Historical Nonfiction Crime

Weird but True Stories from the 1950's: Bizarre, Shocking, and Unbelievable Tales from America’s Atomic Age Think you know the 1950's? Think again. Beneath the surface of poodle skirts, chrome diners, and black-and-white TV was a decade overflowing with mystery, irony, and stranger-than-fiction true stories. This captivating collection reveals ten astonishing real-life events from the 1950's that defy expectation and logic—each one verified and rooted in historical fact. From radar panic over Washington D.C. to the eerie Phantom Whistler of New Jersey, from mid-air collisions with ...

Some secrets refuse to stay buried, even when the ground is frozen solid. Nature can be a pristine sanctuary or a brutal accomplice. In this gripping anthology, the harshest winter environments play a central role in some of the most baffling and chilling investigations in history. From remote mountain passes to quiet suburban streets buried under sudden blizzards, extreme weather has a unique way of freezing time, concealing tracks, and preserving vital evidence that waits decades to be uncovered. Journey through a meticulously researched collection of harrowing accounts where plunging ...

THE GENERAL THEY COULDN'T LET COME HOME. December 9, 1945. Three weeks before flying home. A staff car on a quiet German road is struck by an Army truck at fifteen miles per hour. Everyone walks away except the passenger in the back. He had survived North Africa. Sicily. Normandy. The Bulge. Three years of open warfare and not one of the German divisions sent to stop him had managed it. A slow turn in a parking lot broke his neck. Twelve days later, Patton is dead. No autopsy requested. No investigation opened. No one asks about the leather ledger. No one asks about the congressional ...

NATIONAL BESTSELLER An enormously engaging portrait of a most beguiling Southern city: “Elegant and wicked.... [This] might be the first true-crime book that makes the reader want to book a bed and breakfast for an extended weekend at the scene of the crime." —The New York Times Book...

A journalist's twenty-year fascination with the Manson murders leads to shocking new revelations about the FBI's involvement in this riveting reassessment of an infamous case in American history. Over two grim nights in Los Angeles, the young followers of Charles Manson murdered seven people...

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER NOW AN FX LIMITED SERIES STREAMING ON HULU NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD WINNER From the author of Empire of Pain—a stunning, intricate narrative about a notorious killing in Northern Ireland and its devastating repercussions. One of The New York...

Starvation. Poison. Cannibalism. Extermination. History's worst horrors weren't committed by monsters. They were carried out by governments, documented in official records, and conducted in broad daylight while the world looked away. You know the atrocities everyone remembers. The ones taught in schools, commemorated in memorials, discussed in documentaries. This book is about the others. The mass deaths that were buried, minimized, or erased from collective memory. The systematic cruelties that unfolded in isolated places where no one intervened. The horrors that killed thousands—...

Step back into the shadowed cities, remote villages, and colonial frontiers of the eighteenth century, a time when reason and enlightenment existed alongside superstition, brutality, and relentless crime. In 25 True Crimes That Shocked the 18th Century, history is brought vividly to life through twenty-five deeply researched true crime stories reconstructed from court records, newspapers, and contemporary accounts. From the Cape Colony in southern Africa to the cities of Europe and the colonies of the Caribbean, North America, and South America, these stories trace a world where violence ...

The instant New York Times bestseller Named a Best Book of the Year by The Washington Post, Slate, Vanity Fair, TIME, Buzzfeed, Smithsonian, BookPage, KCUR, Kirkus, and Boston Globe Nominated for a PEN America Literary Award “It literally changed my outlook on the world…incredible...

Fatal Appointment: The Assassination of President James A. Garfield It was the dawn of the modern age — and the death of a president who could have changed America forever. On a humid July morning in 1881, President James A. Garfield walked into a Washington, D.C. train station — smiling, unguarded, and unaware that a delusional man was waiting for him in the crowd. Two gunshots shattered the peace and hurled the United States into chaos. The assassin, Charles J. Guiteau, believed he was on a mission from God. The doctors who tried to save the president would, in their arrogance, become...

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,...

Step into the polyester-clad, disco-fueled, and unpredictably weird world of the 1970s with this fascinating collection of bizarre, shocking, and unbelievable true stories from one of the most chaotic decades in modern history. In Weird but True Stories from the 1970's, you'll explore ten astonishing tales that reveal the stranger side of the Me Decade—each one entirely real, thoroughly researched, and almost too strange to believe. From exploding record collections and garbage barges gone rogue to military standoffs over a tree and heiresses turned bank robbers, this book uncovers the ...

" La Mia Famiglia is more than the usual coming-of-age story. Anthony Scarpo's personal journey against struggles outside his control, is framed against the backdrop of growing up in his father's bar business, the insular world of 1960s and 70s Tampa, and the unnerving specter of the Mafia. An intriguing, and well-paced, story that belongs firmly in the Tampa history canon." Scott M. Deitche. Author Cigar City Mafia: A Complete History of the Tampa Underworld From modest beginnings in a Pennsylvania coal mine to the height of success in Tampa, Florida, there was one constant threat in the ...

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...

More Murder. More Secrets. More True Crime—Right Here in Adams County. In this chilling follow-up to the best-selling True Crime in Adams County, local author and historian Robert Turek returns with all-new true stories of murder, mayhem, and mystery from Adams County, Illinois. Behind the quiet streets, church steeples, and cornfields lies a darker history most would rather forget… Inside True Crime in Adams County, Volume 2, you’ll discover shocking real-life cases pulled from old newspaper headlines, courthouse records, and long-buried local lore—including: Mass Murder in Mendon ...

A novel in The L.A. Quartet. Internationally acclaimed author James Ellroy presents another literary noir masterpiece of historical paranoia. Los Angeles, 1958. Killings, beatings, bribes, shakedowns—it's standard procedure for Lieutenant Dave Klein, LAPD. He's a slumlord, a bagman, an...

Brooklyn, 1929. During the joy and bustle of the Christmas season, a mysterious package arrives at the Falzone home. Moments later, an explosion rips through the apartment—killing three innocent children: Mary, Philip, and Rose Falzone. Who would send a bomb disguised as a holiday gift? And why target a working-class family? In this gripping true crime investigation, Rod Kackley unearths the dark secrets behind one of New York’s most horrifying unsolved crimes. As police navigate the shadows of 1920s Brooklyn—where organized crime thrives and silence is bought—suspects emerge, but ...

Brought to you by Penguin. There's an old saying: 'a rising tide lifts all boats'. It's normally couched in positive terms; that overall economic improvement will benefit everyone. In the case of hi-tech money laundering, however, it offers a dark vision of the future. The better these...

From the author of Crossed Over, another masterful account of a horrible crime: the murder of four girls, countless other ruined lives, and the evolving complications of the justice system that frustrated the massive attempts--for twenty-five years now--to find and punish those who committed it...

Weird but True Stories from the Roaring 1920s: Strange and Bizarre Tales from the Prohibition Era is a riveting collection of real, historically documented events that prove truth is stranger than fiction. From haunted courtrooms and dance marathons that drove people to madness, to bootlegging schemes, deadly medical frauds, and a massacre that changed organized crime forever, this book explores the weirdest corners of 1920s America. Set against the backdrop of Prohibition, jazz, flappers, and gangsters, these ten unforgettable stories showcase the bizarre side of the decade that redefined ...