Death. It's not only inevitable and frightening, it's intriguing and fascinating-especially today, when science continues to make ever more stunning advances in the investigation of the oldest and darkest of mysteries. To discover the how and why of death, unearth its roots, and expose the mechanics of its grim handiwork is, at least in some sense, to master it. And in the process, if a criminal can be caught or closure found, so much the better.
Enter Robert Mann, forensic anthropologist, deputy scientific director of the U.S. government's Central Identification Laboratory, and, some might say, the Sherlock Holmes of death detectives. When the dead reveal some of their most sensational, macabre, and poignant tales, more often than not it's Mann who's been listening. Now, in this remarkable casebook, he offers an in-depth behind-the-scenes portrait of his sometimes gruesome, frequently dangerous, and always compelling profession. In cases around the world, Mann has been called upon to unmask killers with nothing but the bones of their victims to guide him, draw out clues that restore identities to the nameless dead, recover remains thought to be hopelessly lost, and piece together the events that can unlock the truth behind the most baffling deaths.
The infamous 9/11 terror attacks, which killed thousands; the unplanned killing that inaugurated serial murderer Jeffrey Dahmer's grisly spree; mysterious military fatalities from World War II to the Cold War to Vietnam, including the amazing case of the Vietnam War's Unknown Soldier-all the fascinating stories are here, along with photos from the author's personal files. Mystery hangings, mass graves, errant body parts, actual skeletons in closets, and a host of homicides steeped in bizarre clues and buried secrets-they're all in a day's work for one dedicated detective whose job begins when a life ends.

"From the Hardcover edition."

From the days of Athenian democracy to the back rooms of Chicago politics today, corruption has plagued all political systems for all time. It is ubiquitous, vexing, and at times, threatens the very fabric of society. No culture, no system of government, no code of ethics has been able to eliminate political corruption. While the United States generally ranks comparatively low in measures of political corruption (Transparency International rates the U.S. as the 18th "least" corrupt nation in the world, with Denmark at number one, New Zealand, second, and Sweden third, the U.K. 16, France 23, Spain 28, Israel 33, South Korea 40, Italy 55, Cuba 65, with Somalia last at 180), yet it too continues to confront the sting of political corruption. For something to count as political corruption in the United States, it must have a public impact, be a part of some violation of public trust. As such, another useful distinction can be drawn between individual corruption and systemic corruption. The former is individual wrongdoing. An officeholder on the take, a legislator who sells his vote, would be examples of "bad apples." Systemic corruption encompasses a broader sphere. Instead of bad apples, here you have a "bad system." The undermining of democratic legitimacy or equality might be considered examples of systemic corruption, as might campaign financing practices. Such corruption runs deeper than mere individual transgression. Corruption is embedded into the day-to-day operation of the system. In focusing on the individual, we often overlook the systemic. It is easier, and in the short run, more gratifying to catch, punish, and condemn an individual like Governor Blagojevich. Yet what of the systemic forces that led the governor to behave in such a manner? Is there undue systemic pressure to accumulate money, so much so that the system pushes politicians "over the edge"? A politician need not "sell" offices to enter into a Faustian bargain. It may be perfectly legal to collect campaign contributions, yet it may also have a corrosive or corrupting effect on the integrity of the democratic process. With so many issues of corruption swirling around in the current American political climate, it is timely that there is new scholarship that casts much-needed light on these systemic forces. The brilliant discussions by a stellar list of distinguished scholars, led by Michael A. Genovese and Victoria A. Farrar-Meyers, in the insightful edited volume, Corruption and American Politics, delivers the best and most up-to-date thinking by some of the finest political minds in the nation. This will be an essential resource for all collections in political science and American studies.

Venture back to the Hudson Valley of 1912 in this unique look at a salacious historical murder. The Grace murder was Walden's "Lizzie Borden" case, and author Lisa Melville offers a fascinating snapshot of a village's past as she chronicles one of the most infamous murders of its time. Murder was a rare occurrence in the small village of Walden, New York, 60 miles north of Manhattan. The Grace case was scandalous, involving sex, lies and a violent murder which rocked Walden, a small riverside community known for manufacturing knives. The "Lizzie Borden" case is still one of the most famous murder cases in America. The Grace case possessed similarly startling characteristics to the Borden case in the violence of the murder and family connection, but it also involved bigamy. Grace not only abandoned his first wife and three children, but he married a second woman and left her while she was pregnant with their child. He also stole her family's money to make his escape. Grace used this money to help finance a new life for himself in Walden, a life that included yet another wife. Despite the titillating facts of the murder, the Grace case has nearly been forgotten. Until now.

When Disco Bloodbath was first published, it created a storm of controversy for its startlingly vivid, strikingly fresh, and outrageously funny depiction of the hedonistic world of the New York City club kids, for whom nothing was too outré -- including murder. Nominated for the Edgar Award for best true-crime book of the year, it also marked the debut of an audaciously talented writer, James St. James, who himself had been a club kid and close friend and confidant of Michael Alig, the young man convicted of killing the drug dealer known as Angel.

Now the book has been brought to the screen as Party Monster, with Macaulay Culkin playing killer Michael Alig and Seth Green as author/celebutante James St. James.

Previously published as Becky, this is the heartbreaking story behind the murder of 16-year-old Bristol schoolgirl Becky Watts, a crime that shocked the nation and tore a family in two. A vulnerable and shy girl, Becky Watts was brutally murdered and dismembered by her own step-brother on 19 February 2015. As her father Darren discovered the horrific details of what happened to his darling girl, his world fell apart. Writing about the darkest hours, Darren uncovers what Becky's relationship with her step-brother Nathan, a child he had raised as his own son, was really like. He recalls the devastation of discovering the truth about the depravity with which Becky was torn from him in the safety of her own home. And he recounts the torment of the legal battle to see his step-son sentenced to life behind bars. Both heartfelt and haunting, searingly honest and unflinching, this is the ultimate story of a family tragedy.

Sin City Gangsters: The Rise and Decline of the Mob in Las Vegas is a fast-paced account of how the mob created and controlled Las Vegas. It contains accounts of how the most powerful mobsters in the country built, bought, and controlled not only gambling casinos in Vegas, but also many important politicians, who did the mob's bidding. Some of the more notorious mobsters were Bugsy Siegel, Meyer Lansky, Moe Dalitz, Sam Giancana, Tony Accardo, and Nick Civella, as well as the men they chose to carry out their plans, such as Tony Spilotro, Lefty Rosenthal, and Donald Angelini. Sin City Gangsters devotes a chapter to Jimmy Hoffa, and how the Teamsters Pension Fund financed the mob's casinos. The book also offers fascinating accounts of the roles of Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley in Vegas. Another chapter is devoted to Howard Hughes, who arrived in the dead of night in a sealed, germ-free railroad car and did not leave his suite at the Desert Inn for years. During that time he bought one casino after another as if playing Monopoly. Following his exit and that of the mob, Vegas became the domain of Jay Sarno, Kirk Kerkorian, Steve Wynn, and Sheldon Adelson. They were visionaries who transformed Vegas into the entertainment capital of the world by building billion-dollars-plus resorts and hiring the most popular contemporary entertainers. Sin City Gangsters is the only book that charts Vegas from the first modest mob-owned casinos to the present billion-dollar-resorts; its cast of characters is an assembly of exceedingly ambitious risk takers who let nothing stand in their way of turning their dreams into stunning realities.

George N. Rumanes, who now lives in Los Angeles with his family, is a writer who works in the film industry. His second novel, The Man With The Black Worrybeads, a worldwide best seller, will be filmed in Hollywood, Greece and North Africa.

During the past seven years, Mr. Rumanes wrote five original camera ready screenplays and he is now finishing, Between the Palm and the Cypress Trees, his next novel.
THE SCREENPLAYS:
The Land of Gods and Lovers
Vector One
Mystery George
Malvasia
Two Ladies and the Mob

'Not just a readable, pacey account of an extraordinary individual and his quixotic quest ... but also a troubling expose of the fragility of our entire financial system ... I loved it' Oliver Bullough, author of Moneyland For fans of Bad Blood and The Big Short, the story of how one reclusive trading prodigy manipulated Wall Street and amassed millions from his childhood bedroom - then short-circuited the global market. A real-life financial thriller, Flash Crash gives panoramic insight into our economic landscape - its weaknesses, its crooks and its exploitable loopholes - and uncovers the remarkable, behind-the-scenes narrative of a mystifying market crash, a globe-spanning investigation into international fraud, and the man - Navinder Singh Sarao - at the centre of it all. Depending on whom you ask, Sarao was a scourge, a symbol of a financial system run horribly amok, or a folk hero: an outsider who took on the tyranny of Wall Street and the high-frequency traders.

Virginia (Roberts) Giuffre's all-American childhood came to an abrupt end by sexual abuse at the age of 7. After her mother exiled her to a school for troubled youth, she ran away to a life on the streets. The FBI rescued her when she was 14 from a violent pedophile and her life seemed to return to normal with a job as spa attendant at Donald Trump's exclusive Mar-a-Lago in Florida. It was there that the teenager was approached by the elegant jet-setter Ghislaine Maxwell who said her millionaire partner Jeffrey Epstein would like to sponsor her to become a professional masseuse... This is the first book to tell Virginia's own extraordinary, tale as an abused penniless high-school drop-out and how she was able to outsmart her rich underage-sex predators and forced an end to their crimes.

During the last few decades, financially and technologically corrupt practices, such as financial and technological crimes, frauds, forgeries, scandals, and money laundering, have been monitored in many countries around the globe. There is a general lack of awareness regarding these issues among various stakeholders including researchers and practitioners. Concepts, Cases, and Regulations in Financial Fraud and Corruption considers all aspects of financial and technological crimes, frauds, and corruption in individual, organizational, and societal experiences. The book also discusses the emergence and practices of financial crimes, frauds, and corruption during the last century and especially in the current technological advancement. Covering key topics such as financing, ethical leadership, tax evasion, and insider trading, this premier reference source is ideal for computer scientists, business owners, managers, researchers, scholars, academicians, practitioners, instructors, and students.

In 1912, a prosperous Illinois farm family-Charles; his wife, Mathilda; their fifteen-year-old daughter, Blanche; and boarding schoolteacher Emma Kaempen-were brutally murdered, the crime concealed by arson, and the family's surviving son, handsome Ray Pfanschmidt, arrested. He was convicted by the press long before trial. In Lies Told Under Oath, author Beth Lane retells the story of the murders, the trial, the verdict, and the aftermath.

Using information culled from actual trial transcripts and newspaper accounts, Lane presents the day-to-day testimony as Ray's battle for his life surged through three courtrooms-the drama complicated by brilliant attorneys, allegations of perjury, charges of rigged evidence, jailhouse informants, legal loopholes, conflict over the large estate being inherited by the alleged murderer, and appeals to the state supreme court. The remaining family became divided over Ray's guilt while his fiancee staunchly stood by him.

"Lies Told Under Oath" provides a fascinating, historical account of the times and the people-when science was in its infancy, telephones meant shared party lines, bloody evidence was contested (or contrived), and automobiles competed with bloodhounds and buggies. It captures the essence of an emotional crime that rocked this small Illinois community.

Bob Woodward, the best investigative reporter in the country, spent six years examining the CIA using hundreds of inside sources and secret documents to paint a picture of the world's largest espionage apparatus.