Showing results by author "David Wilson" in Biographies & Memoirs

Twelve-year-old Marion Parker was kidnapped from her Los Angeles school by an unknown assailant on December 15, 1927. Her body was found days later, delivered to her father by the killer, who fled with the ransom money. When William Hickman was hunted down and charged with the killing, he admitted to all of it, in terrifying detail, but that was only the start. His insanity plea was the first of its kind in the history of California, and the nature of the crime led to a media frenzy unlike any the country had seen up to that point.

Before David Wilson became the UK's pre-eminent criminologist, he was just a young boy growing up in the Scottish town of Carluke. As a child, the brutal murder of a young woman rocked this small community, but very quickly a man was arrested for the crime, convicted and put behind bars. For most, life slowly carried on - case closed. 

In this fascinating and informative audiobook, Professor David Wilson tells the stories of Britain's serial killers from Jack the Ripper to the extraordinary Suffolk Murders case. David Wilson has worked as a prison governor and as a profiler and has been described as the UK's leading expert on serial killers. His work has led him to meet several of the UK's deadliest killers and build up fascinating insights into what makes a serial killer - and who they are most likely to target.  

Professor David Wilson has spent his professional life working with violent men - especially men who have committed murder. Aged 29 he became, at that time, the UK's youngest ever prison governor in charge of a jail, and his career since then has seen him sat across a table with all sorts of killers: sometimes in a tense interview; sometimes sharing a cup of tea (or something a little stronger); sometimes looking them in the eye to tell them that they are psychopaths.

In October 2015, Peter Farquhar was found dead in his house in Maids Moreton, lying on the sofa next to a bottle of whisky. An inquest was made, and Peter's death was quickly ruled an accident. But after the death of another elderly neighbour, the dreadful truth began to emerge: both victims had been groomed, seduced and mentally tortured by a young man, Benjamin Field, who had used his position of power in the community to target and exploit the elderly. He almost got away with it.  

In this audiobook adaptation of the 2013 documentary, David Wilson introduces listeners to notable serial killers throughout Britain. Using interviews, archives, and his own extensive knowledge, he is able to piece together the stories of these criminals, as well as the story of Broadmoor Hospital, the high-security prison that was home to many of the criminally insane and housed some of the most notorious criminals in Britain's history.

A fascinating journey to rediscover the music of a composer who was lauded in his day yet forgotten soon after, The Dresden Manuscripts chronicles David Wilson's 30-year quest to locate, reconstruct, and perform the music of Johann Adolf Hasse, a composer who, along with his equally famous wife, mezzo-soprano Faustina Bordoni, had close personal associations with Bach, Handel, Mozart, Haydn, and Gluck.