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Chicago's First Crime King: Michael Cassius McDonald (True Crime Ser.)
By Kelly Pucci. 2018
This true crime biography details the remarkable rise of the 19th century mob boss who ran Chicago from the streets to…
the mayor&’s office. Michael Cassius McDonald arrived in Chicago as a teenage gambler and scam artist who quickly hustled his way into running the city through its criminal underworld. Long before the reign of Al Capone, McDonald was Chicago&’s original mob boss. He procured presidential pardons, fixed juries, stuffed mayoral ballot boxes, and operated the city's most popular—and most crooked—gambling parlor. But McDonald also maintained a reputation as a decent man. He was a philanthropist who befriended Clarence Darrow, promoted the World's Fair, ran the Chicago Globe newspaper—where he employed Theodore Dreiser—and funded the Lake Street L. Meanwhile, he had multiple marriages mired in love triangles and murder trials. His remarkable story comes to life in this.
Murder & Mayhem in Nashville (Murder And Mayhem Ser.)
By Brian Allison. 2016
From post–Civil War political feuds to Depression-era mass murder—explore the criminally fascinating secret history of Music City, USA. Nashville…
is known for its bold, progressive flair, but few are aware of its malevolent past. Now, historian Brian Allison sheds light on some of Nashville&’s darkest deeds in this compulsively readable chronicle of turn-of-the-century bad behavior. Included here are tales of infamous bar brawls, escaped fugitives, and deadly duels instigated (and won) by legendary hothead Andrew Jackson; a tour of the notorious red-light district of Smokey Row, where one of the largest congregations of prostitutes in the country was at the service of 1000s of beleaguered boys in gray; a killer temptress with a penchant for poison who strolled the city streets looking for victims; a grisly—and true—local legend known as the Headless Horror; the facts behind the macabre 1938 Marrowbone Creek cabin murders; and much more. Vividly capturing the outlandish mischief, shocking crimes, and political powder kegs of an era, Murder and Mayhem in Nashville lifts the veil on a great city&’s sordid secrets.
Strange Tales of Crime and Murder in Southern Indiana (Murder And Mayhem Ser.)
By Keven McQueen. 2009
The author of Horror in the Heartland delves deep into the dark and sordid annals of the region where Hoosier…
history began. Prepare to take a tour of some dark, strange moments of southern Indiana&’s history. From the scheming wife who wanted her dull husband out of the way to make room for a young love affair and the husband who stomped his wife to death because she wouldn&’t stop singing an irritating song, to the man who murdered an entire family to pay off some farming equipment and the case of a mistaken-identity murder, author Keven McQueen relates the sinister (or not so) motives and gruesome details of nine murders that occurred in southern Indiana between 1880 and 1912. With a detailed, if macabre, look at each story as well as the ambiguities surrounding the criminals and punishments, McQueen illuminates the darker side of Hoosier history. Includes photos!
Murder & Mayhem on Chicago's North Side (Murder & Mayhem)
By Troy Taylor. 2019
The author of Haunted Illinois visits the criminal history of the Windy City neighborhood where mobsters and murderers plied their…
trades. In 1929, Chicago gangster Al Capone arranged a special St. Valentine&’s Day delivery for his favorite arch enemies: a massacre. Seven North Side mobsters were left dead. Yet random killings and bizarre murders were not unfamiliar in Chicago. Tales of the city&’s most violent and puzzling murders make this gripping work truly hair-raising: a deranged stalker kills his love object and then himself; a sausage maker uses the tools of his trade to rid himself of his wife; and a meticulous serial killer cleans his dead victim&’s wounds before taping them closed. Through accounts dripping with mystery, gory details and suspense, Troy Taylor brilliantly tells the twisted history of Chicago&’s North Side. Includes photos!
This true crime account of a Prohibition liquor raid gone wrong illuminates &“a dark and violent stretch in Linn County…
history&” (Corvallis Gazette-Times). On June 21, 1922, Linn County sheriff Charles Kendall and Reverend Roy Healy drove out to the town of Plainview to arrest a moonshining farmer named Dave West. By the end of the day, all three men were dead. First responders found Sheriff Kendall facedown with his pistol still holstered. The court appointed William Dunlap as the new sheriff, but within a year, someone killed him, too. Author and journalist Cory Frye delivers a riveting, detailed account of these shocking and tragic crimes that haunted Linn County for decades. Includes photos!
This Depression Era true crime biography chronicles the notorious gangster&’s life, eventual capture by the FBI, and long stay in…
Alcatraz. Growing up in Topeka, Kansas, Alvin Karpis started his life of crime at age ten. By the early 1930s, he was a hardened criminal and leader of the Barker-Karpis Gang. He reportedly committed fifteen bank robberies, fourteen murders, three jailbreaks and two kidnappings. One of only four outlaws to be named Public Enemy No. 1, Karpis was the last—and the only one taken alive. His criminal career came to an end when J. Edgar Hoover and his famed G-Men apprehended him in New Orleans. From there, Karpis found himself confined on Alcatraz Island, where he spent nearly twenty-six years—more than any inmate in the prison's history. This riveting tale of his life takes readers from the rural Midwest to the bustling streets of the Big Easy and into the bleak innards of "the Rock."
Murder & Mayhem in Jefferson County (Murder And Mayhem Ser.)
By Cheri L. Farnsworth. 2011
The author of Wicked Northern New York delivers the most chilling historic true crime stories from the state&’s northern tier.…
Jefferson County, located in New York&’s beautiful North Country, has a dark and violent past. During the long winter months, it was not the cold that was feared, but the killers. In 1828, Henry Evans committed a crime so brutal that the location in Brownsville is still called Slaughter Hill. A real-life Little Red Riding Hood, eleven-year-old Sarah Conklin met someone far worse than a wolf on her way home from school in 1875. And in 1908, Mary Farmer, a beautiful young mother hacked her neighbor to death and was sent to the electric chair. Author Cheri L. Farnsworth has compiled the stories of the most notorious criminal minds of Jefferson County&’s early history. Includes photos!
Hanging the Peachtree Bandit: The True Tale of Atlanta's Infamous Frank DuPre
By Tom Hughes. 2019
The crime that led to &“the first significant challenge to capital punishment in Georgia&” and inspired the Grateful Dead song…
&“Dupree&’s Diamond Blues&” (Atlanta INtown). On December 15, 1921, gunshots echoed across Atlanta&’s famous Peachtree Street moments before a handsome young man darted away from Kaiser&’s Jewelers. Frank DuPre left in his wake a dead Pinkerton guard and a missing ring. As Christmas shoppers looked on in panic, he raced through the Kimball House Hotel and shot another victim. The brazen events terrified a crime-filled city already on edge. A manhunt captured the nineteen-year-old, unemployed DuPre, who faced a quick conviction and a hanging sentence. Months of appeals pitted a prosecutor demanding some &“good old-fashioned rope&” against &“maudlin sentimentalists&” and &“sob sisters.&” Author Tom Hughes recounts the true harrowing story behind the legend of one of the last men hanged in Atlanta. &“Revisits the crime, the trial, and the execution that captured newspaper headlines for months.&”—WABE.org
Murder & Mayhem on Ohio's Rails (Murder And Mayhem Ser.)
By Jane Ann Turzillo. 2014
All aboard for a breakneck trip into history, as the author of Wicked Women of Ohio details the Buckeye State&’s…
most daring train holdups. Ride Ohio&’s rails with some of the bravest trainmen and most vicious killers and robbers to ever roll down the tracks. The West may have had Jesse James and Butch Cassidy, but Ohio had its own brand of train robbers. Discover how Alvin Karpis knocked off an Erie Railroad train and escaped with $34,000. Learn about the first peacetime train holdup that took place in North Bend when thieves derailed the Kate Jackson, robbed its passengers and blew the Adam&’s Express safe. Make no mistake—railroading was a dangerous job in bygone days. Includes photos! &“Ohio was plagued by train bandits, too, and some of them were shockingly violent. Journalist Jane Ann Turzillo has researched 10 interesting cases for her book.&” —Akron Beacon Journal
Murder & Mayhem in Rockford, Illinois (Murder And Mayhem Ser.)
By Kathi Kresol. 2015
The shocking true crimes of Rockford, Illinois, come to light in this fascinating account of a midwestern city&’s sordid history…
of murder and corruption. Rockford, Illinois, rightly prizes its prosperous heritage, built on manufacturing concerns like the Rockford Watch Factory and the Manny Reaper Company. But the town formerly known as Midway also harbors a history of crime and calamity . . . Gunfire broke out in the streets when networks of Prohibition informants decided to go rogue. In 1893, John Hart forced his own sisters to drink poison. Three years later, James French shot down his wife in the street. Over the years, a courthouse collapsed, a factory exploded and trains collided . . . Join local historian Kathi Kresol as she explores Rockford, Illinois&’s scandalous past in this gripping book of small-town true crime stories.
After Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
By Marilyn J. Bardsley. 2013
The #1 Wall Street Journal ebook bestseller about the murder that shocked Savannah society and inspired the blockbuster film. …
As a premier antiques dealer in Savannah, Jim Williams had it all: style, culture, charisma, and sophistication. But three decades of hard work came crashing down the night he shot Danny Hansford, his wild young lover. Jim Williams stood trial four times over the next decade for premeditated murder. While Clint Eastwood&’s movie—starring Kevin Spacey and Jude Law—and the book Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt portrayed the natives of Savannah as remarkably decadent, exotic characters, they missed the surprising dark side of Jim Williams himself. He was a smooth predator whose crimes could have put him behind bars long before the death of Danny Hansford. After Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil is Marilyn Bardsley&’s continuation of the story, which includes crucial testimony recreating the courtroom drama between a gifted prosecutor and a brilliant defense attorney as they battle over the future of a self-made aristocrat. More than forty photos and revealing insider interviews bring new life to the vivid cast of characters in this unique southern crime story.
Tragedy in the North Woods: The Murders of James Hicks (True Crime Ser.)
By Trudy Irene Scee. 2009
A riveting account of one of Maine&’s most notorious serial killers—includes a prison interview between the author and the unrepentant…
murderer. Jennie Cyr disappeared in 1977. Jerilyn Towers vanished in 1982. Lynn Willette never came home on a night in 1994. Each woman had a relationship with James Hicks, who in 2000 confessed to murdering them, dismembering their bodies and burying the remains alongside rural roads in Aroostook County. This is their story. Trudy Irene Scee follows Hicks from the North Woods to west Texas, detailing three decades of evasion, investigation and prosecution. She interviews police officers and victims&’ families—and meets Hicks at the state prison in Thomaston, where he remains remorseless as he lives out his days behind bars. Thoroughly researched and carefully documented, Tragedy in the North Woods is the definitive history of one of Maine's most ruthless killers. Includes photos!
Michigan's Strychnine Saint: The Curious Case of Mrs. Mary McKnight (True Crime Ser.)
By Tobin T. Buhk. 2014
&“A historically accurate picture of the characters involved in the complicated frontier-era poisoning investigation&” (MLive.com). The spring of 1903…
proved disastrous for the Murphy family. On April 22, the infant Ruth Murphy died in her crib. Within an hour, her mother, Gertrude, experienced a violent spasm before she, too, died. Ten days later, John Murphy followed his wife and child to the grave after suffering from a crippling convulsion. While neighbors whispered about a curse and physicians feared a contagious disease, Kalkaska County sheriff John W. Creighton and prosecuting attorney Ernest C. Smith searched for answers. As they probed deeper into the suspicious deaths, they uncovered a wicked web of intrigue. And at the center stood a widow in a black taffeta dress. Includes photos
Murder & Mayhem in Central Washington (Murder And Mayhem Ser.)
By Ellen Allmendinger. 2021
Crime ran rampant at the turn of the twentieth century across Central Washington, from jail breaks, lethal bootleggers and assassinations…
in Kittitas County to shootouts and burglaries in Benton County. In Zillah, the Dymond Brothers Gang were known for stealing horses between prison stints. In Yakima, residents reeled in shock over the premeditated killing of a gambler, a riot and the discovery that a respected brewer had committed murder. Through it all, sheriffs like Jasper Day tried to keep the peace with mixed success. Author Ellen Allmendinger recounts the tales that once made this the roughest region of the Pacific Northwest.
South Carolina Killers: Crimes of Passion (True Crime)
By Mark Jones. 2016
A South Carolina historian examines a selection of true crime murder stories from the Palmetto State, from 1903 to 2003.…
Murder leaves no decade unscarred. In 1903, the lieutenant governor of South Carolina shot dead a local newspaper editor, in full view of witnesses. George Stinney was marched to the electric chair in 1944 at age fourteen. A mother made national news in 1994 pleading for the return of her kidnapped sons, when in truth she had driven them to a watery grave herself. Jones spares no chilling detail in describing each of these crimes; all make for fascinating, and terrifying, reading.
Murder & Mayhem in Scott County, Iowa (Murder And Mayhem Ser.)
By John Brassard Jr.. 2018
The infamous criminal history of Iowa&’s oldest county takes center stage in this true crime account of murder, robbery, and…
mayhem. Scott County, Iowa has a rich and venerable history. It is where the Blackhawk Treaty was signed. It&’s where the first railroad bridge across the Mississippi River was built. But Scott County has a dark and history as well. Travel down Utica Ridge Road, where young Grace Reed paid the ultimate price for spurning the affections of a local farmer. Enter the bedroom of Margaretha Nehlsen, who poisoned her children with chocolate candies. Hear the tale of Harry Hamilton, a former policeman turned career criminal who played a key part in the most notorious bank robbery in Scott County history . . . Learn about these stories and more as Murder & Mayhem in Scott County, Iowa explores the darker side of this midwestern County and its shocking, unlawful history.
The Jersey Shore Thrill Killer: Richard Biegenwald (True Crime Ser.)
By John E. O'Rourke. 2014
The true story of the murders that terrorized New Jersey beach towns for nearly a decade. Beachgoers usually watch…
out for dangers like riptides or sharks—but from 1974 to 1983, a different fear gripped the New Jersey shore: young women were disappearing. Their abductor was Richard Biegenwald, a man released for good behavior after serving seventeen years in prison for murder and spending time in a psychiatric facility. Police arrested him on suspicion of rape, and it was not until they connected him to a woman&’s death in Asbury Park that he finally stopped his rampage. Investigators later linked him to nine murders and convicted him of five. In this account, former New Jersey state trooper John O&’Rourke narrates the chilling story of the Jersey Shore Thrill Killer.
Murder in Battle Creek: The Mysterious Death of Daisy Zick (True Crime Ser.)
By Blaine L. Pardoe. 2013
In 1963, Daisy Zick was stabbed twenty-seven times at her home in Battle Creek, Michigan—and locals are still talking about…
the unsolved case today. On a bitterly cold morning in January 1963, Daisy Zick was brutally murdered in her Battle Creek, Michigan, home. No fewer than three witnesses caught a glimpse of the killer, yet today, it remains one of the state&’s most sensational unsolved crimes. The act of pure savagery rocked the community, as well as the Kellogg Company where Zick worked. Here, Blaine Pardoe offers a detailed chronicle of this shocking and mysterious crime. With long-sealed police files and interviews with the surviving investigators, the true story of the investigation can finally be told. Who were the key suspects? What evidence do the police still have on this cold case more than fifty years later? Just how close did this murder come to being solved? Is the killer still alive? These questions and more are masterfully brought to the forefront for true crime fans and armchair detectives.
Memphis Murder & Mayhem (Murder And Mayhem Ser.)
By Teresa R. Simpson. 2008
A journey through Memphis&’ troubled past: the shocking crimes and the brutal killings that led to it being dubbed the…
&“Murder Capital of the World.&” With its alluring hospitality, legendary cuisine and transcendent music, Memphis is truly a quintessential Southern city. But lurking behind the barbeque and blue suede shoes is a dark history checkered with violence and disarray. Revisit the mass murder of 1866 that took more than fifty lives, the infamous Alice Mitchell case of the 1890s and a string of unthinkable twentieth-century sins. Author and lifelong Memphian Teresa Simpson explores some of the River City&’s most menacing crimes and notorious characters in this riveting ride back through the centuries. Includes photos!
Charleston's Trial: Jim Crow Justice (True Crime Ser.)
By Douglas W. Bostick, Daniel J. Crooks Jr.. 2019
A harrowing, in-depth account of a black man&’s wrongful conviction and execution for a white man&’s murder in Jim Crow…
South Carolina. June 1910, Charleston, South Carolina. A Jewish merchant, Max Lubelsky, lay murdered in his clothing store on Upper King Street. Daniel &“Nealy&” Duncan, the black man eventually convicted of the crime was arrested several weeks later as an angry mob called for his lynching. What followed became the story of one man's quiet protestations of innocence in the face of overwhelming condemnation by the white community. Drawing on local historical records and detailed court transcripts, Charleston historians Danny Crooks and Doug Bostick give an intimate account of the proceedings, as well as provide the historical background on the vices, violence and victims of the Holy City during the Jim Crow era. Join them as they reveal the tale of a man whom justice passed by in the hot Southern summer.