![]() |
![]() |
Your cart is empty |
||
Books > Fiction > True stories > Crime
This is the inspiring and "page-turning" (Booklist) true story of a man who discovered that he had been kidnapped as a baby-and how his quest to find out who he really is upturned the genealogy industry, his own family, and set in motion the second longest cold case in US history. In 1964, a woman pretending to be a nurse kidnapped an infant boy named Paul Fronczak from a Chicago hospital. Two years later, police found a boy abandoned outside a variety store in New Jersey. The FBI tracked down Dora Fronczak, the kidnapped infant's mother, and she identified the abandoned boy as her son. The family spent the next fifty years believing they were whole again-but Paul was always unsure about his true identity. Then, four years ago-spurred on by the birth of his first child, Emma Faith-Paul took a DNA test. The test revealed that he was definitely not Paul Fronczak. From that moment on, Paul has been on a tireless mission to find the man whose life he's been living-and to discover who abandoned him, and why. Poignant and inspiring, The Foundling is a story about a child lost and a faith found, about the permanence of families and the bloodlines that define you, and about the emotional toll of both losing your identity and rediscovering who you truly are.
An explosive investigation into how the United States of America built one of the largest illicit offshore finance systems in the world. For years, one country has acted as the greatest offshore haven in the world, attracting hundreds of billions of dollars in illicit finance tied directly to corrupt regimes, extremist networks, and the worst the world has to offer. But it hasn't been the sand-splattered Caribbean islands, or even traditional financial secrecy havens like Switzerland or Panama that have come to dominate the offshoring world. Instead, the country profiting the most also happens to be the one that still claims to be the moral leader of the free world, and the one that claims to be leading the fight against the crooked and the corrupt: the United States of America. American Kleptocracy examines just how the United States' implosion into a centre of global offshoring took place: how states such as Delaware and Nevada perfected the art of the anonymous shell company; how post-9/11 reformers watched their success usher in a new flood of illicit finance directly into the U.S.; how African despots and post-Soviet oligarchs came to dominate American coastlines, American industries, and entire cities and small towns across the American Midwest; how Nazi-era lobbyists birthed an entire industry of spin-men whitewashing transnational crooks and despots, and how dirty money has now begun infiltrating America's universities, think tanks, and cultural centres; and how those on the frontline are trying to restore America's legacy of anti-corruption leadership and finally end this reign of American kleptocracy. It also looks at how Trump's presidency accelerated all of the trends already on hand and how the Biden administration can, and should, act on this tawdry inheritance.
Robert Louis Stevenson's classic, swashbuckling novel about a young boy who is forced to go to sea and who is then caught up in high drama, daring adventure and political intrigue. Part of the Macmillan Collector’s Library; a series of stunning, clothbound, pocket-sized classics with gold foiled edges and ribbon markers. These beautiful books make perfect gifts or a treat for any book lover. This edition is introduced by Louise Welsh and features black and white illustrations. Headstrong David Balfour, orphaned at seventeen, sets out from the Scottish Lowlands to seek his fortune in Edinburgh. Betrayed by his wealthy Uncle Ebenezer, he is carried away to sea to be sold into slavery in the Carolinas. On board, he secures a timely alliance with Jacobite adventurer Alan Breck, and together they make an epic escape across the western Highlands. Inspired by real events, Kidnapped is a swashbuckling adventure of bizarre encounters, political assassination and wild carousings with Robert Louis Stevenson’s unique counterpoint of low morals and high comedy threaded throughout.
Very few women are wartime rapists. Very few women issue commands to commit sexual violence. Very few women play a role in making war plans that feature the intentional sexual violation of other women. This book is about those very few women. Women as Wartime Rapists reveals the stories of female perpetrators of sexual violence and their place in wartime conflict, legal policy, and the punishment of sexual violence. More broadly, Laura Sjoberg asks, what do the actions and perceptions of female perpetrators of sexual violence reveal about our broader conceptions of war, violence, sexual assault, and gender? This book explores specific historical case studies, such as Nazi Germany, Serbia, the contemporary case of ISIS, and others, to understand how and why women participate in rape during war and conflict. Sjoberg examines the contrast between the visibility of female victims and the invisibility of female perpetrators, as well as the distinction between rape and genocidal rape, which is used as a weapon against a particular ethnic or national group. Further, she explores women's engagement with genocidal rape and how some orchestrated the ethnic cleansing of entire regions. A provocative approach to a sensationalized topic, Women as Wartime Rapists offers important insights into not only the topic of female perpetrators of wartime sexual violence, but to larger notions of gender and violence with crucial cultural, legal, and political implications.
Published alongside the 2013 film The Bling Ring, directed by Sofia Coppola and starring Emma Watson, this is the explosive true story of the seven celebrity-obsessed teens who became the most audacious burglary gang in Hollywood history. It's 19 September 2010, and 21-year-old Rachel Lee has emerged from Los Angeles Superior Court, having just been sentenced to four years behind bars. A few months earlier, she had been running the Bling Ring: a gang of rich, beautiful, wild-living Valley teens who idolised celebrity, designer labels and luxury brands. Who, in 2009, became the most audacious thieves in recent Hollywood history. In a case that has shocked the nation, the seven schoolfriends stole millions of dollars' worth of clothing, jewellery and possessions from the sprawling mansions of Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan and Orlando Bloom, among others - using gossip websites, Google Earth and Twitter to aid their crimes. But what made these kids - all of whom already enjoyed designer clothes, money, cars and social status - gamble with their lives at such high stakes? Journalist Nancy Jo Sales, the author of Vanity Fair's acclaimed expose of the Bling Ring, gained unprecedented access to the group to answer that question. In the process she uncovered a world of teenage greed, obsession, arrogance and delusion that surpassed her wildest expectations. Now, for the first time, Sales tells their story in full. Publishing to tie into Sofia Coppola's film of the same name, this is a fascinating look at the dark and seedy world of the real young Hollywood.
The notorious corner of West Fayette and Monroe Streets in Baltimore is a 24-hour open-air drug market that provides the economic fuel for a dying neighbourhood. Through the eyes of one broken family - two drug-addicted adults and their smart, vulnerable fifteen-year-old son, DeAndre McCollough - Simon and Burns examine the sinister realities of inner cities across the USA and unflinchingly assess why law enforcement policies, moral crusades and the welfare system have accomplished so little.
"The London Of Jack the Rippper: Then And Now" is a photographic journey through the London of Jack the Ripper as it was when he stalked the mean streets and alleyways of the Capital. Robert Clack and Philip Hutchinson take the reader on a step-by-step tour of the crime scenes, giving a detailed history of the victims, the crimes and the police investigation. Using many previously unpublished photographs and illustrations, the authors put the reader on the very streets that Jack walked, showing the crime scences, the victims' homes, the common lodging houses and the public houses. They show readers how to retrace the steps the victims took, pointing out the changes to that particular area and when those changes occurred. Using contemporary documents and police files, the authors trace the history of all 11 Whitechapel murders from 1888 to 1891 and discuss other contemporary attacks that may well have been by the same hand. The book will not only be of interest to Ripperologists, but also to those who are interested in the history of London and the East End of London in particular.
Violent. Provocative. Shocking. Did Lizzie Borden murder her own father and stepmother? Was Jack the Ripper actually the Duke of Clarence? Who killed JonBenet Ramsey? America's foremost expert on criminal profiling and twenty-five-year FBI veteran John Douglas, along with author and filmmaker Mark Olshaker, explores those tantalizing questions and more in this mesmerizing work of detection. With uniquely gripping analysis, the authors reexamine and reinterpret the accepted facts, evidence, and victimology of the most notorious murder cases in the history of crime, including the Lindbergh baby kidnapping, the Zodiac Killer, and the Whitechapel murders. Utilizing techniques developed by Douglas himself, they give detailed profiles and reveal chief suspects in pursuit of what really happened in each case. The Cases That Haunt Us not only offers convincing and controversial conclusions, it deconstructs the evidence and widely held beliefs surrounding each case and rebuilds them -- with fascinating, surprising, and haunting results.
Colonel L. Fletcher Prouty, the former CIA operative known as "X," offers a history-shaking perspective on the assassination of president John F. Kennedy. His theories were the basis for Oliver Stone's controversial movie "JFK." Prouty believed that Kennedy's death was a coup d'etat, and he backs this belief up with his knowledge of the security arrangements at Dallas and other tidbits that only a CIA insider would know (for example, that every member of Kennedy's cabinet was abroad at the time of Kennedy's assassination). His discussion of the elite power base he believes controlled the U.S. government will scare and enlighten anyone who wants to know who was really behind the assassination of John F. Kennedy.
Christopher Berry-Dee, criminologist and bestselling author of books about the serial killers Aileen Wuornos and Joanne Dennehy, turns his uncompromising gaze upon women who not only kill, but kill repeatedly. Because female murderers, and especially serial murderers, are so rare compared with their male counterparts, this new study will surprise as well as shock, particularly in the cases of women like Beverley Allitt, who kill children, and Janie Lou Gibbs, who killed her three sons and a grandson, as well as her husband. Here too are women who kill under the influence of their male partners, such as Myra Hindley and Rosemary West, and whose lack of remorse for their actions is nothing short of chilling. But the author also turns his forensic gaze on female killers who were themselves victims, like Aileen Wuornos, whose killing spree, for which she was executed, can be traced directly to her treatment at the hands of men. Christopher Berry-Dee has no equal as the author of hard-hitting studies of the killers who often walk among us undetected for many years, and who in so many cases seem to be acting entirely against their natures.
The Daughters of Juarez will be the first, major non-fiction work to examine the Juarez murders. In it, authors Rodriguez, Montane and Pulitzer will focus on retelling the stories of these missing women, and of their families' plight to find the killer or killers responsible. As this story begins to land on the front pages of national papers such as The New York Times, The Daughters of Juarez will become a staple of required reading, for years to come.
Before Nancy Grace became the iconic legal commentator we know today, she studied Shakespearean literature at college until one moment changed her entire life and career trajectory: her fiance Keith was murdered weeks before their wedding. Driven to deliver justice to victims of criminals, Nancy became a prosecutor working in inner-city Atlanta, which, at the time, was the murder capital of the country. Now, with this potentially life-saving book, Nancy uses her experiences working with and covering families of victims of crime to help readers stay safe in the face of daily dangers. Filled with practical advice and valuable tips, Don't Be A Victim will show you how to: * Fend off the threat of street assaults and home predators * Protect yourself from online stalking and computer hackers * Stay safe in school and other public settings * Prepare for the worst case scenario -- no matter what you're facing Nancy's legal expertise will help to keep you, your family, and anyone else you care about out of harm's way.
A remarkable story of turning heartbreak into hope Life as we know it can change in an instant, in the blink of an eye. And it did for Martina Cox and her family in 2018. On an ordinary day in April of that year, Sean Cox travelled to Anfield to watch his beloved Liverpool play. But he never made it to the match. A vicious, unprovoked attack left him with a severe brain injury, unable to walk or talk. Here, Martina tells their remarkable story. It is a story of inner strength and determination, of dedication and commitment. By not taking no for an answer and with the help of their family, their community, the Liverpool spirit, and tens of thousands of people across the world who were touched by Sean's story, they have achieved what was thought to be impossible. With Hope in Your Heart brings Sean's story right to the present day, as he moved back to his family home for the first time in two years just as the coronavirus lockdown took hold. At its heart, this is a love story - the kind of love that conquers all. The book includes a foreword by Jurgen Klopp. 'Both a love story and a deeply moving, powerful account of how they have tried to piece their lives back together.' The Athletic 'Phenomenal book' Tommy Bowe, Ireland AM, Virgin Media Television 'Martina's strength is inspiring' Laura Woods, Ireland AM, Virgin Media Television 'Excellent book ... brilliant, uplifting and highly recommended.' Ryan Tubridy 'I'm a grown man, but there were tears falling on the pages ... absolutely brilliant ... wonderful, wonderful book.' Pat Kenny 'An extraordinary book' Matt Cooper, The Last Word 'Powerful and unflinchingly honest' Jennifer O'Connell, The Irish Times
A beloved member of the country music community, David "Stringbean" Akeman found nationwide fame as a cast member of Hee Haw. The 1973 murder of Stringbean and his wife forever changed Nashville's sense of itself. Millions of others mourned not only the slain couple but the passing of the way of life that country music had long represented. Taylor Hagood merges the story of Stringbean's life with an account of murder and courtroom drama. Mentored by Uncle Dave Macon and Bill Monroe, Stringbean was a bridge to country's early days. His instrumental savvy and old-time singing style drew upon a deep love for traditional country music that, along with his humor and humanity, won him the reverence of younger artists and made his violent death all the more shocking. Hagood delves into the unexpected questions and uneasy resolutions raised by the atmosphere of retribution surrounding the murder trial and recounts the redemption story that followed decades later.
"As the huge crowd seethed with pent-up excitement, the two deadly enemies studied each other intently, their breath hot behind their visors. Each sought the other's death as fire and water seek each other's annihilation. The walled field, at first a prison, now became a crucible where one man would be destroyed and the other purged in the name of justice. They would fight not only without quarter, but also without rules. And a horrible fate awaited the lady if her husband should lose . . . The gripping, atmospheric true story of the "duel to end all
duels" in medieval France: a trial by combat pitting a knight
against a squire accused of violating the knight's beautiful young
wife
A number-one bestseller from coast to coast, Den of Thieves tells, in masterfully reported detail, the full story of the insider-trading scandal that nearly destroyed Wall Street, the men who pulled it off, and the chase that finally brought them to justice. Pulitzer Prize winner James B. Stewart shows for the first time how four of the biggest names on Wall Street -- Michael Milken, Ivan Boesky, Martin Siegel, and Dennis Levine -- created the greatest insider-trading ring in financial history and almost walked away with billions, until a team of downtrodden detectives triumphed over some of America's most expensive lawyers to bring this powerful quartet to justice. Based on secret grand jury transcripts, interviews, and actual trading records, and containing explosive new revelations about Michael Milken and Ivan Boesky written especially for this paperback edition, Den of Thieves weaves all the facts into an unforgettable narrative -- a portrait of human nature, big business, and crime of unparalleled proportions.
A collection of newspaper stories by award-winning Los Angeles Times reporter Christopher Goffard-including "Dirty John," the basis for the hit podcast and the upcoming Bravo scripted series starring Connie Britton and Eric Bana. Since its release in fall 2017, the "Dirty John" podcast-about a conman who terrorizes a Southern California family-has been downloaded more than 20 million times, and will soon premiere as a scripted drama on Bravo starring Connie Britton and Eric Bana. The story, which also ran as a print series in the Los Angeles Times, wasn't unfamiliar terrain to its writer, Christopher Goffard. Over two decades at newspapers from Florida to California, Goffard has reported probingly on the shadowy, unseen corners of society. This book gathers together for the first time "Dirty John" and the rest of his very best work. "The $40 Lawyer" provides an inside account of a young public defender's rookie year in the legal trenches. "Framed" offers an unblinking chronicle of suburban mayhem (and is currently being developed by Netflix as a film starring Julia Roberts). A man wrongly imprisoned for rape, train-riding runaways in love, a Syrian mother forced to leave her children in order to save them, a boy who grows up to become a cop as a way of honoring his murdered sister, another boy who struggles with the knowledge that his father is on death row: these stories reveal the complexities of human nature, showing people at both their most courageous and their most flawed. Goffard shared in the Los Angeles Times' Pulitzer Prize for Public Service in 2011 and has twice been a Pulitzer finalist for feature writing. This collection-a must-read for fans of both true-crime and first-rate narrative nonfiction-underscores his reputation as one of today's most original journalistic voices.
In the late 1970s and early '80s, a cadre of freewheeling, Southern pot smugglers lived at the crossroads of "Miami Vice" and a Jimmy Buffett song. These irrepressible adventurers unloaded nearly a billion dollars worth of marijuana and hashish through the eastern seaboard's marshes. Then came their undoing: Operation Jackpot, one of the largest drug investigations ever and an opening volley in Ronald Reagan's War on Drugs. In "Jackpot," author Jason Ryan takes us back to the heady days before drug smuggling was synonymous with deadly gunplay. During this golden age of marijuana trafficking, the country's most prominent kingpins were a group of wayward and fun-loving Southern gentlemen who forsook college educations to sail drug-laden luxury sailboats across the Mediterranean, the Atlantic, and the Caribbean. Les Riley, Barry Foy, and their comrades eschewed violence as much as they loved pleasure, and it was greed, lust, and disaster at sea that ultimately caught up with them, along with the law. In a cat-and-mouse game played out in exotic locations across the globe, the smugglers sailed through hurricanes, broke out of jail and survived encounters with armed militants in Colombia, Grenada and Lebanon. Based on years of research and interviews with imprisoned and recently released smugglers and the law enforcement agents who tracked them down, "Jackpot" is sure to become a classic story from America's controversial Drug Wars. "The adventures, the long-gone economy, and the sting that ultimately brought them down and changed US drug policy are meticulously documented and lucidly spun.... Part "New Yorker" feature-part Jimmy Buffet song. . . . The result is adventuresome, lavish, informative fun." --"GQ" " A] rollicking story, Ryan manages to pack in one amusing tale after another.... "Jackpot" is a rip-roaring good read." --"Charleston"" City"" Paper" "High times on the high seas: Investigative reporter Ryan recounts the glory days of dope smuggling and their terrible denouement.... A well-told tale of true crime that provides a few good arguments for why it should not be a crime at all."" --Kirkus Reviews """ "Reads like an international thriller. . . . chock-a-block with hilarious and hair-raising anecdotes of fast times." --"New York"" Journal of Books" " A] thoroughly researched account of Operation Jackpot, the drug investigation that ended the reign of South Carolina's 'gentlemen smugglers, '.... Ryan recreates the era with a vivid, sun-drenched intensity." --"Publishers Weekly" ""
Fifteen-year-old Tony Ciaglia had everything a teenager could want
until he suffered a horrific head injury at summer camp. When he
emerged from a coma, his right side was paralyzed, he had to
relearn how to walk and talk, and he needed countless pills to
control his emotions.
An anthology of the work of Tony Parker. Described as the "Mayhew of his times", his work spans the 1960s to the 1990s and he speaks intimately to all kinds of offenders, inadequates, professional criminals, sex offenders, frauds and false pretence merchants. This collection of Tony Parker's work, selected by him shortly before his death in 1996, provides the very essence of his contribution. The introduction by Professor Terence Morris locates Parker within the criminological tradition. There are six major parts to the book: "Inadequates" - the stage army of offenders who keep returning to prison; "Villainy" - a way of life on professional criminals; "Some Answers to a Question What Should a Judge Do With You?"; "Nonces" - on sex offenders; "Frauds and False Merchants"; "At Deaths Door" - those sentenced to death or to life imprisonment for murder. In the final section, some of Tony Parker's prescriptions for interviewing are set out and Lyn Smith concludes with some reflections on his methodology.
In March 1972, four young black men were arrested by a specialist pickpocket squad at Oval Underground Station and charged with theft and assault of police officers. Sentenced to two years in prison, the case seemed straightforward and credible to the judge and jury who convicted them - but these young men were completely innocent, victims of endemic police corruption. The real criminal in this case was the notorious DS Derek Ridgewell, later proven to be heavily involved in organised crime. Graham Satchwell, at one time Britain's most senior railway detective, has worked with Oval Four victim Winston Trew to reveal the rotten culture that not only enabled Ridgewell to operate as he did, but also to subsequently organise major thefts of property worth in excess of GBP1 million. Winston Trew's case was finally overturned in December 2019, but the far-reaching ramifications of Ridgewell's shocking activities has irreparably damaged many lives and must never be forgotten.
The true story of the life and mysterious murder of the most talked-about and glamorous member of Kenya' s notorious Happy Valley set. Since Josslyn Hay, 22nd Earl of Erroll, was discovered dead in his car with a bullet through his head just outside Nairobi in 1941, speculation has not ceased as to the culprit and motive for his murder. The authorities seemed satisfied with the highly sensationalised trial of the only suspect, Jock Broughton, the cuckolded husband of Erroll's last lover, Diana. A not-guilty verdict was returned after a baffling display of confusing evidence and clumsy police work. Trzebinski, who has lived in Kenya for 30 years, was not satisfied with the conflicting gossip on the case, none of whose evidence adds up, including that of the celebrated White Mischief by James Fox. In this gripping evocation of a glamorous, decadent and sinister life, Trzebinski uses her renowned biographer's skill to unlock the mystique surrounding the man, and the mystery enveloping his death. Her investigations lead her to astonishing conclusions about the true motive for his murder and a conspiracy of confusion that finds its source in Whitehall's War Office. |
![]() ![]() You may like...
The Griekwastad Murders - The Crime That…
Jacques Steenkamp
Paperback
Showdown At The Red Lion - The Life And…
Charles Van Onselen
Paperback
|