True stories Books

For readers of THE TEACHER'S PET and MISSING WILLIAM TYRELL. It's the maxim that every true-crime lover knows: One infant's death in a family is a tragedy. Two is suspicious. And three must be murder. But in 2003 the widely accepted mantra of Meadow's...

In this groundbreaking work of investigative journalism and true crime, Stacy Horn sheds light on how the subprime mortgage scandal of the 1970s and a long history of white-collar crime slowly devastated East New York, a Brooklyn neighborhood that would...

Champion swimmer, trailblazer and film idol - the adventurous life of our first Hollywood superstar, by the bestselling author of Sister Viv, Mrs Kelly, Hudson Fysh, Banks and Banjo Born into a daring, musical family in 1886, Annette Kellerman was a...

‘Grimly fascinating … engrossing’ Daily Mail NINE HISTORIC CRIMES. ONE FAMILIAR OBSESSION. In early modern England, murder truly was most foul. Trials were gossipy events packed to the rafters with noisome spectators. Executions were public proceedings...

From the Arizona Congressman, a "powerful" and "searing" (PW) chronicle of the eternal bonds forged between the Marines of Lima Company, the hardest-hit unit of the Iraq WarAt first, they were “Lucky Lima.” Infantryman Ruben Gallego and his brothers in...

SOON TO BE A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE from director Ridley Scott, starring Lady Gaga and Adam Driver.The sensational true story of murder, madness, glamour, and greed that shook the Gucci dynasty, now fully updated with a new afterword. On March 27, 1995,...

A heartbreaking true story of a broken family and the foster carer who wants to keep them together… The Watsons are no strangers to sibling placements but when Casey takes the call from her supervising social worker one frosty January morning, she can...

One young woman missing, two found murdered -- the gripping true story of Australia's longest-running homicide investigation ** Winner of the Ned Kelly Award for True Crime**In the early hours of January 27, 1996, after an evening spent celebrating at...

“So richly detailed, you can almost smell the gunsmoke and the sweat of the saddles.”—Hampton Sides, New York Times bestselling authorFrom Spur Award-winning author Mark Lee Gardner, his classic dual biography of Billy the Kid and Sheriff Pat Garrett,...

The true story of a 6-year-old boy with a dreadful secret. Oskar’s school teacher raises the alarm. Oskar’s mother is abroad and he has been left in the care of ‘friends’, but has been arriving in school hungry, unkempt, and with bruises on his arms,...

“Les Standiford’s account of the decades-long attempt to solve the murder of Adam Walsh is chilling, heartbreaking, hopeful, and as relentlessly suspenseful as anything I’ve ever read. A triumph in every way.” —Dennis Lehane, author of Mystic River“The...

John "Red" Shea, 40, was a top lieutenant in the South Boston Irish mob run, led by James "Whitey" Bulger. An ice–cold enforcer with a red–hot temper, Shea was a legend among his peers in the 1990s South Boston, as much as John Gotti, Bugsy Siegel, and...

A riveting investigation of the brutal murders of two Dartmouth professors –– a book that, like In Cold Blood, reveals the chilling reality behind a murder that captivated the nation.On a cold night in January 2001, the idyllic community of...

A Mafia boss tells all .... to his former neighbour Anthony 'Gaspipe' Casso, boss of New York's Lucchese crime family, was a Mafia superstar, responsible for more than fifty murders. Now serving thirteen life sentences at a federal prison in Colorado,...

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER Most people think I save dogs, but really they saved me. Niall Harbison is a dog hero based in Thailand. He spends his days feeding, caring for and rescuing the many street dogs he comes across. With every rescue there’s a...

The incredible true story of Ana Montes, the most damaging female spy in US history, drawing upon never-before-seen material and to be published upon her release from prison, for readers of Agent Sonya and A Woman of No Importance.'This spy tale reads...

A 5-year-old boy, Ethan, is brought to Casey in the middle of the night after the sudden death of his young mother after a drug overdose. Estranged from her parents, Ethan’s mum had been abused by her ex-partner, and began taking drugs to cope. Ethan is...

The Remarkable Story of How One Man Defied the Odds At 18, Paul Wood thought he had lost everything. He had committed an act he knew would send him to prison for many years. To a young man like Paul, it might as well have been for the rest of his life...

(Previously published as ‘After the Flood’)Former RAF Tornado Navigator and Gulf War veteran John Nichol sets out on a personal journey to discover what happened to 617 Squadron after the flood. RAF 617 Squadron’s destruction of the dams at the heart of...

A masterful, revelatory work of literary non-fiction about a teenage girl’s shocking crime — and its extraordinary aftermath. 'An absorbing work of social history and a story about the mystery and miracle of forgiveness...it deserves to be read with...

WHEN PARADISE TURNS TO CHAOS, WHO WILL SURVIVE? An incredible true story of murder, romance and a fateful search for utopia in the Galápagos from the New York Times bestselling author of The Ghosts of Eden ParkAt the height of the Great Depression, Los...

A gripping memoir by a former NZSAS commander on serving in Afghanistan over four deployments and operating at the edge of his limits 'Frighteningly, devastatingly real.' - The Post In 2011, following the Taliban siege on Kabul's Intercontinental Hotel,...

Haunting true crime stories of the supernatural and paranormal The most haunted home that world-famous ghost hunter Lorraine Warren ever stepped foot in was a three-bedroom brick home in suburban Sydney.FORGET THE HORRORS OF AMITYVILLE AND DELVE INTO...

'A story of grit and determination from a woman who writes the way she lives - fiercely, with passion and in full colour.' - Michele A'Court 'There are times, admittedly rare, when a book comes along that needs only one word to evaluate it. In the case...

THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER A TIMES BEST MEMOIR OF 2023‘Grippingly vivid and pacey’ THE TIMES‘A seven-year old girl on a seventy-foot yacht, for ten years, over fifty thousand miles of sailing’ SIMON WINCHESTER 'An astonishing almost day-by-day...

‘Grimly fascinating … engrossing’ Daily Mail NINE HISTORIC CRIMES. ONE FAMILIAR OBSESSION. In early modern England, murder truly was most foul. Trials were gossipy events packed to the rafters with noisome spectators...

THE SUNDAY TIMES #1 BESTSELLER'Reads like a thriller… I couldn't put Max Hastings's new book down' DAILY MAIL'Hastings is a master of drama, a writer intimately familiar with the mind of the soldier' THE TIMES Operation Biting was one of the most...

A captivating, eloquent and nuanced book, We All Go into the Dark is an absolute must-read for true-crime fans across the board. Three women were brutally murdered between early 1968 and late 1969, each after a night dancing at Glasgow’s infamous...

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER"A fast-paced debut...Espionage buffs will savor this vibrant account." - Publishers Weekly A U.S. naval counterintelligence officer working to safeguard Pearl Harbor; a Japanese spy ordered to Hawaii to gather information on...

"A beguiling tale of espionage and double-dealing in the years leading up to World War II. ... Strap in for a narrative that demands a suspension of disbelief—and richly rewards it." —Kirkus Reviews (starred review); Best Books of February...

'Pentridge was a place of murder and mayhem. A bluestone hell. The worst prison Australia has ever seen.' Andrew Kirby, former inmate Welcome to Pentridge, Australia's most infamous prison.In the long-awaited return to his bestselling true crime series...

The Iraq War’s only living Medal of Honor recipient reveals the untold story of the remarkable brotherhood behind one of the war’s legendary acts of valor In 2004, he stormed an enemy stronghold to save his platoon. Fourteen years later, his unit...

SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER‘If you think the UK isn't corrupt, you haven't looked hard enough … This terrifying book follows a global current of dirty money, and the murders and kidnappings required to sustain it’ GEORGE MONBIOT, GUARDIANAN ECONOMIST AND...

Underbelly meets Molly's Game - the true crime investigation that rewrote the story of Melbourne's infamous gangland war and triggered a royal commission. Melbourne's gangland war was an era dominated by murders, stings, hits, drug busts, corruption and...

The incredible true story of Louis Zamperini, now a major motion picture directed by Angelina Jolie. THE INTERNATIONAL NUMBER ONE BESTSELLERIn 1943 a bomber crashes into the Pacific Ocean. Against all odds, one young lieutenant survives. Louis Zamperini...

NUMBER 1 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLERNo one is born a leader. But through sheer determination and by confronting life’s challenges, Ant Middleton has come to know the meaning of true leadership. In First Man In, he shares the core lessons he’s learned over...

“Powerful. . . . A candid, highly informative, and heartfelt tale of forgiveness between former fierce enemies in the Vietnam War.” —St. Petersburg TimesThe #1 New York Times bestseller We Were Soldiers Once . . . and Young brought to life one of the...

Daniel Reingold was one of the top analysts on Wall Street, specializing in telecom companies such as WorldCom and Qwest. Reingold believed in Wall Street, but in this memoir he describes how his enthusiasm gradually gave way to disgust when he saw how...

Internationally bestselling author and foster carer Cathy Glass tells the story of one of the first children that she fostered. Little Beth, aged 7, had been brought up by her father after her mother left when she was a toddler. But when he’s suddenly...

Can I Let You Go? is the true story of Faye, a wonderful young woman who may never be able to parent her unborn child. Faye is 24, pregnant, and has learning difficulties as a result of her mother’s alcoholism. Faye is gentle, childlike and vulnerable,...

The definitive account of Australia's most notorious criminal case When bodies were discovered in barrels in 1999, hidden within a bank vault in Snowtown in South Australia, Jeremy Pudney was one of the first journalists on the scene. Now, using his...

The #1 New York Times bestselling memoir of U.S. Navy Seal Chris Kyle, and the source for Clint Eastwood’s blockbuster, Academy-Award nominated movie.  “An amazingly detailed account of fighting in Iraq--a humanizing, brave story that’s...

The definitive account of when Australia's famed Rats of Tobruk they took on General Erwin Rommel, The Desert Fox. The classic story of 1941's Battle of Tobruk, in which more than 15,000 Australian troops - backed by British artillery - fought in...

Yarns and memories that capture the experience of policing in the bush, gathered by the inimitable Bill 'Swampy' Marsh, bestselling author of GREAT AUSTRALIAN FLYING DOCTOR STORIES and GREAT AUSTRALIAN CWA STORIES.  'I tell you, you meet some...

The gripping true story of the woman who became the Gestapo's most wanted spy In the early 1930s, Nancy Wake was a young woman enjoying a bohemian life in Paris. By the end of the Second World War, she was the Gestapo's most wanted person. As a naïve,...

The fifteenth fostering memoir by Cathy Glass. Danny was petrified and clung to me in desperation as I carried him to my car. Trapped in his own dark world, he couldn't understand why his parents no longer loved or wanted him, and were sending him away...

‘I’m going to love my baby and give her lots of attention,’ Jade said. ‘I’ll show my mum she’s wrong.’Jade, 17, is pregnant, homeless and alone when she’s brought to live with Cathy. Jade is desperate to keep her baby, but little more than a child...

A magisterial history of the greatest and most terrible event in history, from one of the finest historians of the Second World War. A book which shows the impact of war upon hundreds of millions of people around the world- soldiers, sailors and airmen;...