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Showing 1 - 20 of 28 items
By John Vaillant. 2005
In 1997, when a shattered kayak and camping gear are found on an Alaskan island north of the Canadian border,…
they reignite a mystery surrounding a shocking act of protest. The author braids together the strands of this mystery and brings to life the historical collision of Europeans and the Haida and the harrowing world of logging. Canada Reads 2012. Winner of the 2005 Governor General's Award for Non-fiction. Bestseller. 2005.By Marissa N Batt. 2005
L.A. deputy district attorney Batt draws on more than 25 years of experience in recalling her most challenging cases, also…
describing those involved, including biased judges, hardworking police, sleazy lawyers and expert witnesses. Batt's compassion toward crime victims and good case preparation are contrasted with rulings that reflect the fragility of the US criminal justice system. Explicit descriptions of sex, violence and explicit strong language. 2004.By Terry Gould. 2004
Gould, an investigative journalist, secretly recorded an interview with gang leader Wong; the tape provided law enforcement with information leading…
to his arrest and indictment for large-scale heroin trafficking. When Wong, on a 'family trip', was conveniently reported dead in an accident in the Philippines, Gould travelled to Macau, the Philippines, and elsewhere on a decade-long chase for proof that Wong was alive. Gould's story also helps illuminate the little-known world of the Triads, a byzantine, diasporic Asian mafia. Some strong language and violence and some descriptions of sex. 2004.By Rick Boychuk. 1994
In 1968, Raymond "Frenchy" Durand murdered his wife Jeannine and hid her body near Houston, Texas. More than two decades…
later, the case of the woman known as Jane Doe was finally solved, owing to the perseverance of the victim's son and daughter, who were schoolchildren when their mother disappeared. Boychuk tells of how these children lost their mother under mysterious circumstances, then had to depend on a father they could not trust. Some strong language and some violence. 1994.By William Marsden, Julian Sher. 2006
Marsden and Sher focus on how head Angel Ralph "Sonny" Barger personally directs a crime organization that has successfully represented…
itself as a bunch of hard-drinking mischief makers guilty only of loving freedom and hedonism too much. Telling tales of murder and revenge at the hands of chopper pilots in the Netherlands, Australia, the U.S., and elsewhere, they cite control of the drug trade as the root of a criminal empire that also embraces prostitution and sundry other interests. Explicit strong language and descriptions of violence, some descriptions of sex. 2006.By Michael Harris. 1995
One week after his wife plunged to her death from a 17th-floor balcony, Patrick Kelly was vacationing in Hawaii with…
his lover. The author tells of how Kelly changed from an RCMP undercover drug agent to smuggler and suspected fraud artist. Kelly was eventually convicted of the murder of his wife. 1995.By using Sherlock Holmes stories as her starting point, forensics expert Wagner blends familiar examples from Doyle's accounts into a…
history of the growth of forensic science, pointing out where fiction strayed from fact. She also weaves in true crime cases that either influenced Holmes's creator or may have been influenced by a published story from the Baker Street sleuth. Some descriptions of sex and explicit descriptions of violence. 2006.Ten well-planned major robberies reveal the ingenuity of the criminal mind, from Dan Cooper, who parachuted from a Boeing 727…
with $200,000, to the small band of Italians who stole the world-famous Mona Lisa. There are seven extra stories in the opening chapter, including that of the Parisian actor and civil servant who destroyed the files against his friends during the French Revolution - by eating them! Grades 5-8. Winner of the 2007 Red Maple Award. 2005.By June Callwood. 1990
Late one night in 1987, a Toronto man drove to the home of his wife's parents where he stabbed his…
mother-in-law and almost killed his father-in-law. He then turned himself into the police. Thus began one of the most bizarre criminal cases in Canada. In a precedent-setting trial, Ken Parks successfully used sleepwalking as his defence. Nominated for the 1993 Torgi Talking Book of the Year Award.By Wade Hemsworth. 1994
In October 1989, Joseph Fritch of Burlington was brutally murdered by two teenagers who wanted his credit cards and car.…
Hemsworth investigates the case of James Ruston, who wanted to kill before he was 18 so that he would receive a lighter sentence than an adult, and Steven Olah, who killed a man 10 weeks after he was released from a hospital where he had demanded a straitjacket while threatening his parents with a knife and a broken bottle. Some violence and strong language. 1994.By Neil Boyd. 1986
Drawing on capital case files, police records and interviews with 40 convicted murderers, the author provides a compelling study of…
the phenomenon of murder in Canada. Some strong language. Some violence. 1986.By Antonio Nicaso, Lee Lamothe. 2001
A gripping tale that crisscrosses Europe, Latin America, and the United States and Canada, Bloodlines underscores the complexity and sophistication…
of organized crime at its highest levels. It illustrates how the Caruana-Cuntrera family operates in the netherworld where the financial engineering that supports the global economy bumps up against the billions of dollars of criminal proceeds that need to be laundered. 2001.By A. S Tame. 2002
Kathy Pettingill is a name that's both respected and feared, not only by Australia's criminal underworld, but by many in…
the Victorian police force. As the matriarch at the head of the most notorious and violent family of habitual offenders in Australian criminal history, her life has revolved around murder, drugs, prison, prostitution and bent coppers - and the intrigue and horror that surround such crimes. Kathy reveals the chilling truth behind many of the myths and legends that surround her family, including her experiences in the blood-spattered charnel house at the centre of Dennis's empire of drugs and violence.By Adam Shand. 2009
There has never been a more feared or respected policeman in Australia than Brian "Skull" Murphy. This is the story…
of the last of the super cops, collaring big-time crims and small-time thugs, rubbing shoulders with corrupt officials and flashy assassins, and using a combination of old-school persuasion and self-styled 'slychology' to recruit his network of informers. In the '70s and '80s, The Skull enters the shady world depicted in Underbelly: A Tale of Two Cities, and we see many of its key villains - Christopher Dale Flannery, the Kane brothers and Ray Chuck - from Murphy's perspective as he plays them off against each other and fights to stay on top.By John Kerr. 2011
We think of human life as priceless, but there are men among us who will end a life for a…
fistful of dollars. These men are the hit men, striking a contract with someone who has a target - and the cash. The Hit Men tells the stories of some of Australia's most ruthless contract killers - their plots, accomplices, victims, crimes and punishments - and of the people who saw fit to employ them. John Kerr dissects a parade of hits, from the days of Sydney's razor gangs in the 1930s to modern times. He gives unflinching accounts of a man who killed his granny, wives who shopped for their husband's killers, and cashed-up criminals who called in favours to arrange the deaths of their enemies. A chilling account of how quickly ordinary people can turn to extreme violence to get what they want.By Matthew Condon. 2014
Continuing on from the bestselling Three Crooked Kings, Jacks and Jokers opens in 1976. Terry Lewis, exiled in western Queensland,…
is soon to be controversially appointed Police Commissioner. As for the other two original Crooked Kings, Tony Murphy is set to ruthlessly take control of the workings of 'The Joke', while Glen Hallahan, retired from the force, begins to show a keen interest in the emerging illicit drug trade. Meanwhile, ex-cop and 'Bagman' Jack Herbert collects the payments and efficiently takes police graft to a whole new level.The Joke heralds an era of hard drugs, illegal gambling and prostitution, and leaves in its wake a string of unsolved murders and a trail of dirty money. With the highest levels of police and government turning a blind eye, the careers of honest police officers and the lives of innocent civilians are threatened and often lost as corruption escalates out of control.By Candace Sutton. 2003
On a rainy September night in 1960, Dr James Yeates was beaten about the face and head and stabbed through…
the heart with a hypodermic syringe. His wife, Diana, found his body lying in a pool of blood on the floor of his Vaucluse garage. The ensuing murder inquiry became so notorious that the star detective of the time, Ray Kelly, was seconded from the equally famous Graeme Thorne kidnapping case. Medical investigators decided only a doctor could have administered the puncture wound through the wall of Yeates's heart - and Macquarie Street's finest, including Dr Eric Hedberg, were lined up for questioning. Stories emerged of Diana Yeates's alleged affair with him and of Dr Hedberg's first wife, Joyce, purportedly fearing she was being poisoned. Joyce Hedberg died five months before James Yeates. The inquest was sensational. The unsolved Yeates Case has been one the most enduringly mysterious murders in the annals of Australian crime.By Andrew Rule, John Silvester. 2006
This revised, expanded collection of true crime by Australia's foremost crime writers digs beneath the polite exterior of modern Australian…
life to expose its chilling core. It details the exploits of criminal families and examines the gene of pure evil that drives maniacs to randomly kill. It explores the effect of crime on innocent victims caught in the wrong place at the wrong time, the contribution made by police who put their lives on the line every day, and salutes the private individuals who stand up and fight back. Stories include: John Silvester on Donald MacKay and the Australian Mafia; Andrew Rule on the Queen Street Massacre; Malcolm Brown on Ivan Milat; Vikki Petraitis on serial killer Paul Denyer; Jennifer Cooke on the Anita Cobby murder; Murray Mottram on the senseless killing of a taxi driver by teenagers; Greg Fogarty on the Crawford murders and Greg Linnell on the life of an undercover cop.By Damian Marrett. 2006
Damien Marrett, author of Undercover, returns with more tales from his days as a covert operative in the Victoria Police.…
This time around Marrett pits himself against drug-dealing neo-Nazis, nude ecstasy freaks, Romanian heroin dealers, kidnappers with a bent for witchcraft and a drug-trafficking Olympian.By Lindy Cameron. 2008
In Outside the Law 2 some of Australia's best crime writers take a trip into the shadows of Australian society.…
Here are crooks who just can't help themselves; killers with twisted logic or hearts of darkness; and cops who daily walk the thinnest of lines to keep them at bay, and away from the rest of us.