This book taps the author's wealth of knowledge regarding the criminal mind and offers lessons for law enforcement including how killers think, as well as the conditions under which murders typically occur. It is hoped that these lessons will lead to more effective ways to thwart such crimes in the future. This chilling glimpse into the minds of some of the worst criminals makes a valuable contribution to criminology and is a must-read for both true-crime buffs and law enforcement professionals.

Here is the shocking true saga of the Irish American mob. In Paddy Whacked, bestselling author and organized crime expert T. J. English brings to life nearly two centuries of Irish American gangsterism, which spawned such unforgettable characters as Mike "King Mike" McDonald, Chicago's subterranean godfather; Big Bill Dwyer, New York's most notorious rumrunner during Prohibition; Mickey Featherstone, troubled Vietnam vet turned Westies gang leader; and James "Whitey" Bulger, the ruthless and untouchable Southie legend. Stretching from the earliest New York and New Orleans street wars through decades of bootlegging scams, union strikes, gang wars, and FBI investigations, Paddy Whacked is a riveting tour de force that restores the Irish American gangster to his rightful preeminent place in our criminal history -- and penetrates to the heart of the American experience.

Frontier Justice highlights eighteen crimes and subsequent punishments of the most interesting, controversial, and unusual executions from an era when hangings and shootings were a legal means of capital punishment. Learn about the bungled hanging of Tom Ketchum who was beheaded by the noose; the unique trigger for the trapdoor used to hang Tom Horn; "Big Nose" George Parrott who was skinned, pickled, and made into a pair of shoes; the double trials of Jack McCall, assassin of Wild Bill Hickok; the hanging of a woman-Elizabeth Potts; the shooting of John D. Lee of Mountain Meadows Massacre infamy; and the only use of a double "twitch-up" gallows; etc. Each action-packed chapter includes biographical information, the pursuit, the investigation, legal maneuvers, trial information, and rarely-seen photographs.

Things are not always as they appear, as Cyril Wecht shows in this behind-the-scenes look at nine famous murder cases. Drawing on police reports, deopsitions, trial testimony, and autopsy reports, he raises important issues and offers fresh perspectives on each case.

The brutal murder of Richard Jennings in December of 1818 would gain notoriety as the first murder for hire in New York. It would also be remembered as an imperfect crime. Four men - James Teed, David Dunning, David Conkling and Jack Hodges - and one woman, Hannah Teed, had conspired to murder Jennings after losing a protracted court battle over a parcel of land. Poorly made plans and rumors in the close knit community of Sugar Loaf led to a quick unraveling of the conspiracy and arrest of the perpetrators. Future President Martin Van Buren assisted in prosecuting the case which ended up with two men in prison and two men to face the hangman before a crowd of almost 20,000 people. One of the men spared the noose would later end up a renowned Christian with a memorial in his honor. Author and police detective Michael J. Worden explores the complexity of this incident in an entertaining yet historically accurate manner. Worden examines the case from the origins of the dispute, to the plot, murder, and aftermath. Worden has redefined what a true crime book should be.

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.

'Merriman excels at recreating the physicality of their experiences: the smell of dense clay, the click-clack of a woman walking down the street above in high heels... Merriman has burrowed her way deep into interviews, news reports and Stasi files to fashion an impressive real life page-turner.' Guardian 'An audacious and compelling tale, told with narrative tension and novelistic drive, creating a fascinating portrayal of life in Berlin in the early days of the Wall.' Observer 'A fantastic story, exceedingly well told...more gripping than a thriller. The story arc, through betrayal and disaster to triumph, is perfect...a cracking tale that deserves retelling.' The Times 'Helena Merriman's book is a tour de force... The chapters on the day of the escape are possibly the most suspenseful I have ever read, in fiction as well as nonfiction.' Scotsman 'its skilful blend of a dynamic protagonist, intrigue, spooks, deception, and a love divided imbues Tunnel 29 with all the qualities of a taut Cold War spy thriller.' Sunday Business Post 'Captivating... Ms Merriman's well-crafted book does justice to the extraordinary bravery of her characters.' Economist 'This new book... allows readers to slip into Joachim's shoes as if living this extraordinary experience... This is a remarkable tale, beautifully told and utterly compelling.' BBC History Magazine ------------------------- He's just escaped from one of the world's most brutal regimes. Now, he decides to tunnel back in. It's summer, 1962, and Joachim Rudolph, a student, is digging a tunnel under the Berlin Wall. Waiting on the other side in East Berlin - dozens of men, women and children; all willing to risk everything to escape. From the award-winning creator of the acclaimed BBC Radio 4 podcast, Tunnel 29 is the true story of the most remarkable escape tunnel dug under the Berlin Wall. Drawing on hundreds of hours of interviews with the survivors, and thousands of pages of Stasi documents, Helena Merriman brilliantly reveals the stranger-than-fiction story of the ingenious group of student-diggers, the glamorous red-haired messenger, the American News network which films the escape, and the Stasi spy who betrays it. For what Joachim doesn't know as he burrows closer to East Germany, is that the escape operation has been infiltrated. As the escapees prepare to crawl through the cold, wet darkness, above them, the Stasi are closing in. Tunnel 29 is about what happens when people lose their freedom - and how some will do anything to win it back. Acclaim for the TUNNEL 29 podcast: 'Combining the fun of a thriller that we know will end happily with grim perspective on history and tyranny... stunning.' New Yorker 'Reminiscent of a savvy Netflix block buster series.' Evening Standard 'A truly exciting yarn... creates a sense for the listener of being right there in the tunnel, experiencing the dangers.' Observer

Financial crime seems horribly complicated but there are only so many ways you can con someone out of what's theirs. In fact, there are four. A veteran regulatory economist and market analyst, Dan Davies has years of experience picking the bones out of some of the most famous frauds of the modern age. Now he reveals the big picture that emerges from their labyrinths of deceit.

Along the way you'll find out how to fake a gold mine with a wedding ring, a file and a shotgun. You'll see how close Charles Ponzi, the king of pyramid schemes, came to acquiring his own private navy. You'll learn how fraud has shaped the entire development of the modern world economy. And you'll discover whether you have what it takes to be a white-collar criminal mastermind, if that's what you want. (Which you don't. You really, really don't.)

To reach freedom, the most famous escapers of all time have been willing to endure the most horrific conditions - and the direst consequences if caught. The collection of tales in The Greatest Escape Stories Ever Told is gripping as only true life-and-death struggles can be: Papillon fighting through the jungles of Guiana only to commit himself to the open ocean in a 16-foot boat rather than face a life in exile; Rocky Gause dodging bullets as he swims through shark-infested waters to escape the Japanese at Bataan while those around him simply quit; Latude battling against the dreaded Bastille; Baron Trenck - with chains covering almost every inch of his body - digging and digging to free himself from wrongful imprisonment; Andre Devigny, so weak from starvation and poor treatment that he could barely lift himself, shinnying across a rope only yards above a German sentry during WWII on the eve of his execution. These are just a few of the twenty-five bold and ingenious tales of escape included in this collection. (6 x 9 1/4, 304 pages) Before becoming a freelance writer and editor, Darren Brown was the managing editor of Wilderness Adventures Press. He has edited several short-story collections, including For the Love of a Dog and Brag Dog and Other Stories: The Best of Vereen Bell. He lives in Montana, with his wife and two bird dogs.

Many people express shock and horror when they hear of a wealthy or famous person killing another person. As a society, we seem to expect the rich and famous to behave better, to commit fewer crimes, to be immune to the passions that inspire other, less prominent people to kill. After all, the rich and famous have everything--why would they need to murder? But the rich and famous kill for the very same reasons other do: love, power, money, jealousy, greed, revenge, and rage. Here, Scott takes us on a tour of murders committed by the rich and famous during the last century, looking at the motives, the responses of the community and local law enforcement, the media, and the outcomes. She argues that the rich and famous may kill for the same reasons as others, but they receive vastly different treatment and are often able to get away with murder. Homicide by the rich and famous is not new in this country, nor is fascination with the crimes committed by our most revered citizens. But being among the upper echelon of society does afford such suspects with a greater ability to escape punishment. They have greater access to better respresentation, they have the means to flee the country, they have influential friends in high places willing to put themselves on the line, and they are generally treated better by law enforcement and the criminal justice system. This book profiles the many ways in which homicides committed by the rich and famous are similar to other murders in their motives, but differ from those committed by everyday citizens in their outcomes. Scott provides readers with a showcase of crimes that will infuriate and fascinate readers.

The greatest archaeological find of the 20th century, and perhaps of all time, was the discovery in 1922 of the tomb of the Egyptian Pharaoh Tutankhamen. Untouched for 3,300 years, the ancient tomb, filled with spectacular treasures, raised many questions about the legendary reign of this boy king. Recently Tut has been in the news again. Not only has a traveling museum exhibit of his tomb's fascinating artifacts drawn the public's attention, but also a CT scan of his body, which provides new evidence concerning the king's fate, has received a good deal of media attention. Based on this new investigation, an Egyptian team of scientists and scholars has now publicly ruled out the possibility that Tut was murdered. In this thorough and intriguing review of all of the evidence, two law enforcement specialists in forensics and the psychology of criminal behavior dispute the conclusions reached by the Egyptian team. Applying sophisticated crime-solving techniques used in the investigation of contemporary murders, Detectives King and Cooper make a compelling case that the cause of King Tut's death was most likely murder. The detectives' investigation concentrates on Tut's inner circle of close confidants. One by one, the suspects are eliminated, due to evidence or probable cause, until in the end the detectives focus on the most likely suspect. For readers who enjoy mysteries, true crime, and history, Who Killed King Tut? is both an educational read and a real page-turner.

Orchestrated to the sounds of getaway cars and machine guns, the abduction of Oklahoma City businessman Charles Urschel in 1933 was a highly publicized crime in an era when gangsters were folk heroes and kidnapping had become a scourge. The criminals' interstate flight to a desolate hideout in Texas called for federal action, instigating the most intensive manhunt the country had yet seen. It also set in motion a chain of events that would have lasting significance for crime-fighting in America.

In an exciting account of that celebrated manhunt, Stanley Hamilton rekindles the spirit of yesterday's newsreels to chronicle the pursuit and capture of George "Machine Gun" Kelly and his wife, Kathryn. Tapping a wealth of newspaper reports, court transcripts, literary accounts, and recollections of participants, he draws readers into the chase and its aftermath, unraveling what was then considered the most compelling crime mystery of the day.

Hamilton sets the stage with an overview of the lawlessness of that era and of Kelly's formative years, getting under the skin of a hard-boiled criminal to show us what made Kelly tick. He assembles a cast of larger-than-life characters to weave this tale of true crime, one of the largest of whom was the 38-year-old director of the national police force, J. Edgar Hoover.

Hoover had revitalized an ineffective agency whose operatives were still not authorized to carry firearms or make arrests, and when the Urschel case broke, it was Hoover who stepped up to coordinate the manhunt. Hamilton takes readers behind the scenes in Hoover's operation to show how this case was responsible for popularizing the G-man and institutionalizing the FBI, creating the agent-as-hero image that replaced earlier characterizations of blundering foils to glamorous gangsters.

, br>This iconic kidnapping case, breathlessly followed by a fascinated public, was so quickly and effectively concluded that it was largely instrumental in bringing about the end of the Gangster Era in America. "Machine Gun Kelly's Last Stand" brings that era to life again by providing a fresh look at one of America's most notorious criminals, vividly recreating the times in which he lived and sharing the stories of the people whose lives he touched.