Showing results for "Thief" in Biographies & Memoirs

Queen of Thieves is the gritty, fast-paced story of Fredericka "Marm" Mandelbaum, a poor Jewish woman who rose to the top of her profession in organized crime during the Gilded Age in New York City. During her more than twenty-five-year reign as the country’s top receiver of stolen goods, she accumulated great wealth and power inconceivable for women engaged in business, legitimate or otherwise.

*#1 New York Times bestseller* *Shortlisted for The ALCS Gold Dagger Award for Non-Fiction* 'A breath-taking read, as compelling as a Highsmith novel. I loved it' – Maggie O'Farrell 'Brilliant… A thrilling heist caper along the lines of Ocean’s Eleven’ –Sunday Times ‘Gripping' –...

On the 8th August 1963 a gang of 15 men stopped a mail train in Buckinghamshire and proceeded to steal sacks of money worth £2.6 million. It was the biggest heist ever carried out in the UK and frontpage news around the world. The mastermind behind this most audacious crime of the twentieth century was Bruce Reynolds. Perhaps the last of the 'gentlemen villains'; Reynolds epitomised that particular breed of sharply dressed post-war criminals who mixed with royalty and movie stars, and never carried a gun. They thrived on adventure and glamour, and the Great Train Robbery was their last ride.

Rookie cop Carrie Santero has always been fascinated by serial killers. As a teenager, she wrote a letter to Charles Manson in prison - and received a chilling reply. Then she came face to face with a child murderer in her small Pennsylvania town, an encounter that haunts her to this day. Now, as a detective in training, she finally has her chance to make a difference; to hunt down a psychopathic sadist who embodies the very nature of evil itself. 

A #1 bestseller from coast to coast, Den of Thieves tells the full story of the insider-trading scandal that nearly destroyed Wall Street, the men who pulled it off, and the chase that finally brought them to justice. Pulitzer Prize–winner James B. Stewart shows for the first time how four of...

Bastian Bishop. That's his name. He's rough, rugged, and utterly unpredictable. Silent and steady one second, and a nightmare the next. He's an outsider and in my world outsiders don't belong. But he doesn't seem to care. After one night of reckless rebellion, the tattooed tyrant keeps coming back, sneaking into my world without permission, and causing trouble I can't allow. I should end it before my father discovers my existence and does it for me. But Bastian says, like it or not... I am his now, that nothing and no one will stand in his way.

Drowning in debt and facing almost certain bankruptcy, John Darwin did the unthinkable—he paddled out to sea in his red canoe and disappeared. After a massive search and rescue operation failed to find his body, he was assumed dead, lost in the bleak North Sea. But everything was far from what it seemed. Nearly six years later, after John miraculously returned from the dead with a strange tale of 'amnesia' and sporting a suspicious golden tan, the police and the press were desperate to discover the truth behind his remarkable resurrection.

At an elegant dinner party, the atmosphere shifts when a valuable coin mysteriously disappears while being passed among the guests. To clear his name, one gentleman eagerly offers to empty his pockets for the host, prompting a chorus of agreement from the others. However, one man staunchly refuses and abruptly leaves the gathering. Is he the thief, or does his reluctance to be inspected stem from a deeper, undisclosed motive? - Summary by Carolin

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK In Susan Orlean's mesmerizing true story of beauty and obsession is John Laroche, a renegade plant dealer and sharply handsome guy, in spite of the fact that he is missing his front teeth and has the posture of al dente spaghetti. In...

An inspiring and raw autobiography from the Reverend Paul Cowley MBE. Paul Cowley grew up in Manchester amid the chaotic world of his alcoholic parents. His early exposure to heavy drinking, explosive arguments and the unnerving aggression of his father led him into homelessness and crime. By...

Professor Dick Hobbs is a leading commentator on the culture of crime and criminality. East End born and bred, he is a fascinating dichotomy of the criminal and the intellectual world, allowing him a unique insight into a subject that holds fascination for so many. When he was growing up, the East End was rocking with dock strikes, thievery and the kind of family values practiced by the Krays the Tibbs and a few dozen other outlaw clans. Violence was everywhere. Crime was an unavoidable fact of life.

As heard on NPR's This American Life “Absorbing . . . Though it's non-fiction, The Feather Thief contains many of the elements of a classic thriller.” —Maureen Corrigan, NPR’s Fresh Air “One of the most peculiar and memorable true-crime books ever.” —Christian Science Monitor A...

A journalist travels throughout mainland China and Taiwan in search of his family’s hidden treasure and comes to understand his ancestry as he never has before. In 1938, when the Japanese arrived in Huan Hsu’s great-great-grandfather Liu’s Yangtze River hometown of Xingang, Liu was forced...

Joan Hannington was the most notorious female figure in London's criminal underworld during the 80s, earning her the nickname 'The Godmother'. With her stunning looks and glamorous wardrobe, Joan was constantly underestimated, but she used this to her advantage and became an undetected mastermind in high-stakes jewellery theft. Often transforming herself into different characters, Joan seamlessly got away with millions of pounds in diamonds. Joan is the true story of her meteoric rise from petty offender to one of Britain's most accomplished diamond thieves

One of the most remarkable true-crime narratives of the twenty-first century: the story of the world’s most prolific art thief, Stéphane Breitwieser. In this spellbinding portrait of obsession and flawed genius, the best-selling author of The Stranger in the Woods brings us into...

Winner of the Audible Best of the Year Award for Bios & Memoirs Read by the author, Markus Zusak. From one of the world’s great storytellers and author of The Book Thief, Markus Zusak, this is a tender, motley and exquisitely written memoir about dogs, love and nature. "There's a madman dog...

A former Wall Street senior banker, psychology expert, and diagnosed psychopath unloads untold dirty secrets of the investment-banking industry and shares recession-proof cryptocurrency, stock, and ETF investment portfolios in this short memoir.

A rollicking true-crime adventure about a rogue who trades in rare birds and their eggs—and the wildlife detective determined to stop him. On May 3, 2010, an Irish national named Jeffrey Lendrum was apprehended at Britain’s Birmingham International Airport with a suspicious parcel strapped...

London, 1946. Alice Diamond, the Queen of the Forty Thieves, rules over her gang of hoisters with a bejewelled fist. Nell is a slum girl from Waterloo, hiding a secret pregnancy and facing a desperately uncertain future. Sensing an opportunity to exploit Nell's vulnerabilities, Alice takes her under her wing, and before long, Nell is experiencing the secret world of hoisting, with all the dangers—and glamorous trappings—that comes with this underworld existence.

Cally Magalhães’ memoir is a gripping pause-resister of an autobiography. With a novelist’s eye for descriptive detail, Cally invites us to accompany her on her astonishing journey from England to India and Estonia, and finally to São Paulo, Brazil. We join her as she follows a trail of signs and blessings to bring relief, hope, and healing to people who need help, wherever they may be - in the streets, the favelas, the prisons, or hidden under bridges.