best Fact Crime) From the FBI’s former assistant director, a shocking journey to the dark side of America’s highways, revealing the FBI Highway Serial Killings Initiative’s hunt for the long-haul truckers behind an astonishing 850 murders–and counting. In 2004, the FBI was tipped off to a gruesome pattern of unsolved murders along American roadways. Today at least 850 homicides have been linked to a solitary breed of predators: long-haul truck drivers. They have been given names like the “Truck Stop Killer,” who rigged a traveling torture chamber in the rear of his truck and is suspected to have killed fifty women, and “The Interstate Strangler,” who once answered a phone call from his mother while killing one of his dozen victims. The crisis was such that the FBI opened a special unit, the Highway Serial Killings Initiative. In many cases, the victims—often at-risk women—are picked up at truck stops in one jurisdiction, sexually assaulted and murdered in another, and dumped along a highway in a third place. The transient nature of the offenders and multiple jurisdictions involved make these cases incredibly difficult to solve. Based on his own on-the-ground research and drawing on his twenty-five-year career as an FBI special agent, Frank Figliuzzi investigates the most terrifying cases. He also rides in a big-rig with a long-haul trucker for thousands of miles, gaining an intimate understanding of the life and habits of drivers and their roadside culture. And he interviews the courageous trafficked victims of these crimes, and their inspiring efforts to now help others avoid similar fates. Long Haul is a gripping exploration of a violent, disordered world hiding in plain sight, and the heroes racing to end the horror. It will forever unsettle how you travel on the road. Shortlisted for four 2025 True Crime Awards

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American Serial Killers - Gordon Kerr Cover Art

American Serial Killers

American Serial Killers They Just Can't Stop by Gordon Kerr

Serial killers are real-life monsters existing on the very edge of society and preying on its weakest members. This book investigates American serial killers and their fiendish crimes such as H.H.Holmes America's first serial killer, Henry Lee Lucas the one-eyed drifter who was also the most prolific of all American serial killers, and the Colombian-born serial killer Pedro Alonso López who stalked and killed little girls across South America. And many more – evil violent men murdering for thrills in America ... unable to stop themselves. Contents: North America: Herman Mudgett aka H.H.Holmes, Albert Fish, The Lonely Hearts Killers,The Boston Strangler, Charles Manson, Ed Kemper, Ted Bundy, Son of Sam, The Hillside Stranglers, Clifford Olson, Henry Lee Lucas and Ottis Toole, Tommy Lynn Sells, Cary Stayner. South America: Pedro Alonso López, Luis Alfredo Garavito Cubillos, Adolfo de Jesús Constanzo, Juana Barraza

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Typhoid Mary - Anthony Bourdain Cover Art

Typhoid Mary

Typhoid Mary An Urban Historical by Anthony Bourdain

From the host of Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown and bestselling author of Kitchen Confidential comes the true, thrilling story of Mary Mallon, otherwise known as the infamous Typhoid Mary. This is a tale of pursuit through the kitchens of New York City at the turn of the century. By the late nineteenth century, it seemed that New York City had put an end to the outbreaks of typhoid fever that had so frequently decimated the city's population. That is until 1904, when the disease broke out in a household in Oyster Bay, Long Island. Authorities suspected the family cook, Mary Mallon, of being a carrier. But before she could be tested, the woman, soon to be known as Typhoid Mary, had disappeared. Over the course of the next three years, Mary worked at several residences, spreading her pestilence as she went. In 1907, she was traced to a home on Park Avenue, and taken into custody. Institutionalized at Riverside Hospital for three years, she was released only when she promised never to work as a cook again. She promptly disappeared. For the next five years Mary worked in homes and institutions in and around New York, often under assumed names. In February 1915, a devastating outbreak of typhoid at the Sloane Hospital for Women was traced to her. She was finally apprehended and reinstitutionalized at Riverside Hospital, where she would remain for the rest of her life. Typhoid Mary is the story of her infamous life. Anthony Bourdain reveals the seedier side of the early 1900s, and writes with his renowned panache about life in the kitchen, uncovering the horrifying conditions that allowed the deadly spread of typhoid over a decade. Typhoid Mary is a true feast for history lovers and Bourdain lovers alike.

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Loyalty & Betrayal - Mike Enemigo & Armando Ibarra Cover Art

Loyalty & Betrayal

Loyalty & Betrayal by Mike Enemigo & Armando Ibarra

Chunky was an associate of and soldier for the notorious Mexican Mafia -- La Eme. That is, of course, until he was betrayed by those he was most loyal to.  Then he vowed to become their worst enemy. Though they've attempted to kill him numerous times, he still to this day is running around making a mockery of their organization . . . This is the story of how it all began.

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The Life of John Wesley Hardin (Illustrated) - John Wesley Hardin Cover Art

The Life of John Wesley Hardin (Illustrated)

The Life of John Wesley Hardin (Illustrated) by John Wesley Hardin

In an era and an area notable for badmen and gunslingers, John Wesley Hardin was perhaps the most notorious. Considered by many of his contemporaries to be almost illiterate, he nevertheless left for publication after his death in 1895 this autobiography, which, though biased, is remarkably accurate and readable.

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A Dark Room in Glitter Ball City - David Dominé Cover Art

A Dark Room in Glitter Ball City

A Dark Room in Glitter Ball City Murder, Secrets, and Scandal in Old Louisville by David Dominé

This true crime saga—with an eccentric Southern backdrop—introduces the reader to the story of a murder in a crumbling Louisville mansion and the decades of secrets and corruption that live within the old house’s walls. On June 18, 2010, police discover a body buried in the wine cellar of a Victorian mansion in Old Louisville. James Carroll, shot and stabbed the year before, has lain for 7 months in a plastic storage bin—his temporary coffin. Homeowner Jeffrey Mundt and his boyfriend, Joseph Banis, point the finger at each other in what locals dub The Pink Triangle Murder. On the surface, this killing appears to be a crime of passion, a sordid love tryst gone wrong in a creepy old house. But as author David Dominé sits in on the trials, a deeper story emerges: the struggle between hope for a better future on the one hand and the privilege and power of the status quo on the other.   As the court testimony devolves into he-said/he-said contradictions, David draws on the confidences of neighbors, drag queens, and other acquaintances within the city's vibrant LGBTQ community to piece together the details of the case. While uncovering the many past lives of the mansion itself, he enters a murky underworld of gossip, neighborhood scandal, and intrigue.

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Fatal Friends, Deadly Neighbors - Ann Rule Cover Art

Fatal Friends, Deadly Neighbors

Fatal Friends, Deadly Neighbors Ann Rule's Crime Files Volume 16 by Ann Rule

#1 New York Times bestselling author and queen of true crime Ann Rule’s sixteenth volume in her True Crime Files series, Deadly Neighbors delves into the unsolved case of a billionaire’s son mysteriously falling off a balcony to his death and more. In July 2011, billionaire Jonah Shacknai’s Coronado, California, mansion was the setting for two horrifying deaths only days apart—his young son’s plunge from a balcony and his girlfriend’s ghastly hanging. What really happened? Baffling questions remain unanswered, as these cases were closed far too soon for hundreds of people; Rule looks at them now through the eyes of a relentless crime reporter. The second probe began in Utah when Susan Powell vanished in a 2009 blizzard. Her controlling husband, Josh, proved capable of a blind rage that was heartbreakingly fatal to his innocent small sons almost three years later in a tragedy that shocked America as the details unfolded. If anyone had detected the depth of depravity within Josh Powell, perhaps the family that loved and trusted him would have been saved. In these and seven other riveting cases, Ann Rule exposes the twisted truth behind the façades of Fatal Friends, Deadly Neighbors. These doomed relationships are the focus of queen of true crime Ann Rule’s sixteenth all-new Crime Files collection. In these shattering inside views of both headlined and little-known homicides, Rule speaks for vulnerable victims who relied on the wrong people. She begins with two startling novella-length investigations.

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