Small Towns True Crime

Two true tales of small-town murders Unfriendly: How a social media feud led to a double homicide When the bodies of Bill Payne and Billie-Jean Hayworth were discovered in their Mountain City, Tennessee home on January 30 2012, investigators initially assumed it was a drug deal gone awry. However, soon their attention was drawn to a vicious online feud that had been simmering in full view of the entire town of Mountain City for over a year. What followed was an unbelievable case involving a CIA agent, a secret relationship, and an impressionable local man who had never had a girlfriend. At ...

A sinister secret lies buried—one that swallows two young teens into an abyss of mystery. When two young teens at a county fair are drawn to desperate cries emanating from the House of Horrors, their world spins into chaos. They never enter, but suddenly, they're gone—vanished into thin air. Thus begins a baffling mystery into which rookie detective Teresa Simmonds and veteran Allan Yeats are thrown headfirst into a maze of secrets and lies. As they unravel the web of secrets and cover-ups, the question haunts them: What happened to Yasmine and Jerry, and why does no one want the truth ...

Whether in Truman Capote’s detailed murder of the Clutter family or Ted Bundy’s small-town charm, criminals have always roamed rural America and towns worldwide. Featuring murder stories, criminal case studies, and more, The Best New True Crime Stories: Small Towns contains all-new accounts from writers of true crime, crime journalism, and crime fiction. And these entries are not based on a true story—they are true stories. Edited by acclaimed author and anthologist Mitzi Szereto, the stories in this volume span the globe.

Murder in the Mountains: True Stories of Crime and Violence in Appalachia pulls back the curtain on the darker side of America’s most mysterious region. From the eerie case of the Greenbrier Ghost—where a murdered woman’s spirit allegedly testified in court—to the bloody Hatfield-McCoy feud, to modern-day horrors like the Pike County Massacre, this book exposes the crimes that shocked small towns and became Appalachian legend. Author R.M. Cochran weaves together true crime, history, and folklore in a haunting journey through real murders, betrayals, and cold-blooded violence hidden ...

She baked bread. She loved funerals. The Devil came to visit. Then her family began to die. In the winter of 1924-1925, a terrifying mystery gripped rural Medina County, Ohio. Members of Martha Wise's family were falling violently ill. Some recovered. Three did not. They were all poisoned. Arsenic. Suspicion soon settled on Martha, a widowed farm woman whose troubled life and increasingly bizarre behavior had already set her apart from those around her. But suspicion wasn't enough. Investigators questioned Martha and searched for answers, but the men trying to solve the case couldn't get ...

During Prohibition, while Al Capone was rising to worldwide prominence as Public Enemy Number One, the townspeople of rural Templeton, Iowa - population just 418 - were busy with a bootlegging empire of their own. Led by Joe Irlbeck, the whip-smart and gregarious son of a Bavarian immigrant, the outfit of farmers, small merchants, and even the church Monsignor worked together to create a whiskey so excellent, it was ordered by name: Templeton Rye.

In a town of 300 people, the most dangerous suspect is the neighbour everyone trusts. Based entirely on documented historical events, court transcripts, and declassified police records, Monsters of the True North strips away the polite myth of Atlantic Canada to expose a chilling history of violence, isolation, and institutional betrayal. The postcard version of Canada’s eastern coast is famous for its lighthouses, fishing villages, and unlocked doors. But there is another Atlantic Canada—one shaped by brutal North Atlantic winters and a generational code of silence that has protected ...

Nothing ever happens in small towns… until it does. In Small Town Murders, Ralph Scott takes readers deep into real-life cases where ordinary communities became the setting for extraordinary violence. From disappearances that left no trace to crimes hidden behind closed doors, each chapter explores how trust, routine, and silence can allow darkness to go unnoticed. Through gripping, carefully researched narratives, this book examines: Crimes that stunned close-knit communities Killers who hid in plain sight Cold cases where answers never came The psychology of trust—and how it can be ...

SMALL TOWN MONSTERS — Second Edition: Fully Revised and Expanded Britain's true crime anthology of rural murder — now completely rewritten. Thirteen real murders. Thirteen British villages. Thirteen killers who hid in plain sight — protected not by distance but by silence. This fully revised Second Edition of Small Town Monsters takes thirteen cold cases and unsolved murders from across British history — 1806 to 2004 — and rebuilds each investigation from the ground up. Every chapter has been rewritten using court records, police files, coroner's inquests, and forensic archives. ...

When Ruie Ann Park - a pillar of the Van Buren, Arkansas, community - was found beaten to death and lying in a pool of blood in her home, the police and local residents assumed her son was the murderer. But the years would uncover a more sinister story. Up till that night, the Park family seemed to have it all.

True Crime in Adams County Adams County, Illinois...a place where the Mississippi carves its path through the land and history runs deep in every brick and backroad. But beneath the surface of this quiet Midwestern county lies a trove of chilling secrets and unspeakable acts long whispered about and rarely confronted. In True Crime in Adams County, these unforgettable stories take readers on a haunting journey through two centuries of murder, mystery, and mayhem. These are not fictional accounts, but true events pulled from dusty courthouse records, yellowed newspaper clippings, and the ...

When the past whispers secrets, two strangers must listen to save the future. Immerse yourself in a gripping thriller where historian Angus Cunningham and Detective Jackie Moralez join forces to unravel a sinister mystery. Two teenagers disappear from the state fair, leading to a harrowing investigation into a centuries-old ritual sacrifice plot. Experience the rush as Angus’s deep historical insights and Jackie’s intense police work collide, racing against time to save the victims from a dark fate. Brace yourself for a whirlwind of suspense and unexpected twists.

Killers hiding in plain sight. Small-town secrets. A girl who knows too much. From the Amazon Charts bestselling author of Unspeakable Things and Bloodline comes a nerve-twisting novel inspired by a shocking true crime. Minnesota, 1977. For the teens of one close-knit community, summer means...

Mara Voss arrived in Blackwater Hollow looking for a quiet refuge. She inherited a shop filled with dusty volumes at the edge of a forgotten river. She thought her greatest challenge would be paying off old debts. She was wrong. The building holds a dark secret. Hidden beneath the floorboards is a manuscript that writes itself. Every new page added to the ancient ledger unleashes another terrifying event upon the isolated community. The townspeople are trapped in a cycle of their own silent complicity. They know exactly what happens when the ink dries. Now the locals are turning hostile. ...

In the quiet town of Price, Utah, where tranquility is the norm, the summer of 1970 bore witness to a gruesome murder that forever altered the life of 4-year-old Heidi Jones. The haunting image of her mother, Loretta, lying lifeless as viewed from the keyhole of her bedroom door is an indelible memory that haunted Heidi throughout her life. It ignited an unwavering determination to ensure her mother's murder would not remain unsolved. But it would be 46 long years before Heidi's relentless pursuit of justice would find an ally in David Brewer, a high school acquaintance turned Detective Sgt...

Don't miss Neil Lancaster's brand-new espionage thriller series! No Mercy available to buy now. ‘Grabbed me from the first page’ Ian Rankin ‘The best police procedural I’ve read in years’ Jane Casey This grave can never be opened. The head of Scotland’s most powerful crime family is...

A family murdered. A child missing. A town buried in silence. In April 1981, the Sharp family was brutally attacked in their modest cabin in the quiet mountain town of Keddie, California. Three victims were found bound, beaten, and stabbed. One child had vanished. The killers were never charged. The evidence was left to rot. The silence became its own kind of crime. Cabin 28: The Keddie Murders and the Silence That Followed is a gripping and deeply immersive true crime account of one of America’s most haunting unsolved cases. Through long-buried witness statements, chilling timelines, and...

Beneath the quiet surface of America's heartland, Chilling secrets refuse to stay buried. The Midwest is known for its tight-knit communities, friendly faces, and peaceful landscapes. But what happens when that peace is shattered by a crime so brutal—and so baffling—that it leaves an entire town looking over its shoulder for decades? In Cold Case Midwest, step past the yellow police tape and into the chilling reality of the region's most haunting unsolved mysteries. Spanning across the rural stretches and small towns of Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas, Indiana, Wisconsin, and ...

"Finlay’s debut is a twisty puzzle that will please fans of thrillers, suspense, and true crime. Cady McClain and Jon Lindstrom capably voice a large cast of characters and keep ratcheting up the tension." -- Library Journal One of the Most Anticipated Books of the year: Newsweek CNN...

Two girls vanished. A woman buried alive. Between two crimes lie decades of secrets yet to be unearthed in a pulse-pounding novel by the Edgar Award–nominated author of Unspeakable Things. Summer 1980: Despite the local superstition that the Bendy Man haunts the woods, three girls go into a...