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Books > Fiction > True stories > Crime
The Making of a Female Serial Killer "In America's First Female
Serial Killer, McBrayer offers us a complex and terrifying portrait
of a killer who seemed almost doomed from birth." Kate Winkler
Dawson, author of American Sherlock: Murder, Forensics, and the
Birth of American CSI #1 Best Seller in History of Ireland, Child
Psychology, and Crime & Criminals For readers who are
fascinated by how serial killers are made. This book is for
listeners of true crime podcasts and readers of both fiction and
true crime nonfiction. It is for watchers of television shows like
Deadly Women and Mindhunter, who are fascinated by how killers are
made. It's for self-conscious feminists, Americans trying to
bootstrap themselves into success, and anyone who loves a vigilante
beatdown, especially one gone off the rails. America's first female
serial killer was not always a killer. America's First Female
Serial Killer novelizes the true story of first-generation
Irish-American nurse Jane Toppan, born as Honora Kelley. Although
all the facts are intact, books about her life and her crimes are
all facts and no story. Jane Toppan was absolutely a monster, but
she did not start out that way. Making of a serial killer. When
Jane was a young child, her father abandoned her and her sister to
the Boston Female Asylum. From there, Jane was indentured to a
wealthy family who changed her name, never adopted her, wrote her
out of the will, and essentially taught her how to hate herself.
Jilted at the altar, Jane became a nurse and took control of her
life, and the lives of her victims. Readers of America's First
Female Serial Killer: Will gain insight into the personal
development of a severely damaged person without rationalizing her
crimes Experience the rarely told story of a female serial killer
Understand that even monsters were humans, first If you enjoyed
books such as In We Keep the Dead Close, Mindhunter, or In Cold
Blood; you will love reading America's First Female Serial Killer.
Ann Rule presents a collection of fascinating and disturbing
true-crime stories-drawn from her real-life personal files-in this
seventeenth volume in the #1 New York Times bestselling Crime Files
series. In this gripping collection of investigative accounts from
her private archives, "America's best true-crime writer" (Kirkus
Reviews) exposes the most frightening aspect of the murderous mind:
the waiting game. Trusted family members or strangers, these
cold-blooded killers select their unsuspecting prey, wait for the
perfect moment to strike, then turn normality into homicidal mayhem
in a matter of moments. Ann Rule will have you seeing the people
and places around you with heightened caution as you read these
shattering cases, including: * New mothers murdered, their infants
kidnapped, in an atrocious baby-selling scheme * The man who kept
his criminal past hidden from his wife-and his wife from his
mistress-until he coldly disposed of one of them * The beautiful
daughter of a State Department official ran away from the
privileged world she knew and hitched a ride with a man she didn't
. . . with fatal consequences * For months, a vicious, rage-filled
serial rapist eluded police and terrorized Seattle's women-when
would he strike next, and how far would his violence escalate? * A
criminal known for his Houdini-like escapes is serving time for
murder in a botched robbery-now the convict is being served dinner
in a civilian's home, where he has one more trick up his sleeve * A
long-lost relative who came home to visit, leaving a bloody trail
through Washington and Oregon; no one realized how dangerous he and
his ladylove were-until it was far too late. . . . With her ability
to translate the most complex cases into storytelling "as dramatic
and chilling as a bedroom window shattering at night" (The New York
Times), Rule expertly analyzes the thoughts and deeds of the
sociopath, in this seventeenth essential Crime Files volume.
"He's the toughest street fighter alive." Freddie Foreman Picture a
man, he's tall, not excessively so, yet as wide as he is high. This
man is a spitting and growling street brawler; a tank full of ready
to blow, muscle-fuelled aggression. Imagine, if you will, the comic
book style Bulldog of Great British stamp. Well, there you have
him! The prototypical face taken from the terraces of an '80s
football fan's rolled-up newspaper cosh; a poster-boy of
malevolence left over from Thatcher's post-punk Britain. Stormin'
Norman's his name and when this storm is erupting, he's like a
force-nine gale fused with a hurricane. In his heyday, Norman saw
off a plethora of gangland minders, and with his own style of
hands-on education, taught Glasgow's prolific hitman, Billy McPhee,
the laws of the Guv'nor's land. He's the Godfather of Aylesbury,
former British Bare-Knuckle Champion, and undefeated European
Boxing Federation 'Guv'nor'. The loveable lunatic with the heart of
a Tyrannosaurus Rex. Yes, this my accidental friends, is the new
Guv'nor. He is the man who rebuked many a heathen, but was also
everyone's friend, and for all the right reasons. So, settle in
with your favourite tipple, and let us regale you with a lifetime
of fronting the doors, serving at Her Majesty's pleasure, righting
wrongs, and brutal bare-knuckle tear-ups.
Beginning with an atmospheric account of Tyburn, we are set up for
a grisly excursion through London as a city of ne'er do wells,
taking in beheadings and brutality at the Tower, Elizabethan street
crime, cutpurses and con-men, through to the Gordon Riots and
Highway robbery of the 18thcentury and the rise of prisons, the
police and the Victorian era of incarceration. As well as the
crimes, Arnold also looks at the grotesque punishments meted out to
those who transgressed the law throughout London's history - from
the hangings, drawings and quarterings at Tyburn over 500 years to
being boiled in oil at Smithfield. This popular historian also
investigates the influence of London's criminal classes on the
literature of the 19thand 20thcenturies, and ends up with our old
favourites, the Krays and Soho gangs of the 50s and 60s. London's
crimes have changed over the centuries, both in method and
execution. Underworld London traces these developments, from the
highway robberies of the eighteenth century, made possible by the
constant traffic of wealthy merchants in and out of the city, to
the beatings, slashings and poisonings of the Victorian era.
SHORTLISTED FOR THE CWA DAGGER IN TRANSLATION 'Disturbing and
powerful ... I loved it' - Leila Slimani, author of Lullaby 'Icy
and chilling... In sharply drawn sentences, Sedira summons the
beauty of a small French village, and the shocking acts of the
people inside it' - Flynn Berry, author of the Reese Whitherspoon
Book Club pick, Northern Spy You sprinted all the way to the river.
What were you running from? Anna and Constant Guillot and their two
daughters live in the peaceful, remote mountain village of Carmac.
Everyone in Carmac knows each other, leading simple lives mostly
unaffected by the outside world - that is until Bakary and Sylvia
Langlois arrive with their three children. The new family's
impressive chalet and expensive cars are in stark contrast with the
modesty of those of their neighbours, yet despite their initial
differences, the Langlois and the Guillots form an uneasy
friendship. But when both families come under financial strain, the
underlying class and racial tensions of their relationship reach
breaking point, culminating in act of abhorrent violence. With
piercing psychological insight and gripping storytelling, People
Like Them asks the questions: How could a seemingly ordinary person
commit the most extraordinary crime? And how could their loved ones
ever come to terms with what they'd done? Lullaby meets Little
Fires Everywhere, this intense, suspenseful prize-winning novel
explores the darker side of human nature - and the terrible things
people are capable of. *Winner of the Prix Eugene Dabit*
'Simply, utterly brilliant. Bursting with humility and humanity' The Secret Barrister
'An elegant, philosophical and, at times, moving memoir of what it is like to serve as America's most high-profile legal official' Financial Times
Multi-million-dollar fraud. Terrorism. Mafia criminality. Russian espionage.
As United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Preet Bharara prosecuted some of the most high-profile cases in America. In Doing Justice he takes us inside America's criminal justice system to deliver a powerful meditation on justice - what it is, who dispenses it, how it works - and what the law can teach us about thinking and acting justly in our own lives.
A war hero, a mass murderer and a Gothic legend the world has never
forgottenVlad the Impaler is one of history's most compelling and
brutal characters, with a bizarre afterlife as a cult horror
sensation. A hero to his countrymen, Vlad Dracula is a byword for
dread. Not just for generations of Western fans of Gothic fiction
and film, but also for an appalled and fascinated 15th-century
readership, for whom contemporary accounts of Dracula's atrocities
became the world's first horror bestsellers. Combining historical
research and dramatic reconstruction with contemporary reference,
here is Vlad the Impaler's dramatic career, from pampered captive
of the Ottoman Sultans to exterminating angel of Christian
vengeance. But in reality, was he the embodiment of unbridled
cruelty or model ruler of an embattled realm? Prince Dracula also
examines the role of psychological warfare and black propaganda in
international politics, from the medieval torture chamber to the
headlines of the modern age, and shows Vlad as an unwitting pioneer
of the modern world. Plying a grisly course through medieval
bloodbaths and contemporary horrors, Gavin Baddeley and Paul Woods
leave no tombstone unturned in this extraordinary history.
'Michael is living proof that love always has the power to bring
you home.' Charlie Mackesy 'A cracking read. Really gets to the
bottom of the madness of a man fighting his demons.' Ray Winstone
'His life may have had its ups and downs, but it is wonderful
example of God's transforming power.' Nicky Gumbel, Vicar of HTB
& pioneer of ALPHA 'Take it from me, Michael got up to some
mischief. And to find some peace at the end of it all! You really
need to hear this story.' Former London Crime Boss Growing up,
Michael wanted nothing more than to follow in his dad's footsteps
and join the family business. Aged 18, he did just that and entered
into the glamourous, dangerous world of organised crime. Michael's
father, a career criminal and contemporary of the infamous Krays,
was a wayward role model. Soon Michael's criminal activities were
funding a reckless lifestyle of drugs, sex, and violence. But the
high couldn't last. In 1993 both men were arrested for their
involvement in a GBP13-million smuggling operation. Michael was
sentenced to twelve years, serving time in the same prison as his
dad. Inside HMP Exeter, Michael found something he had never
expected: answers. A chance encounter in the prison chapel led to
an experience that would shake the foundations of his life. This is
a true story of trauma and transformation, one man's search for
redemption, and the struggle to become the father he never had.
Known for meticulously researched and brilliantly detailed accounts
of horrific true crime legends, Harold Schechter takes readers
inside the very heart and mind of true evil. Here is the grisly
truth of Ed Gein, the killer whose fiendish fantasies inspired
Alfred Hitchcock's 'Psycho' - the mild mannered farmhand bound to
his dominating mother, driven into a series of gruesome and bizarre
acts beyond all imagining. In chilling detail, DEVIANT explores the
incredible career of one of the most twisted madmen in the annals
of crime - and how he turned a small Wisconsin farmhouse into his
own private playground of ghoulishness and blood.
On the morning of April 29, 1992, Exxon International president,
Sidney J. Reso, left his home for the office. He stepped out to
pick up the newspaper at the end of his drive as he did every
morning. A van screeched to a stop and a large man wearing a ski
mask and wielding a .45-caliber pistol leaped from the vehicle and
grabbed Reso, shoving him into the back of the van. The female
driver sped away. No one saw or heard anything, sparking the
largest kidnapping investigation in US history since Patty Hearst's
abduction.
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