Polit- & Justizthriller

With the "gruesome, awesome, compelling reporting" (Ann Rule) that is his trademark, Harold Schechter takes a dark journey into the mind of an unrepentant sadist - and brilliantly lays bare the myth of innocence that shrouded a bygone era.

Step into the uncertain night....with some of the people who know it best. Ladies of the Evening inhabit every city in America. Some are old, some are young. They come in all shapes and sizes and their reasons for doing what they do are as varied as the women themselves. The subject of this book is Prostitution, the definition of which is simple... Prostitution is sex for money. NO, it is not simple.... AMERICAN HOOKER is a glimpse inside that world for 10 different women, each on a different path.....

On November 12, 1971, Bernard Patterson, a much decorated Vietnam War hero turned real-life version of Don Quixote, Butch Cassidy, and Robin Hood all rolled into one, robbed the Northern National Bank in Mars Hill, Maine. He escaped with $110,000; at the time, the largest bank robbery in the history of the state. This was the beginning of a comic, outrageous, implausible journey that took him across the United States, then to Europe and North Africa before finally surrendering to authorities in Scotland Yard after he had spent most of the money.

Violet Hinton started out as a factory worker and put herself through college and law school with the help and support of her husband and four children. She has been an attorney for 23 years and has primarily practiced in the areas of family and criminal law. On a couple of occasions she has found herself out investigating the crime that her client, Ellery Rose, was being accused of. The first time she couldn't get the prosecutor to look at the case and it was dropped. This time, however, she decided to investigate the crime which turned out to be a twist and turn of events. She had read about witches but this was one person who actually thought she was a witch, not just a witch but a black witch. Those around this black witch feared her. After investigating this case it is clear that the Chief of Police was scared of Heather Rose and since no one will pursue her, the State Police must know something that they will not divulge even though the Freedom of Information Act is in place. The prosecutor will not do anything. Either Heather Rose is so evil that she made everyone fear her, or they know that she is 6-foot under as the Chief of Police said that she should be killed. The only way to bring this danger out to the public is to write the story of what occurred back in January 1996. Yes it happened in Battle Creek, Michigan but she could be anywhere now, maybe living next to you.

The story of how two Derry GAA supporters returning from Croke Park were killed by loyalist paramilitaries operating an illegal checkpoint on a country road in South Armagh.

In 1885, W. T. Stead published an account of a girl of thirteen being sold by her mother to a brothel where her virginity would be highly prized. The story of the GBP5 virgin was a sensation, one of the greatest scandals of the Victorian era. But soon the story began to unravel...

From Simon & Schuster, The Good Detective is a collection of truce case histories from the confidential files of Hal Lipset, America's real-life Sam Spade.For almost 50 years, Hal Lipset has covered some 20, 000 cases, including the recent Polly Klaas California kidnap-murder. Provided here by Patricia Holt, one of Lipset's investigators during the '70s, these cases read like the best crime fiction.

On June 22, 1978, Melvin Lorenz, his wife, Linda, and son, Richard, were killed near Purcell, Oklahoma. Twenty-four days later, on July 16, six employees of a Sirloin Stockade Restaurant in southwest Oklahoma City were herded into a freezer and shot to death. Hundreds of law enforcement members worked for eight months to track down the killers. In October and November 1979, Roger Dale Stafford was convicted of first degree murder of nine people. However, he was not executed until 1995. This murder story coming from the heart of Oklahoma deserves to be told. It includes the behind-the-scenes perspective of law enforcement officers involved.Eighty-one-year-old Jean Stover has wanted to tell this story ever since she first heard her nephew speak about the murders in the late 1970s. "His description of the events and the search for the killers intrigued me and I kept thinking about writing a book to let others know about the struggles to find and convict the killers." A retired teacher, she lives in Oklahoma City.

This Edgar Award finalist tells the incredible story of the group of survivors that found the courage to speak out against Ronnie Shelton, Cleveland's West Side Rapist, and the long road to justice. For five years, Ronald Shelton terrified the women of the West Side of Cleveland as he spied on them, invaded their most intimate moments, and entered their homes with one whispered statement: "Don't look at me. Do what I say and you won't get hurt…" Now, his victims share their stories of seeking justice and healing after years of bureaucratic red tape and paralyzing city budget cuts prolonged the search for this twisted serial abuser, who turned out to be the same low-level criminal brought in to the police a dozen times for assault, probation violations, and bar brawls, but never for his most brutal offense. Based on interviews with survivors, police, psychiatrists, and Ronnie Shelton, Unfinished Murder probes the contradictory mind of a sex offender to determine what went wrong and why the warning signs of Shelton's disturbing behavior went unnoticed for so long.

In Money To Burn, Michael Mewshaw tells the story of tobacco heiress Margaret Benson and two of her children in 1985 who were victims of a car bombing.A year after the bombings, Margaret's surviving son was sentenced to life imprisonment for the murders. Mewshaw tells the story of what may have been a travesty of justice resulting in the conviction of an innocent man.