True stories Books

This glittering, “wild romp of a story, boldly and beautifully told” (Neal Thompson, author of The First Kennedys) explores the darkly intertwined fates of infamous socialite Ann Woodward and literary icon Truman Capote, sweeping us to the upper echelons...

You thought you knew the story behind the world’s most notorious rock band…the music, the mayhem…it is the stuff of rock n roll legend, chronicled in the New York Times bestselling book and subsequent Netflix movie, The Dirt. Now, as Nikki Sixx, Tommy...

It was the double murder case that gripped Australia, and former Crown Prosecutor Mark Tedeschi KC is finally able to share all the astonishing details.Shortlisted for the 2023 Danger AwardsDorothy Davis and Kerry Whelan were both happy, healthy,...

In this chilling volume of New York Times bestselling author Ann Rule’s Crime Files, discover unforgettable cases of a spouse, lover, family member or helpful stranger who is totally trusted—until it’s too late.Whether driven to extreme violence by greed...

A brilliant examination of the enigmatic Russian revolutionary about whom Winston Churchill said "few men tried more, gave more, dared more and suffered more for the Russian people," and who remains a legendary and controversial figure in his...

This updated edition of the best-selling Crimes that Shocked Australia, is a true anthology of shocking proportions. Learn more about these gruesome crimes that will send shivers down your spine as the most memorable moments in Australia’s crime...

The New York Times bestselling True Crime Files series continues with this haunting collection of the dangers lurking among those we trust the most—from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Stranger Beside Me.Doomed relationships and deadly...

Discover 50 fascinating tales of female pirates, fraudsters, gamblers, bootleggers, serial killers, madams, and outlaws in this illustrated book of lawbreaking and legendary women throughout the ages.Many of us are familiar with the popular slogan...

Clues From Beyond explores the truth about some intense real-life Australian crimes, through the eyes of a psychic medium as she investigates criminal cases and unsolved murders. Debbie Malone is an acclaimed spirit medium who has assisted police...

We are fascinated by true crime stories.Psychologists say one of the main reasons for our obsession is that it gives us an opportunity to feel relieved when we discover someone else is the victim! But while living in a world of rapid social, political,...

In this provocative and eye-opening classic of investigative journalism, the #1 New York Times bestselling author and “America’s best true-crime writer” (Kirkus Reviews), Ann Rule, explores the nearly twenty-year long search for America’s most prolific...

One of the most shocking murder trials in Australia's legal history, and the tribulations of the prosecutor who conducted it.In 1838, eleven convicts and former convicts were put on trial for the brutal murder of 28 Aboriginal men, women and children at...

When Russian tanks rolled into Ukraine, millions of lives changed in an instant.Millions of people were suddenly on the move. In this great flow of people was a reporter from the north of Scotland. Jen Stout left Moscow abruptly, ending up on a border...

What really goes on behind prison walls and in the hearts and minds of inmates?Few know better than Phyllis Taylor who, inspired by Oprah Winfrey's Toronto Lifeclass featuring six incarcerated women, left a comfortable and prestigious career teaching...

Was justice served?For three years during the Second World War, 12,000 Nazis were held in a prisoner-of-war camp at the edge of Medicine Hat, an isolated city of 12,000 people on the bald Canadian prairie. The camp and the townsfolk lived cheerfully...

A PEOPLE magazine pick, Best Books Fall 2023: "A breathtaking memoir about surviving a horrifying childhood; Means...transforms memories...into a work of art."Starred review from Kirkus: "This book is an outstanding debut...A harrowing and soulful memoir...

In this expanded edition of a widely praised book, now available for the first time in North America, the renowned journalist Patrick Cockburn looks at his experience of contracting polio as a child in the context of a new pandemic, that of COVID-19. The...

In his memoir, "Combat Missions: Flying the B-24 Liberator Bomber Out of Manduria, Italy, 450th Bomb Group, 720th Squadron, WWII.," Burl Harmon, 78 years later at the age of 97, describes the impact of WWII on him, a 19-year-old from Boone, Iowa. After...

Discover the most fascinating crimes committed between two of the greatest wars ever fought, from America's first train robbery by the Reno brothers in 1866, to alleged killings at the H. H. Holmes Murder Castle in 1893, to the Rumrich Nazi spy case in...

The mystery of how an ordinary Minnesota girl came to be, briefly, one of the most wanted domestic terrorists in the United StatesBehind every act of domestic terrorism there is someone's child, an average American whose life took a radical turn for...

The explosive history of weaponised mail over hundreds of years.This book unfolds the gripping history of weaponised mail, offering the first-ever comprehensive exploration of this sinister phenomenon. Spanning two centuries, Murder by Mail unveils the...

A Thorough, Comprehensive Guide to Serial Killers for True-Crime FansEqual parts fascinating and horrifying, the stories of serial killers like Ted Bundy and Jeffrey Dahmer have taken on a new cultural prominence with the rise of the true-crime genre...

Geary's inimitable tongue-in-cheek take on last century's most infamous serial killer.

Updated with an Epilogue examining new evidence about the actual perpetrators.Using newly declassified information, Dick Russell builds on four decades of painstaking research inOn the Trail of the JFK Assassins, offering one of the most comprehensive...

This book is about investigating prison gang crimes-the crimes gang members commit for the benefit of, at the direction of, and in association, with the specific intent to promote, further, and assist their criminal street gang. A story told by me, a...

'Bob Whiting came to the city as a stranger in a strange land in 1962 and stayed for five decades - he knows the dark alleys, the good whisky bars, the crooked politicians and the crooks, the baseball players, the bookies...better than anyone...

Discover the truth of what happens when true believers go too far with the shocking stories of the world's most known and horrific cults like The Order of the Solar Temple and the NXIVM Cult.Cults have been around for centuries, and many have been dubbed...

Take a deep dive into the rise and fall of some of the most notorious serial killers of the '80s, including Jeffrey Dahmer, Joseph James DeAngelo, Dennis Lynn Rader, and the Night Stalker.Neon leg warmers, big hair, rock band T-shirts, and mix tapes -...

Skid Dogs is araw and riveting debut memoir about coming of age during the casual oppression of '90s rape culture and the passionate tumult of teenage friendships."I can't remember the last time I read a book so brave. Maybe never." -Ani DiFranco"I fell...

The riveting story of how the murder of prostitute Vivian Gordon brought about the downfall of the mayor of New York City and an end to the dominance of Tammany Hall."Propulsive. . . . Unlike the sensationalist reporters of the era, Wolraich manages to...

The Incredible True Story of the Most Hunted Man in Pacific Coast Historyand the Woman He LovedBefore the 1920s found theirroar, a charismatic gambling addict named Roy Gardner dominated news headlines with daring train robberies and escapes from...

A fascinating pop-history dive into the stories behind the incredibly impactful crimes - both infamous and little-known - that have shaped the legal system as we know it.When asked why true crime is so in vogue, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and New...

Told with unflinching honesty and a touch of gallows humor,Clay and Bonesis the personal memoir of the first female forensic sculptor in the FBI.Lisa Bailey never considered a career working in death until she saw the FBI job posting for a forensic...

Jack Ruby changed history with one bold, violent action: killing accused presidential assassin Lee Harvey Oswald on live TV two days after the November 22, 1963, murder of President John F. Kennedy. But who was Jack Ruby-and how did he come to be in that...

Established in the wake of the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947-8 by the Australian army officer Major-General Walter Cawthorne, then Deputy Chief of Staff in the Pakistan Army, Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) for years remained an...

"Extraordinary storytelling about unfathomable horror."-Library Journal(starred review)"[A] worthy tribute to the extraordinary bravery of a remarkable woman."-Publishers WeeklyIn World War II's Poland, thirty year old Zofia Sterner and her husbandWacek...

Whether investigating a gruesome triple-murder, a fairy tale marriage gone horribly wrong, or a brilliant con artist, Michael Lista has proven himself one of the most gifted storytellers of his generation. In his belief that crime reporting thrives the...

Did Chicago's first black female mayor commit egregious misconduct against two Christian businessmen? Based on a true story, this book takes readers through two federal investigations, the U.S. Attorney's Office, the FBI, demons, angels, and spiritual...

I lost my possessions, my salary, my status, my career, my country. And in that fall, I gained everything.Bhutan is known as the land of Gross National Happiness, a Buddhist Shangri-la hidden in the Himalayas. But in the late 1980s, Bhutan waged a brutal...

An award-winning journalist courageously reveals the personal cost of war reporting, vividly recalling his dangerous assignment and confronting its devastating impact on his family.After ten years reporting from central Africa,Anjan Sundaram is living a...

Self-Portrait, with Parents and Footnotes is a story of movement. Moving from city to city characterized the author's growing up-from Poland to Belgium and from the East Coast to the West Coast of the United States. The book also moves between past and...

Words of wisdom from great samurai leaders: A collection of inspiring essays and aphorisms from Japan's leading warriors.Samurai warrior leaders had to deal with grim conditions of life, death and survival. But such men were not simply rough...

For years, a small unit of France's national police known as 'The Office in Charge of the Fight Against Crimes Against Humanity' has been discreetly chasing down war criminals.As the head of the thirty-person team, Colonel Eric Emeraux has investigated...

"The narrative unfolds like a high-stakes crime novel."-Kirkus ReviewsIn 1898, a group of schoolboys in Bridgeport, Connecticut discovered gruesome packages under a bridge holding the dismembered remains of a young woman.Finding that the dead woman had...

Originally published by Thomas Dunne Books in 2016; hardcover sold 3,000 copies The remarkable story of a series of murders that occurred in a remote corner of the Arctic in 1941 About people, technology, and the loss of connection to our natural...

This book tells the story of Kazuo Odachi who - in 1943, when he was just 16 years-old-joined the Imperial Japanese Navy to become a pilot. A year later, he was unknowingly assigned to the Kamikaze Special Attack Corps - a group of airmen whose mission...

From Serial to The Jinx to Making a Murderer, true crime fever is sweeping America. But how does crime-and punishment-differ in other cultures? True Crime Japan offers a close-up look at this little-documented aspect of...

"We were invisible. We had to be. We took an oath of absolute secrecy. We never even told our immediate families who we were. We went about our lives in New York City. Just like you. We were your accountants, money managers, lawyers, executive...