Classic True Crime

A true-crime collection culled from the crime files of the New York Times best-selling series, Notorious USA.

It is no secret that true crime murder stories are not for the faint of heart. They can lead you to double-check your windows and doors at night, and question everything you thought or believed about human nature. Yet they are intriguing and fascinating at the same time. What is it that makes us different from those who take the lives of others? That is a question that many ask themselves, and these true crime stories help to identify the method and psychology behind some of the most terrifying killers in modern history.

Welcome to the latest box set in the New York Times best-selling series of stories about America's most notorious criminals. For DARKEST WATERS, Wall Street Journal best-selling author Katherine Ramsland is the perfect guide to the famous and not so famous cases that still haunt the states huddled around the Great Lakes. Say hello to Notorious USA!

True crime is about humanity. We are hardwired to pay attention to things that could harm us, and that’s why so many of us are captivated by the genre. It’s not a reflection of something dark within us - it’s a reflection of human nature. True crime has become more than a source of entertainment, and it plays a critical role in giving forgotten victims a voice they never had the chance to share. Indeed, reading and sharing true crime stories is an act of social responsibility.

Best-selling authors Gregg Olsen and Kathryn Casey take a new look at some of the Southwest's most heinous crimes, including drag queen Cliff Youens (who went by the name Brandi West on stage), convicted of stabbing his/her girlfriend 39 times; Hurley Fontenot, a junior high school principal accused of killing his rival, the football coach, over the love of a school secretary; and Tanya Reid, the first Munchhausen Syndrome By Proxy mother most Americans ever heard of.

Joan Robinson Hill was a world-class equestrian, a glamorous member of Houston high society, and the wife of Dr. John Hill, a handsome and successful plastic surgeon. Her father, Ash Robinson, was a charismatic oil tycoon obsessed with making his daughter's every dream come true. Rich, attractive, and reckless, Joan was one of the most celebrated women in a town infatuated with money, power, and fame. Then one morning in 1969, she fell mysteriously ill. The sordid events that followed comprise "what may be the most compelling and complex case in crime annals" (Ann Rule, best-selling author of The Stranger Beside Me).

Ken Rex McElroy terrorized the residents of several counties in northwestern Missouri. He raped young girls and brutalized them after they went to live with him or even married him; he shot at least two men; he stole cattle and hogs, and burned down the houses of some who interfered with his criminal activities. Thanks to the expert efforts of his lawyer and the pro-defendant bias of state laws, he served no more than a few days in jail, the author shows.

A father kills his three young children and his wife and impersonates a disgraced journalist. Oregon's most famous murderer explains how her jail breaks show she's ready for parole.

As the author of many true crime books, Don Lasseter has sometimes been asked to identify and rank the "worst of the worst" murderers. Considering the stunning variety of bloodthirsty methods used by these perps, and the horrific toll of victims, it would be difficult. Instead, in this book, he has profiled fifty of the most heinous killers in modern history for readers to discover and make their own rankings.

A collection of True Crime cases from M. William Phelps and Gregg Olsen.

A distraught 20-year old Jett Carter shows up at the Ryan house because her mother and sister are imprisoned - perhaps if Kevin writes their story and reveals the truth, he might help exonerate them. The Carters' tale is the perfect white-trash-attempted-murder-love-triangle that Kevin’s editor will love and his fans will devour. He begins to write "Love You to Death." Then on a beautiful summer day, the wheels of homicide are set in motion and Kevin’s own story begins to eclipse the crime he is chronicling.

Ten men were involved in the robbery and the gruesome murder of a gold merchant and his two employees. Stolen from them were 120 bars of pure gold. Nine of the men were subsequently found guilty. Seven were hung. Two narrowly escaped the gallows because of their youth. The tenth man, however, escaped death. A fast-paced account that captures the sinister excitement and drama of the plotting, and merciless and savage execution of the victims, by a twisted bunch of felons. Just who betrayed whom?

New York Times best-selling author Gregg Olsen ( If Loving You Is Wrong, Starvation Heights) and veteran journalist Rebecca Morris ( Ted and Ann - The Mystery of a Missing Child and Her Neighbor Ted Bundy), authors of the upcoming If I Can’t Have You – Susan Powell, Her Mysterious Disappearance and the Murder of Her Children (St. Martins) take a new look at the Northwest’s most notorious crimes. Many of them made history.

From the dark and bloody ground of Kentucky, to the peaceful Amish communities of Pennsylvania, to the cities and towns crisscrossing Ohio, murder and mayhem has been a part of it all. Within the pages of this latest volume in Notorious USA's New York Times best-selling series you'll discover how the unsuspecting succumbed to the evil that caught them by surprise, and what the authorities had to do to stop the madness.

A girl uses her wits to survive a maniacal killer who wipes out her family. A woman is condemned for the "final betrayal of motherhood" for killing her children. A grieving mother becomes convinced that the man convicted of murdering her beautiful teenage daughter is innocent.

Welcome to New York, Notorious USA! The Empire State has witnessed many unique and perverse crimes. Quite a few triggered international headlines. This is where the phrase "serial killer" was born - for good reason! From genius killers to violent child molesters, New York has it all. We also find the demented assassinations of Stanford White and John Lennon, the strange case that inspired Edgar Allen Poe, murders that enthralled filmmakers, scandalous crimes that altered journalism, and even a murderous writer.

In Volume Four, Dumas relates the 1819 murder of German dramatist August von Kotzebue by Karl Ludwig Sand, the campaign to destroy Father Urbain Grandier in 1634, who was successfully convicted of witchcraft and put to a brutal death, and the consequences of the amorous relationship between the prince of Brancaleone and Nisida.

Evil doers and thieves beware! The Pinkerton Detective Agency is on your tail. From the archives of the world's most successful agency come tales of daring heists and stories of the brave men who tracked down the bad guys. Train robbers, safe crackers, grifters, and murderers—all brought to justice by Pinkerton Detectives.