True Crime

"Compulsively page-turning. The true story of Jay Dobyns, all-American dad and undercover cop running and gunning with the most dangerous outlaws in the USA. A high-velocity trip into a frightening American underworld told in rapid-fire, hard-boiled prose." --Evan Wright, author of the national bestseller Generation Kill "No Angel pushes narrative nonfiction to new limits...If you wondered whether the bravura writing of Truman Capote and Hunter S. Thompson has a legacy, look no further. Dobyns l... more info>>

America's #1 true-crime writer fulfills a murder victim's desperate plea--with this shattering New York Times Bestseller. "If anything ever happens to me ... find Ann Rule and ask her to write my story." In perhaps the first true-crime book written at the victim's request, Ann Rule untangles a web of lies and brutality that culminated in the murder of Sheila Blackthorne Bellush--a woman Rule never met, but whose shocking story she now chronicles with compassion, exacting detail, and unvarnished ... more info>>

In Obsession, John Douglas once again takes us fascinatingly behind the scenes, focusing his expertise on predatory crimes, primarily against women. With a deep sense of compassion for the victims and an uncanny understanding of the perpetrators, Douglas looks at the obsessions that lead to rape, stalking, and sexual murder through such cases as Ronnie Shelton, the serial rapist who terrorized Cleveland; and New York's notorious "Preppie Murder." But Douglas also looks at obsession on the oth... more info>>

FROM SOCIAL OUTCAST TO NECROPHILE AND MURDERER -- HIS APPALLING CRIMES STUNNED AN ERA.San Francisco, the 1920s. In an age when nightmares were relegated to the fiction of Edgar Allan Poe and distant tales of the Whitechapel murders, a real-life monster terrorized America. His acts of butchery have proved him one of history's fiercest madmen.As an infant, Earle Leonard Nelson possessed the power to unsettle his elders. As a child he was unnaturally obsessed with the Bible; before he reached pube... more info>>

This 14th volume of Rule's true crime series explores cases of trusted spouses, lovers, family members or helpful strangers who become violent.

John Douglas--the Bestselling Author of Mindhunter and the Undisputed Master Profiler of Serial Criminals--Tells the Chilling True Story of John Robinson, the Internet's First Serial Murderer. In Olathe, Kansas, a balding, pudgy father of four sits in prison convicted on three counts of homicide--two of capital murder--and suspected in at least five other disappearances. During the last half of the 1990s, John Robinson exploited the Internet's active world of sadomasochism with horrific results.... more info>>

For thirty-one years, an unremarkable family man stalked, killed, and terrorized the people of Wichita, Kansas. He was a devoted husband. A helpful Boy Scout dad. A reliable, conscientious employee. A dependable church president. And behind it all, the notorious serial killer BTK--a self-anointed acronym for "bind, torture, kill." Now that he's in prison serving ten consecutive life sentences, the whole world knows that Dennis Rader is BTK. But the intricate twists and shocking turns of this sto... more info>>

Neighbors were unaware of what went on behind the tightly closed doors of a house in Fresno, California--the home of an imposing, 300-pound Marcus Wesson, his wife, children, nieces, and grandchildren. But on March 12, 2004, gunshots were heard inside the Wesson home, and police officers responding to what they believed was a routine domestic disturbance were horrified by the senseless carnage they discovered when they entered. By Their Father's Hand is a chilling true story of incest, abuse, ma... more info>>

LURED FROM THE SAFETY OF HOME--INTO THE JAWS OF HELL "America's principal chronicler of its greatest psychopathic killers" (The Boston Book Review), Harold Schechter shatters the myth that violent crime is a modern phenomenon--with this seamless true account of unvarnished horror from the early twentieth century. Journey inside the demented mind of Albert Fish--pedophile, sadist, and cannibal killer--and discover that bloodlust knows no time or place.... On a warm spring day in 1928, a kindly, w... more info>>

When news broke of three-year-old Caylee Anthony's disappearance from her home in Florida in July 2008, there was a huge outpouring of sympathy across the nation. The search for Caylee made front-page headlines. But there was one huge question mark hanging over the case: the girl's mother. As the investigation continued and suspicions mounted, Casey became the prime suspect. In October, based on new evidence against Casey-her erratic behavior and lies, her car that showed signs of human decompos... more info>>

At thirty-nine, Nancy Kissel had it all: glamour, gusto, garishly flaunted wealth, and the royal lifestyle of the expatriate wife. Not to mention three young children and what a friend described as "the best marriage in the universe."That marriage--to Merrill Lynch and former Goldman Sachs investment banker Robert Kissel--ended abruptly one November night in 2003 in the bedroom of their luxury apartment high above Hong Kong's glittering Victoria Harbour.Why?Hong Kong prosecutors, who charged Nan... more info>>

Jon Krakauer's literary reputation rests on insightful chronicles of lives conducted at the outer limits. In Under the Banner of Heaven, he shifts his focus from extremes of physical adventure to extremes of religious belief within our own borders. At the core of his book is an appalling double murder committed by two Mormon Fundamentalist brothers, Ron and Dan Lafferty, who insist they received a revelation from God commanding them to kill their blameless victims. Beginning with a meticulously ... more info>>

They kill without conscience. Ann rule portrays their shattering crimes without pity. In eight stunning Case Files volumes, from A Rose for Her Grave to the #1 blockbuster Last Dance, Last Chance, Ann Rule reigns as "America's best true-crime writer" (Kirkus Reviews). Now, she updates the most astonishing cases from that acclaimed series--and presents shocking, all-new true-crime accounts--in one riveting anthology. In every explosive chapter of Without Pity, Ann Rule deepens her unrelenting exp... more info>>

On June 27, 1996, thirty-year-old Anne Marie Fahey, who was the scheduling secretary for the governor of Delaware, had dinner with a man she had been having a secret affair with for more than two years. "Tommy" Capano, forty-seven, was perhaps the most politically powerful man in Wilmington. Son of a wealthy contractor, former state prosecutor, partner in a prestigious law firm, advisor to governors and mayors, Tom Capano had a soft-spoken and considerate manner that endeared him to many. Althou... more info>>

Taking as his text Georges Bataille's insight that "only at the extremes is there freedom," critically acclaimed "guerrilla writer" Harold Jaffe documents Bataille's aperçu with 15 bone-chilling illustrations. Manson, Starkweather, Speck, Son of Sam, the Night Stalker, Aileen Wuornos, the Unabomber, Dahmer, Bundy, Gacy, Kemper, Kevorkian and Kissinger are not merely present and accounted for, they are rendered into a "reality TV" that you've never seen before. Widely praised as a virtuoso stylis... more info>>

Sharon Marshall was a brilliant and beautiful student whose future was filled with promise. But her murderous, fugitive father had drawn her into a lifetime of deception that became one of the most baffling cases in the annals of American crime.

Here are ten riveting accounts of seemingly normal men and women who are compelled by a murderous rage to lash out at innocent victims. Here is the case of the Seattle city bus ride that turned to mayhem at the hands of a gunman, and nine other cases illuminating Rule's unique view of the human psyche gone berserk.

Janet March had a picture-perfect life-until she disappeared.. No body, no cause of death, no physical evidence-and yet, after ten years, a murder conviction... Janet March, the strikingly attractive artist and wife of corporate lawyer Perry March, had it all: two children she adored, a burgeoning career in the arts, supportive parents, and a dream house. What no one knew was that her husband led a destructive double life of secrets and lies. On August 16, 1996, Janet would finally file for divo... more info>>

"America's best true-crime writer" (Kirkus Reviews), Ann Rule presents an all-new collection of crime stories drawn from her private files--and featuring the riveting case of a fraudulent doctor whose lifelong deceptions had deadly consequences.LAST DANCE LAST CHANCEDr. Anthony Pignataro was a cosmetic surgeon and a famed medical researcher whose flashy red Lamborghini and flamboyant lifestyle in western New York State suggested a highly successful career. But appearances, as this shocking insid... more info>>

Includes Ann Rule's insider commentary on the Mary Winkler murder case.... REAL-LIFE MURDER ... REAL-LIFE MYSTERY. In some murder cases, the truth behind the most tragic of crimes crystallizes with relative ease. Not so with these fascinating accounts drawn from the personal files of Ann Rule, America's #1 bestselling true-crime writer. What happens when the case itself becomes an intractable puzzle, when clues are shrouded in smoke and mirrors, and when criminals skillfully evade law enforcemen... more info>>

In the tradition of In Cold Blood, The Executioner's Song, and A Civil Action, Suzanne O'Malley exposes the human mystery of the most horrifying crime in recent history and the legal drama surrounding it. As a journalist, Suzanne O'Malley began covering the murders of Noah, John, Paul, Luke, and Mary Yates hours after their mother, Andrea Yates, drowned them in their suburban Houston home in June 2001. Over twenty-four months, O'Malley interviewed or witnessed the sworn testimony of more than a ... more info>>

There is no scientist in the world like Dr. Bill Bass. A pioneer in forensic anthropology, Bass created the world's first laboratory dedicated to the study of human decomposition--three acres of land on a hillside in Tennessee where human bodies are left to the elements. His research at "the Body Farm" has revolutionized forensic science, helping police crack cold cases and pinpoint time of death. But during a forensics career that spans half a century, Bass and his work have ranged far beyond t... more info>>

No one can tell the true story of the Mafia in America better than Bill Bonanno. He was there. He lived it. Bill Bonanno was born into a world of respect, tradition, and honor. The son of legendary mafioso Joe Bonanno, Bill was a "made" member of the Mafia by the time he was in his early twenties. He was rumored to be the model for The Godfather's Michael Corleone, and was the subject of Gay Talese's best-selling Honor Thy Father. Now retired, Bill is finally ready to give an eyewitness account ... more info>>

The true story of the maneater of Rotenburg--and his willing victim German native Armin Meiwes killed and ate a man who answered his ad on a cannibal website. Now, Cannibal discloses for the first time the true story of this real-life Hannibal Lecter--and his willing victim. And with details never before divulged to the public, it takes readers step-by-step through the unspeakable crime that fascinated and revolted the world.

No one in Cape May Court House, New Jersey, was surprised when Eric Thomas, a popular young doctor, sued the Ford Motor Company for the wrongful death of his pregnant wife, Tracy, after a minor accident involving their powerful Explorer. Backed by the medical examiner's findings, the lawsuit claimed that the Explorer's air bag inflated improperly, causing injuries that resulted in Tracy's suffocation. But this seemingly simple product-liability case soon evolved into something far darker and mor... more info>>