True Crime West

The romance of the West is built on an endless armature of shootouts and train robberies, cowboys versus Indians, white hat versus black, and everybody versus the wilderness. From John Colter's harrowing escape from the Blackfeet to Hugh Glass' six-week crawl to civilization after a grizzly attack, from Custer's final moments to John Wesley Powell's treacherous run through the rapids of the Grand Canyon, Cowboys, Mountain Men, and Grizzly Bears takes the top 50 wildest episodes in the region's history and presents them to the listener in one convenient, narrative-driven package.

Behind closed doors on Cromwell Street, horror had a house number. In Murder Tales: Fred & Rose, acclaimed crime historian H. N. Lloyd strips away the veneer of normality to expose the monstrous partnership of Fred and Rose West. From their abusive childhoods to the gruesome secrets buried beneath their Gloucester home, Lloyd combines meticulous research with sharp psychological insight to chart how this couple lured, tortured and killed at least twelve people. Along the way, he examines the societal blind spots and systematic failings that allowed their crimes to continue unchecked. Part ...

When the FBI turned an Irish mobster into an informant, they corrupted the entire judicial system and sanctioned the worst crime spree Boston has ever seen. This is the true story behind the major motion picture. James "Whitey" Bulger became one of the most ruthless gangsters in US history, and...

WANTED WOMEN: True Stories of Outlaw Women of the Wild West They were accused, arrested, and erased—yet they never stopped riding. In this gripping volume of historical nonfiction, Richard Fleischman uncovers the true stories of women who defied law and convention to become fugitives, rebels, and outlaws on the American frontier. From saloon shootouts to stagecoach heists, from the gallows to the open plains, these women lived outside the lines—and paid the price. They carried revolvers under corsets. They stole horses, smuggled whiskey, ran brothels, and broke jail. Some were hardened ...

Billy the Kid - a.k.a. Henry McCarty, Henry Antrim, and William Bonney - was a horse thief, cattle rustler, charismatic rogue, and cold-blooded killer. A superb shot, the Kid gunned down four men single-handedly and five others with the help of cronies. Two of his victims were Lincoln County, New Mexico, deputies, killed during the Kid's brazen daylight escape from the courthouse jail on April 28, 1881.

Acclaimed journalist Randall Sullivan follows Russell Poole, a highly decorated LAPD detective who in 1997 was called to investigate a controversial cop-on-cop shooting, eventually to discover that the officer killed was tied to Marion “Suge” Knight’s notorious gangsta rap label, Death Row Records. During his investigation, Poole came to realize that a growing cadre of black officers were allied not only with Death Row, but with the murderous Bloods street gang. And incredibly, Poole began to uncover evidence that at least some of these “gangsta cops” may have been involved in the murders of rap superstars Notorious B.I.G. and Tupac Shakur.

Mary Stevens was a typical eighteen-year-old girl, living in 1908. She was ready to graduate from school and start her adult life. She lived in Orderville, Utah, a community established for those who wanted to live the United Order. Four shots ended her life one April afternoon and shocked the small community. There had only been one outsider in town at that time and he mysteriously disappeared. The community knew it was him. The posse knew how to find him. But, if it was not him, could it be one of their own? Based on the shocking true story of a small-town murder.

American Outlaws: The Bandits, Rebels, and Renegades Who Became Legend They robbed banks, held up trains, and defied the law. Some were killers. Some were folk heroes. All became immortal. The American outlaw is more than a criminal—he's a symbol of rebellion in a nation born from revolution. From the chaotic aftermath of the Civil War to the desperate dust bowl years, these were the men and women who chose freedom over law, adventure over toil, and infamy over obscurity. They lived fast, died young (usually), and left behind stories that grew more fantastic with every retelling. In ...

One day in 1987, Fred Wilkerson up and vanished in Troup County, Georgia. It was a mystery beset with suspicious circumstances, but the evidence never led anywhere, and the case went cold, Wilkerson's whereabouts unknown. That is, until a remarkable set of circumstances allowed author and investigator Clay Bryant to breathe life back into the case nearly two decades later.

In late-Victorian London, Minnie Pheby became a scandal: a young woman accused of burglary at a time when breaking into houses was considered a man’s crime. Branded by the press as the “lady burglar”, she was hunted, punished, and turned into a cautionary tale. Catwoman of West London reconstructs her story from surviving records — and reveals what her crimes exposed about class, gender, and the fragile promise of the Victorian home.

“A haunting true crime tale of systemic incompetence and racism” (New York Times) – and its devastating effect on innocent lives After two three-year-old girls were raped and murdered in rural Mississippi, law enforcement pursued and convicted two innocent men: Kennedy Brewer and Levon...

On a sultry August morning in 1970, the battered body of a young woman was hoisted from a dry well just outside Hogansville, Georgia. Author and investigator Clay Bryant was there, witnessing the macabre scene. Then fifteen, Bryant was tagging along with his father, Buddy Bryant, Hogansville chief of police. The victim, Gwendolyn Moore, had been in a violent marriage. That was no secret. But her husband had connections to a political machine that held sway over the Troup County Sheriff's Office overseeing the case. To the dismay and bafflement of many, no charges were brought.

On the night of June 19,1982 in suburban Houston, respected attorney James Campbell and his wife Virginia were shot to death in their luxurious home. The scene showed no signs of struggle or forced entry. Although the police eventually suspected James and Virginia Campbell’s daughter, Cindy Campbell Ray, was involved, for years there wasn’t enough evidence to make an arrest. When the truth was eventually discovered it was far more horrifying than anyone imagined.

The diamonds of Sierra Leone have funded one of the most savage rebel campaigns in modern history. These "blood diamonds" are smuggled out of West Africa and sold to legitimate diamond merchants in London, Antwerp, and New York, often with the complicity of the international diamond industry. Eventually, these very diamonds find their way into the rings and necklaces of brides the world over.

On a sunny May morning in 1998 in Cortez, Colorado, three desperados in a stolen truck opened fire on the town cop, shooting him 20 times; then they blasted their way past dozens of police cars and disappeared into 10,000 square miles of the harshest wilderness terrain on the North American continent. Self-trained survivalists, the outlaws eluded the most sophisticated law enforcement technology on the planet and a pursuit force that represented more than 75 local, state, and federal police agencies with dozens of SWAT teams, U.S. Army Special Forces....

With a new introduction “The most comprehensive, even-handed and best written account of Ruby Ridge currently in print.” — Washington Times From #1 New York Times bestselling author of Beautiful Ruins, Jess Walter, here is the story of what happened on Ruby Ridge: the tragic and unlikely...

When Ghana achieved independence from Britain in 1957, it instantly became a target for home-grown opportunists and rapacious Western interests determined to claim whatever assets colonialism hadn’t already stripped. A CIA-funded military junta ousted the new nation’s inspiring president, Kwame Nkrumah, then falsely accused him of hiding the country’s gold overseas. Into this big lie stepped one of history’s most charismatic scammers, a con man to rival the trickster god Anansi.

The sensational, forgotten true story of a woman who murdered her married lover in Gilded Age San Francisco and the trial that epitomized the city's transformation from raucous frontier town into modern metropolis—from the New York Times bestselling author of Empire of Sin Shortly before dusk...

Editorial Review “Desert Graveyard is a chilling, atmospheric thriller that buries readers inside a nightmare carved into the New Mexico desert. As investigators uncover a spiral of graves forming a massive eye in the sand, the story escalates into a relentless hunt between predator and pursuer that feels both terrifyingly real and psychologically haunting. Ted Lazaris delivers a disturbing, cinematic entry in the Documented Terror series that will leave readers looking over their shoulder long after the final page.” DESERT GRAVEYARD A True Documented Terror — The West Mesa Bone ...

Whether sitting down with a militia member seeking to protect his rural Utah town from Antifa or talking with grassroots organizers working across ideological divides, Gaines Quammen brings to life connections and contradictions that shape our politics and our lives far beyond the West.