Polit- & Justizthriller

But those who knew Theo Durrant denied that this highly respectable young man could have had anything to do with these horrible crimes. The young man who committed these two apparently motiveless murders was depicted by the popular press at the time as a monster, a devil in disguise, only pretending to be religious.

Prison Break thrillingly describes a phenomenon as old as imprisonment itself. For despite the evermore sophisticated technology of surveillance and security equipment, the escapee will always find the weakest link.

In the idyllic country village used to film Midsomer Murders, it was the real-life murder story that shocked 1920 Britain.

This book explicitly chronicles 40 cases of unsolved murders and disappearances over a period of more than 160 years, tracing the evolution of criminal investigation and forensic techniques.

Organized crime and the mob figures who run it have long captured the imagination of the American public, appearing since the early twentieth century as characters in a host of popular books, movies, and television programs.

In an era that witnessed the rise of celebrity outlaws like Baby Face Nelson, Pretty Boy Floyd, and Bonnie and Clyde, John Dillinger was the most famous and flamboyant of them all. Reports on the man and his misdeeds--spiced with accounts of his swashbuckling bravado and cool daring--provided an America worn down by the Great Depression with a salacious mix of sex and violence that proved irresistible.In Dillinger's Wild Ride, Elliott J. Gorn provides a riveting account of the year between 1933 and 1934, when the Dillinger gang pulled over a dozen bank jobs, and stole hundreds of thousands of dollars. A dozen men--police, FBI agents, gangsters, and civilians--lost their lives in the rampage, and American newspapers breathlessly followed every shooting and jail-break. As Dillinger's wild year unfolded, the tale grew larger and larger in newspapers and newsreels, and even today, Dillinger is the subject of pulp literature, serious poetry and fiction, and films, including a new movie starring Johnny Depp. What is the power of his story? Why has it lingered so long? Who was John Dillinger? Gorn illuminates the significance of Dillinger's tremendous fame and the endurance of his legacy, arguing that he represented an American fascination with primitive freedom against social convention. Dillinger's story has much to tell us about our enduring fascination with outlaws, crime and violence, about the complexity of our transition from rural to urban life, and about the transformation of America during the Great Depression.Dillinger's Wild Ride is a compulsively readable story with an unforgettable protagonist.

“No writer better articulates ourinterest in the confluence of hope, eccentricity, and the timelessness of the bold and strange than Paul Collins.”—DAVE EGGERS On Long Island, a farmer finds a duck pond turned red with blood. On the Lower East Side, two boys playing at a pier discover a floating human torso wrapped tightly in oilcloth. Blueberry pickers near Harlem stumble upon neatly severed limbs in an overgrown ditch. Clues to a horrifying crime are turning up all over New York, but the police are baffled: There are no witnesses, no motives, no suspects. The grisly finds that began on the afternoon of June 26, 1897, plunged detectivesheadlong into the era’s most baffling murder mystery. Seized upon by battling media moguls Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst, the case became a publicity circus. Reenactments of the murder were staged in Times Square, armed reporters lurked in the streets of Hell’s Kitchen in pursuit of suspects, and an unlikely trio—a hard-luck cop, a cub reporter, and an eccentric professor—all raced to solve the crime. What emerged was a sensational love triangle and an even more sensational trial: an unprecedented capital case hinging on circumstantial evidence around a victim whom the police couldn’t identify with certainty, and who the defense claimed wasn’t even dead. The Murder of the Century is a rollicking tale—a rich evocation of America during the Gilded Age and a colorful re-creation of the tabloid wars that have dominated media to this day.

In 1983 Calvin Johnson Jr was handed down a life sentence for rape and related crimes. He spent sixteen years behind bars before he was freed in 1999 after DNA testing conclusively proved him not guilty. This book tells the unforgettable story of Johnson's unrelenting quest for justice against incredible odds and offers many lessons about freedom.

In 1573 there occurred a murder which would leave today's tabloid editors salivating. But the obsession is not new, as this book shows in vivid and exciting detail. John Bellamy's new book provides a fascinating view of life in Tudor England and offers a new angle on our love affair with murder as a literary form.

Here, Gibson takes a look at ten notorious serial killers, their crimes, their victims, and their communications to uncover the hidden clues into the minds of these unusual and dangerous people. What compels a serial killer to leave a crime scene message or to call the police to discuss their crimes?

She argues that the rich and famous may kill for the same reasons as others, but they receive vastly different treatment and are often able to get away with murder. Homicide by the rich and famous is not new in this country, nor is fascination with the crimes committed by our most revered citizens.

This thought-provoking collection of interviews provides an insight into the multi-faceted issue of victims. Topics include personal accounts, support and survival and voices for reform. Also discussed are organisations that provide assistance to victims.

As a pharmacist turned lawyer turned master prohibition era bootlegger, George Remus is remembered as one of the notorious figures of the American prohibition. This biography tells the story of Remus' private life and public persona, focusing especially on the rise and fall of his bootlegging kingdom.

When Caroline Roberts accepted a job at 25 Cromwell Street, the infamous address of Fred and Rose West, she was only 16. Realising that there was something very malevolent about the couple, she left their employment soon after, glad to be rid of them. The story should have ended there. A month later she was abducted by the Wests and suffered viole

The founder of the Celtic Soccer Crew sets the record straight and his life straight in one gripping memoir.

The transition from petty crime to armed robbery may seem unthinkable to some, but for a young boy from the east end of Glasgow it was an almost inevitable progression. Growing up surrounded by a hard and sometimes violent culture, Jimmy Cryans' criminal career began with the theft of a pair of die and ended in jail time.

This eye-opening book uses the case of Ted Bundy to show how a case against a serial killer is investigated, how problems common to such cases are overcome, and how the prosecution team marshals and presents the evidence at trial.

Levi Bellfield was one of the most notorious killers of his time. His crimes, his dramatic trials at the Old Bailey, plus the stories of his young victims and the devastating impact on their families are examined in detail in this chilling study of the violent deaths and danger to innocent young girls at the hands of a total strange.

'Gripping ... A highly intense and enjoyable read.' Rolling Stone

MORE THAN THIRTY MURDERS, NINE FUGITIVES, AND ONE OBSESSED MANIn this thrilling and fascinating account of Frank Bender and his work, readers will be drawn into the cases he has solved, the intricacies of his art, the colorful characters he encounters, and the personal cost of his strange obsession. Through breathtakingly realistic sculptures, Frank Bender reconstructs the faces of the missing and the dead based in part on forensic science, and in part on deep intuition, an uncanny ability to discern not only a missing face but also the personality behind it.His skills have led to the solving of many murders and other serious crimes, and have given faces to the victims, including the infamous case of the feminicidios-in which hundreds of murdered women were found outside Juarez, Mexico.With a conclusion as shocking as its story is gripping, The Girl with the Crooked Nose will haunt readers long after the last page is turned."A compelling glimpse into a gruesome profession."-Simon Winchester, author of The Professor and the Madman"Frank Bender is one of the unsung heroes of crime detection . . . In an original and highly readable nonfiction thriller, this book brims with authenticity and the complexities of crime-solving procedurals . . . [A] fascinating story of a brilliant forensic artist's quest to solve some of the most baffling murder cases ever. It is exceptional crime writing that is timely and informative."-Tucson Citizen"Action-packed . . . Botha's work relays Bender's surprising conclusions about the case and imparts more information about reconstructing the faces of the dead than most readers will expect." -Booklist"[A] crackling account of a quirky, maverick forensics artist, Frank Bender, and his largely successful efforts in facial reconstruction of murder victims . . . What is extraordinary is Botha's writing, with his unerring depiction of Bender's painstaking work and the eventual unraveling of the brutal crimes it solves . . . The tales in this book accurately capture the dark motives and complexities of senseless murder, and even the most savvy true crime reader will not be able to resist the author's insightful storytelling."-Publishers Weekly

Rape has been perpetrated throughout history and worldwide, and today ours has been called a rape culture, because sexual violence, mainly against women and children, is prevalent and tolerated to some extent.

Recently, the National Center for Victims of Crime reported annual figures showing 103,845 children were sexually abused, while in that same year there was a 20% increase in all rape incidents and a 33% increase in sexual assaults.

The legendary Jack the Ripper murdered as many as ten women between the years of 1887 and 1891 in the East End of London. The debate over his true identity has never been resolved. This unbiased history of the various suspects, including two women, will give any reader a grounding on which to make an informed decision on the identity. Suspects include influential artist Walter Sickert, children's author Lewis Carroll, Randolph Henry Spencer Churchill (father of Winston Churchill), and others ranging from doctors and politicians to wandering lunatics. The encyclopedic entries provide such features as major events and other biographical data in a suspect's life, a complete case chronology for particular suspects, and an analysis of the theories. The entries describe the research and reasons that have contributed to the suspect's positive or negative candidacy as a viable suspect. Within these pages may lie the true Jack the Ripper--the author places all the available facts before the reader.

OPRAH'S BOOK CLUB PICK 2022"When I think about the fact that society, a nation, has sentenced me to death, all I can do is turn inside myself, to the place in my heart that wants so desperately to feel human, still connected to this world, as if I have a purpose."The moving memoir of a Death Row inmate who discovers Buddhism and becomes an inspirational role model for fellow inmates, guards, and a growing publicIn 1990, while serving a sentence in San Quentin for armed robbery, Jarvis Jay Masters was implicated as an accessory in the murder of a prison guard. A 23-year-old Black man, Jarvis was sentenced to death in the gas chamber. While in the maximum security section of Death Row, using the only instrument available to him--a ball-point pen filler--Masters's astounding memoir is a testament to the tenacity of the human spirit and the talent of a fine writer.Offering us scenes from his life that are at times poignant, revelatory, frightening, soul-stirring, painful, funny and uplifting, That Bird Has My Wings tells the story of the author's childhood with parents addicted to heroin, an abusive foster family, a life of crime and imprisonment, and the eventual embracing of Buddhism. Masters's story drew the attention of luminaries in the world of American Buddhism, including Pema Chodron, who wrote a story about him for O Magazine and offers a foreword to the book.Thirty-two years after his conviction, Masters is still on Death Row. A growing movement of people believe Masters is innocent, and are actively working within the legal system to free him.

The full story behind Britain's biggest manhunt.

A harrowing and heart-wrenching story, the murder of Rachel Moran will stay with you forever.

"With the style and pacing of a good novel...should become a standard in the genre."-Publishers Weekly

Offers brutally honest accounts of police work during the late 1960s and 1970s. In this first book of a trilogy, the author takes the reader through his early police service and in the second book Fifty Shades of Black 'n' Blue, his later years.

A vain man of good looks but no family ties to the Mob, Vincent "Vinny Gorgeous" Basciano worked his way up to acting boss of the Bonanno crime family, becoming its leader when official boss Joseph Massino went to prison in 2003. When the Mafia was crawling with secret operatives and informants caving to government pressure to flip, Basciano steadfastly obeyed the code of La Cosa Nostra. "I got faith in one guy," he said during a secretly taped meeting. That man was Massino, head of the Bonanno borgata. But for all his loyalty, Basciano was still a hot-headed, cold-blooded killer, which ultimately led to his arrest and downfall.Then in a remarkable betrayal that rocked the Five Families to their foundations, Massino secretly cooperated with the FBI-the first head boss ever to roll over. As a result, Basciano faced the death penalty, but a federal jury, disturbed by the prosecution's use of deadly criminal informants, reached a surprising verdict. Here from veteran crime author Anthony M. DeStefano comes the riveting story of the last true believer in the Mob's cult of brotherhood and his betrayal at the hands of the only man he ever trusted.