True Crime

Guilty Creatures: Sex, God, and Murder in Tallahassee, Florida by Mikita Brottman - Book Review

Staff Pick Badge
Guilty Creatures: Sex, God, and Murder in Tallahassee, Florida By Mikita Brottman Cover Image
$28.99
ISBN: 9781668020531
Availability: Available for Pre-Order Now
Published: Atria/One Signal Publishers - July 23rd, 2024

Engrossing exposé of a presumed drowning of an outwardly religious man in Tallahassee, Florida. Brottman skillfully depicts the creeping suspicions of the Baptist faithful, while those closest to the victim sweat it out. A sharp and psychologically astute exploration of crime, passion, and guilt. ~ Reviewed by Mike Hare


Selling the Dream: The Billion-Dollar Industry Bankrupting Americans by Jane Marie - Book Review

Staff Pick Badge
Selling the Dream: The Billion-Dollar Industry Bankrupting Americans By Jane Marie Cover Image
$29.00
ISBN: 9781982155773
Availability: Click Title for IN STORE Location
Published: Atria Books - March 12th, 2024

Get rich quick schemes are as old as America, and their current incarnation is dominated by the likes of Amway, LuLaRoe, and Avon. Marie chronicles how the pyramid-scheme foundations of these companies nearly always cause their workers, or "independent contractors," to end up with scads of inventory, broken dreams, and no cash. ~ Reviewed by Mike Hare


This House of Grief: The Story of a Murder Trial by Helen Garner - Book Review

Staff Pick Badge
This House of Grief: The Story of a Murder Trial By Helen Garner, Sarah Weinman (Introduction by) Cover Image
By Helen Garner, Sarah Weinman (Introduction by)
$27.00
ISBN: 9780553387438
Availability: Click Title for IN STORE Location
Published: Pantheon - October 10th, 2023

Garner trains her observant eye on a notorious Australian criminal trial. The sad-sack father drove his car into a dam, drowning his three young sons. He blamed a horrible coughing fit. Prosecutors disagreed. Garner's trial reporting veers into her own assumptions and beliefs, resulting in a challenging experience for both the author and the reader. ~ Reviewed by Mike Hare


The Art Thief: A True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession by Michael Finkel - Book Review

Staff Pick Badge
The Art Thief: A True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession By Michael Finkel Cover Image
$28.00
ISBN: 9780525657323
Availability: Click Title for IN STORE Location
Published: Knopf - June 27th, 2023

There is something to be said about being the best of anything even when the achievement isn't a particularly admirable one. Nobody could steal art like Stephane Breitwieser and his beloved cohort-in-crime, Anne-Catherine Kleinklaus. Unlike other master thieves, however, the root of Breitwieser's criminal behavior was not grounded in greed. Great art was the oxygen that he needed to sustain his life. He stocked the attic room he shared with Anne-Catherine in his mother's house with priceless treasures the brazen pair had stolen from countless museums in Europe. As he did in his riveting The Stranger in the Woods, Mr. Finkel strives to usher the reader into the mind of his subject; to explore the obsession that drove him and to inevitably bestow grudging admiration for a man who so faithfully followed his twisted dreams. ~ Reviewed by Alden Graves


The Angel Makers: Arsenic, a Midwife, and Modern History's Most Astonishing Murder Ring by Patti McCracken - Book Review

Staff Pick Badge
The Angel Makers: Arsenic, a Midwife, and Modern History's Most Astonishing Murder Ring By Patti McCracken Cover Image
$32.99
ISBN: 9780063275034
Availability: Click Title for IN STORE Location
Published: William Morrow - March 14th, 2023

In 1916, Nagyrev was a small farming town in what is now the country of Hungary. Everybody knew everybody and most people were dirt poor. One of the village's most recognizable residents was a portly woman everyone called Auntie Suzy. There was nothing she wouldn't do to help out her friends and acquaintances. Over the years Auntie Suzy, who was hardly ever without her little vial of liquid, became relatively wealthy by local standards. A number of recent widows repaid her for the kindness she showed them and new mothers were relieved that they didn't have another mouth to feed after all. The future looked bright until a new doctor in Nagyrev began to take a closer look at the people Auntie Suzy had "helped." Ms. McCracken's unnerving, riveting story of Auntie Suzy's unapologetic embrace of pure evil would seem absurdly far-fetched if it was fiction. It is so bleakly horrifying, it just had to be true. ~ Reviewed by Alden Graves


Ghosts of the Orphanage: A Story of Mysterious Deaths, a Conspiracy of Silence, and a Search for Justice by Christine Kenneally - Book Review

Staff Pick Badge
Ghosts of the Orphanage: A Story of Mysterious Deaths, a Conspiracy of Silence, and a Search for Justice By Christine Kenneally Cover Image
$30.00
ISBN: 9781541758513
Availability: IN WAREHOUSE - Usually Ships in 3-7 Business Days
Published: PublicAffairs - March 21st, 2023

A different kind of horror story, one that Stephen King might find difficult to imagine. The author takes her readers through a netherworld of torture, neglect, and murder as she describes the sordid histories of various orphanages around the world. Her focus is on St. Joseph's in Vermont, which was operated by the Catholic Diocese of Burlington and staffed largely by the Canadian based Sisters of Providence. Out of the cruelty and neglect that characterized their early lives, some survivors rose like the mythical Phoenix to turn the world's attention on the children who were lost and psychologically maimed by the hellish abuse they endured. This is a book that should be read by everyone, but especially by those who believe that such things just don't happen in countries where people like to think of themselves as civilized. ~ Reviewed by Alden Graves


Pages

Subscribe to RSS - True Crime