True Murder: The Most Shocking Killers in True Crime History and the Authors That Have Written About Them

Award-winning journalists investigate the attempted assassination of Gabrielle Giffords and the unsolved lynching of Claude Neal; an identity thief finds herself confronted by one of her victims; a triple homicide rattles a high school swim team; a young adventurer supports her travels by smuggling Peruvian pre-Columbian artifacts; a woman struggles to live free of the ex-boyfriend who kidnapped and tortured her; and more.  In this collection of 13 diverse and compelling narratives, writers--among them criminals, law enforcement officers, and victims--elevate their personal stories of crime into high-powered literature. The book also includes an interview with Erik Larson, author of The Devil in the White City. TRUE CRIME: Real Stories of Abduction, Addiction, Obsessiom, Murder, Graverobbing and More-Lee Gutkind  

One late spring evening in 2010, Shannan Gilbert, after running through the oceanfront community of Oak Beach screaming for her life, went missing. No one who had heard of her disappearance thought much about what had happened to the twenty-four-year-old: she was a Craigslist prostitute who had been fleeing a scene—of what, no one could be sure. The Suffolk County Police, too, seemed to have paid little attention—until seven months later, when an unexpected discovery in a bramble alongside a nearby highway turned up four bodies, all evenly spaced, all wrapped in burlap. But none of them Shannan's. There was Maureen Brainard-Barnes, last seen at Penn Station in Manhattan three years earlier, and Melissa Barthelemy, last seen in the Bronx in 2009. There was Megan Waterman, last seen leaving a hotel in Hauppage, Long Island, just a month after Shannan's disappearance in 2010, and Amber Lynn Costello, last seen leaving a house in West Babylon a few months later that same year. Like Shannan, all four women were petite and in their twenties, they all came from out of town to work as escorts, and they all advertised on Craigslist and its competitor, Backpage.  Lost Girls is a portrait not just of five women, but of unsolved murder in an idyllic part of America, of the underside of the Internet, and of the secrets we keep without admitting to ourselves that we keep them. LOST GIRLS-AN UNSOLVED AMERICAN MYSTERY-Robert Kolker

In february 1975 a case began to unfold like nothing the quaint Detroit suburban area of Orchard Lake had ever seen. In the hours following a near head-on collision between a mysterious sedan and an on-duty patrolman, the frightening truth behind the speeding car's driver would be discovered. The vehicle was littered with weapons, drugs, and cash, yet these items weren't even the beginning. The most menacing item law enforcement could imagine was made of paper.   Found in Chester Wheeler Campbell's possession was a set of meticulously detailed assassin's notebooks - containing the names of unsolved murder victims and a list of planned targets. It was a time when outlandish courtroom drama, gangland executions, corruption investigations, and scandals were all part of the twisted world where a Motor City Hitman could thrive. This is the true tale not only of a murderer for hire, but also the parallel people and occurrances that helped warp a stressed socio-economic landscape of Detroit into a drug fueled organized

Joyce Wishart was living out her life's dream, running her own art gallery in sunny Sarasota, Florida. But that dream ended in nightmare when a deranged drifter named Elton Brutus Murphy walked through the door with a knife in his hand and a voice in his head commanding him to rape and kill. In the space of half an hour, Joyce was dead - brutally mutilated - and the tony arts enclave plunged into terror as a frenzied manhunt ensued. Told in the convicted murderer's own words, a chilling tale of one life spiralling into madness-and another gruesomely cut short. EVIL SEASON-Michael Benson

By all appearances, 29 year-old Westley Allan Dodd was the perfect all-American boy—model high school student, camp counselor and U.S. Navy enlistee. But behind his mask of normalcy lurked a predatory sex fiend with a 17 year history of appalling acts of molestation and violence. Children were his victims and the parks of the Pacific Northwest his personal hunting grounds.In September 1989, his unnatural desires had driven him past simple satisfaction to abduct, torture, and kill two young boys in Vancouver, Washington. Dodd killed a third innocent victim only weeks later near Portland, Oregon. But only when he was caught trying to kidnap a child from a local movie theater was he finally taken into custody by police. Confessing to these heinous murders, he was convicted on all three counts and sentenced to death. Based on exclusive access to police files and riveting trial testimony, personal interviews with Dodd himself and excerpts from his chilling

This is the remarkable story of Frank Matthews, a charismatic drug kingpin from the late 1960s and 1970s, who organized a huge criminal enterprise before jumping bail in 1973 with $15-20 million and a beautiful woman. Nicknamed Black Caesar, Matthews has never been seen again in what has become one of organized crime’s most intriguing mysteries. Lewis Rice spent twenty six years as a Special Agent with DEA: 1974- 2001. During that time he conducted hundreds of major international narcotic investigations and was assigned to New York, Kingston Jamaica, Miami, Washington DC,  Philadelphia and Detroit. He retired as the Special Agent in Charge New York Division; the largest operational office in the DEA. BLACK CAESAR: The Rise and Disappearance of Frank Matthews, Kingpin-Ron Chepsiuk and Lewis Rice

No crime is as horrific, as mesmerizingly perplexing, as a child's murder at the hands of a parent. In most cases, the perpetrator is the father. A veteran journalist explores five examples of "family annihilators" in this troubling snapshot of American crime twisted by the dark trajectory of machismo in economically stressful times. Her research includes some fifty in-depth interviews of victims' friends and family, an examination of police files, and detailed profiles of the researchers who track these "killer dads." She also presents experts' theories on the causes that drive men to commit these heinous acts-ranging from economic pressures, the stress of perceived failure, and distorted egos, to the disturbing statistics on abuse of adopted children by step-fathers and the connection between murder and pregnancy. Finally, she discusses factors in contemporary society that may foster such crimes, and measures we can and should be taking to prevent them. Well-researched and often-shocking, Killer Dads provides disturbing insights into the dark forces that can turn family dynamics into the worst imaginable nightmare. KILLER DADS-The Twisted Drive That Compels Fathers To Murder Their Own Kids-Mary Papenfuss    

A vain man of good looks, small means, and no family links to the mob, Vincent “Vinny Gorgeous” Basciano steadily worked his way up to acting boss of the Bonanno crime family, becoming its leader when official boss Joseph Massino went to the clink in 2003. But at a time when the Mob was crawling with secret operatives and informants caving to government pressure to flip, Basciano obeyed the code of La Cosa Nostra. “I got faith in one guy,” he told a group of mobsters during a secretly taped meeting. That man was Joseph Massino, head of the Bonanno borgata. But for all his loyalty, Basciano was still a hot-headed, cold-blooded killer, which led to his arrest. Then, in a remarkable betrayal that shook the Five Families to their foundation, Massino secretly cooperated with the FBI—the first official boss ever to roll over. As a result, Basciano faced the death penalty, but a federal jury, disturbed by the prosecution's use of criminal informants, reached a surprising verdict. Veteran crime author Anthony M. DeStefano tells the riveting story of the last true believer in the Mob’s cult of brotherhood and how he was betrayed by the only man he ever trusted. VINNY GORGEOUS-The Ugly Rise and Fall of a New York Mobster-Tony DeStefano

The crimes of Charles Manson, Ted Bundy, Jeffrey Dahmer, John Wayne Gacy and other high-profile killers are so breathtakingly awful that most people would label them "evil." Renowned psychiatrist Michael H. Stone—host of Discovery Channel’s former series Most Evil—uses this as his starting point to explore the concept and reality of evil from a new perspective.  Basing his analysis on the detailed biographies of more than 600 violent criminals, Stone has created a 22-level hierarchy of evil behavior, loosely reflecting the structure of Dante’s Inferno. He traces two salient personality traits that run the gamut from those who commit crimes of passion to perpetrators of the worst crimes—sadistic torture and murder.  One trait is narcissism, as exhibited in people who are so self-centered that they have little or no ability to care about their victims. The other is aggression, the use of power over another person to inflict humiliation, suffering, and death. What do psychology, psychiatry, and neuroscience tell us about the minds of those described as evil? And what will that mean for the rest of us? THE ANATOMY OF EVIL-Dr. Michael H. Stone

This book is the first comprehensive account of three centuries of thug life in the city where America began. In chilling new detail, veteran Boston journalist George Hassett reveals the legendary crime stories of Boston - from Prohibition to the Mafia, the Irish Gang War to Whitey Bulger. The forgotten chapters of Boston gang history are also covered - from the role of street gangs in the American Revolution to Chinatowns infamous Tong Wars to the murder of number king Daddy Black - it is all here. Every neighborhood, every era, every gangster. GANGSTERS OF BOSTON-George Hassett

On January 28, 2011, the Tampa Police Department received a phone call from a woman who was worried about her daughter, Julie Schenecker. A devoted Army wife and mother of two, Julie had sent her mother an email that could be described as “suicidal.” When authorities arrived at the Schenecker home, they encountered a horrific scene…  Sixteen-year-old Calyx and thirteen-year-old Beau Schenecker were found dead—both of them shot, then covered with blankets. Upon questioning, Julie admitted that she was “tired of the kids talking back” and just “wanted it to be over.” Had her manic depression driven her to the point of insanity? Or was hers a case of cold, calculated violence and manipulation? This is the shocking true story of motherhood, mental illness, and two charges of murder in the first degree. SLEEP MY DARLINGS-The True Story Of A Mother Who Killed Her Children In Cold Blood-Diane Fanning  

On January 28, 2011, the Tampa Police Department received a phone call from a woman who was worried about her daughter, Julie Schenecker. A devoted Army wife and mother of two, Julie had sent her mother an email that could be described as “suicidal.” When authorities arrived at the Schenecker home, they encountered a horrific scene…  Sixteen-year-old Calyx and thirteen-year-old Beau Schenecker were found dead—both of them shot, then covered with blankets. Upon questioning, Julie admitted that she was “tired of the kids talking back” and just “wanted it to be over.” Had her manic depression driven her to the point of insanity? Or was hers a case of cold, calculated violence and manipulation? This is the shocking true story of motherhood, mental illness, and two charges of murder in the first degree. SLEEP MY DARLINGS-Diane Fanning  

The case that captivated the Coachella Valley and San Francisco Bay area for years! Author Sherrie Lueder and her Literary Team, Dawn Taarud-Martinez and Kim Hansen, along with Tyson Wrensch, a former friend, now victim of the con men unravel the threads of a decade long crime spree filled with twists, turns and shocking revelations. Filled with a cast of characters drawn from San Francisco's Castro District, the "Dark Prince" and "the Boiz" take you from one con to the next until a single brazen act leads to murder. However, the story doesn't end there. There are the dramatic courtroom trials that no one predicted and the shocking ending that no one expected-not even the judge. UNTIL SOMEONE GETS HURT-Tyson Wrensch

Beau Webster is a Tallahassee, Florida based private investigator who is a former officer with the Fort Lauderdale Police Department. Like Travis McGee, the famous fictional private investigator created by John D. McDonald, Webster prowls the southern tier of the U.S., working for those in need of justice. Like Kendrick Johnson, A Valdosta, GA teenager, Johnson, an African American, was found dead in the gym of the high school he attended rolled up in a gym mat. Investigating, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation claimed Johnson died accidentally when he crawled into the mat and smothered. What they didn't explain was why his face was bludgeoned and bloody and why he had a stab wound on his arm. Working for the Johnson family attorney, Webster has uncovered a conspiracy by mostly white high school athletes that led to Johnson's death and the refusal of the local authorities to indict them, making this a civil rights case. THE MURDER OF KENDRICK JOHNSON? Fred Rosen and Beau Webster

In this explicit first-hand account, a biker who spent 46 years as a member of the Hells Angels and Satan's Choice invites bestselling author Peter Edwards into the story of life lived as we've only imagined it. A kid raised by his father's fists on the wrong side of a blue-collar town, Lorne Campbell grew up watching the local bikers ride past, making him wonder what that kind of freedom and power would feel like. He soon found out. At the age of seventeen, he became the youngest-ever member of the Satan's Choice Motorcycle Club and spent the next five decades living a life for which he does not ask forgiveness, only that his story finally be told, and that his family finally understand what drove him to live the way he did. With moments of terror and humour, great sadness and the simple pleasures of camaraderie and the open road, Unrepentant is a book like none other. UNREPENTANT-The Strange and (sometimes) Terrible Life of Lorne Campbell, Satan's Choice and Hell's Angel Biker