Criminal Nonfiction

Brought to you by Penguin. When does a bandit become a monarch? When does a gang become a government? And is organised crime at the heart of every modern state? On a thrilling whistle-stop tour of how the world's criminal underbelly has shaped state-making, capitalism, globalisation and all...

From the bestselling, prize-winning author of Say Nothing and Empire of Pain, a spellbinding account of a family devastated by the sudden death of their nineteen-year-old son, only to discover that he had created a secret life which drew him into the dangerous criminal underworld that lies...

From human stew to hammer murders, these are the crimes nightmares are made of. Why read ghost stories when history drips with cannibals, assassins, and ritual killers? This collection brings together all three volumes of the series, delivering 60 chilling true crime stories and mysteries from around the world. Within these pages lie the darkest corners of human history: serial killers who stalked with hammers, ritual murders steeped in superstition, cannibal feasts, political assassinations that shook nations, and unsolved mysteries that defy explanation. Each story is meticulously ...

Do you like true crime stories? You should love these tales then Originally authentic police files, True American Crime Stories are from the 1920s through to the 1950s - the era of gangster, molls and prohibition. Almost (but not quite), lost in the mists of time, these tales romp along with plenty of action and recreate the atmosphere of this exciting and dangerous era using the vernacular of the times. You may not have heard much about some of these bad guys, but they were real, ruthless hoodlums and all had their "15 minutes of fame", leaving trails of death and mayhem behind them. Most ...

16 TRUE AMERICAN CRIME STORIES IN ONE SPECIAL 4 VOLUME BOX SET Do you like true crime stories? You should love these tales then Originally authentic police files, True American Crime Stories are from the 1920s through to the 1950s - the era of gangster, molls and prohibition. Almost (but not quite), lost in the mists of time, these tales romp along with plenty of action and recreate the atmosphere of this exciting and dangerous era using the vernacular of the times. You may not have heard much about some of these bad guys, but they were real, ruthless hoodlums and all had their "15 minutes ...

The sprawling highways and quiet small towns of Texas hide a dark and brutal history. Beyond the headlines and whispered local legends lie the definitive, blood-curdling stories of the state's most horrifying crimes. True Crime - Gore in Texas is not for the faint of heart. This meticulously researched anthology rips open the case files on the Lone Star State's most infamous and psychologically disturbing criminals. From the sadistic "Candy Man" Dean Corll to the shocking acts of family annihilators and the cold, calculated slayings of cartel hitmen, these accounts detail the manhunts that ...

NATIONAL BESTSELLER The most famous true crime novel of all time "chills the blood and exercises the intelligence" (The New York Review of Books)—and haunted its author long after he finished writing it. On November 15, 1959, in the small town of Holcomb, Kansas, four members of the...

An Edgar Award finalist for Best Fact Crime, The Man from the Train is an “impressive…open-eyed investigative inquiry wrapped within a cultural history of rural America” (The Wall Street Journal). In this groundbreaking work of historical true crime, legendary statistician and baseball...

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER. The unbelievable true story of the man who built a billion-dollar online drug empire from his bedroom—and almost got away with it In 2011, a twenty-six-year-old libertarian programmer named Ross Ulbricht launched the ultimate free market: the Silk Road, a clandestine...

*ALSO AVAILABLE AS PART OF A BOX SET* Do you like true crime stories? You should love these tales then Originally authentic police files, True American Crime Stories are from the 1920s through to the 1950s - the era of gangster, molls and prohibition. Almost (but not quite), lost in the mists of time, these tales romp along with plenty of action and recreate the atmosphere of this exciting and dangerous era using the vernacular of the times. You may not have heard much about some of these bad guys, but they were real, ruthless hoodlums and all had their "15 minutes of fame", leaving trails ...

MOSSAD’S NAZI COMMANDO The Shocking True Story of Otto Skorzeny and Israel’s Secret War Against Egypt’s Rocket Program By Gary Covella, Ph.D. A Scar-Faced Nazi. A Nation on the Brink of Annihilation. A Deal with the Devil. What if Israel’s most dangerous Cold War operation did not involve hunting a Nazi—but recruiting one? This is the astonishing, deeply unsettling true story of Otto Skorzeny, Adolf Hitler’s most notorious commando, and the secret alliance that forced Israel to confront the unthinkable in order to survive. A New Existential Threat In the early 1960s, barely ...

Do you like true crime stories? What about real crime committed by women? You may not have heard much about some of these bad women, but they were real and ruthless All had their "15 minutes of fame" leaving trails of death and mayhem behind them Their escapades were daring and reckless and many paid the ultimate price in the end • Radiant Jade – Mat Hari of the East Traitor to her native China, assassin and spy for the Japanese, Radiant Jade was the daughter of a Manchu prince and the mistress of murder and intrigue so sinister that 300 million Chinese thought she was the devil ...

The World's Most Dangerous Places Are Not Where You Think When reality becomes more disturbing than fiction - these are the cases that refuse to be forgotten. From the shadowed souks of Marrakesh to the jungles of Costa Rica, from Cold War Europe to modern-day conspiracy and corruption, this volume delivers 20 meticulously researched true crime cases that expose the darkest corners of human behavior - and the systems that failed to stop it. Featured Cases: The Serial Killer Cobbler of Marrakesh: A trusted man in a crowded market lures women to their deaths - until thirty-six bodies are ...

Freakonomics for criminal justice, The Science of Second Chances presents a groundbreaking approach to criminal justice reform, revealing how small-scale interventions can reduce people’s chances of reoffending and break the incarceration cycle. When criminal justice expert Jennifer Doleac...

The Dark Side of History: 50 True Crime Stories of Murder, Power and Intrigue By Prof. Heinrich Müller Step into the shadowy corridors of history where power, passion, and politics collide in chilling acts of true crime. In this gripping and meticulously researched collection, renowned historian Prof. Heinrich Müller unveils 50 of the most fascinating real-life crimes from ancient times to the 21st century. These are not just tales of murder—they are windows into the darkest corners of human ambition, greed, and betrayal. From ancient political assassinations to modern-day spy scandals,...

NEW YORK TIMES EDITORS’ CHOICE The astonishing true story of “one of the most startling police corruption scandals in a generation” (The New York Times), from the Pulitzer Prize–nominated reporter who exposed a gang of criminal cops and their yearslong plunder of an American city NOW...

In the nonfiction tradition of John Berendt and Erik Larson, the author of the #1 NYT bestseller The Lost City of the Monkey God presents a gripping account of crime and punishment in the lush hills surrounding Florence as he seeks to uncover one of the most infamous figures in Italian history...

From Pulitzer Prize–winning author Gilbert King comes a chilling exploration of one of America’s most haunting wrongful conviction cases. Based on the hit podcast, Bone Valley dives into the dark heart of rural Florida, where a young man’s life was upended by a tragic miscarriage of...

In this intimate legal and historical detective story, the world-renowned lawyer and acclaimed author of East West Street traces the footsteps of two of the twentieth century’s most merciless criminals—accused of genocide and crimes against humanity—testing the limits of immunity and...

WINNER OF THE 2024 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FOR NONFICTION A TIME 10 Best Nonfiction Book of 2024 An NPR Book We Love 2024 A New York Times Notable Book of 2024 A Boston Globe Best Book of 2024 “A work of extraordinary reportage and compassion...[it] will shock you, move you, and leave...