From Midnight Watch to History: The Navy’s Most Unique Tradition It’s January 1, 1926, 0300 hours aboard USS Idaho (BB 42) anchored in San Pedro Harbor, California. The night is dark, the midwatch duty, from midnight to 4 a.m., is long and lonely. A young ensign, E. V. Dockweiler, the Officer of the Deck, must enter the ship’s deck log, an essential record that contains a chronological record of the ship, information about the ship’s condition, its location, movements, and any significant events surrounding the ship. Deck logs can be mystifying to the untrained eye, a string of compass headings, military acronyms, and maritime jargon. But Ensign Dockweiler knows what many in his place do not-an obscure US Navy tradition allows him, on the New Year’s midwatch and no other time, to deviate from protocol and apply creative license to the task. He launches into a poetic rendering of the ship’s record, a […]
The True Story of Detroit Being Overrun by Multiple Serial Predators at the same time. At the turn of the twenty-first century, Detroit investigators faced a nightmare few police divisions ever encounter: multiple serial predators operating at the same time, in the same city, often targeting vulnerable victims in overlapping neighborhoods. To the public, the crimes appeared scattered. A schoolgirl attacked on her way to class. A woman assaulted before dawn. A victim deceived, coerced, or ambushed. A body discovered. Separate incidents. Separate headlines. Inside Detroit’s Major Crimes Division, a more disturbing picture began to form. As detectives compared reports, victim statements, timelines, geography, and behavior, the investigation became something far more difficult than a search for a single suspect. The city was not hunting one predator. It was hunting several. About Author G.H. Cliff G. H. Cliff, Ph.D., is a former police chief, law enforcement commander, and investigative analyst […]
The Untold Story of America’s Queen of True Crime Ann Rule became America’s queen of true crime by doing what few writers could: stepping past headlines, police reports, and courtroom drama to ask the deeper question. Why? In FIRST LADY OF MURDER, acclaimed true crime author Cathy Scott turns that same investigative eye on Rule herself, revealing the complicated, driven, fiercely human woman behind The Stranger Beside Me, Small Sacrifices, and a body of work that changed crime writing forever. Drawing on years of research, interviews, and Scott’s own friendship with Rule, this deeply reported biography traces Ann’s journey from a sheriff’s granddaughter and would-be police officer to one of the most influential crime writers of her time. But this is more than the story of a literary career. It is the story of ambition, loyalty, rivalry, heartbreak, reinvention, and the personal cost of building a public identity around the […]
Fast Money. Faster Violence. Final Consequences. They called him Mr. Malfunction because something was always breaking, or about to. A bike. A deal. A rule he swore he lived by. Michael D. Fogt grew up with violence framed as normal, and he learned early that fear works. He carried that lesson into the Ohio backroads, the outlaw biker world, and a life built around speed, guns, drugs, and control. For years he tells it like he was untouchable, running hard, surviving shootouts, stacking cash, and treating consequences like a problem for someone else. When investigators searched his property, Fogt’s name landed in the middle of a case that shook the people around him, including the ones who thought they understood who he was. With the death penalty on the table, he chose to talk, and he does it in a blunt voice that doesn’t shy from dirty details. He writes […]
Real Story from the Frontlines of the Most Dangerous Time in Miami History The infamy of Miami’s cocaine wars of the 1970s and 80s is forever etched into the darkest chapters of US history, and Lt. Raul Diaz was on the frontlines for all of it. The decorated and controversial law enforcement figure identified the shifting tide in the Magic City when law enforcement lost their grip on crime as a new breed of criminal flooded South Florida to ply their billion-dollar trade. In a deadly exclamation mark, Colombian cocaine godmother Griselda Blanco and her assassins swept through the city with a bloody and ruthless ambition that left countless dead bodies along the way. Lt. Diaz organized and spearheaded the multi-agency task force CENTAC-26 to combat Blanco and the cartels. Raul came to the US at age thirteen accompanied by only his younger brother and overcame insurmountable odds after finally finding law enforcement […]
A Sniper in the Woods – and a Town Under Siege. The 48-Day Manhunt That Terrorized America. A Silent Forest. A Sniper’s Bullet. A Community Held Hostage. On the night of September 12, 2014, the autumnal quiet of the Pocono Mountains was shattered by the crack of a .308-caliber rifle. At the Pennsylvania State Police barracks in Blooming Grove, Corporal Bryon Dickson and Trooper Alex Douglass fell, victims of a calculated ambush launched from the darkness of the treeline. The shooter was not a phantom, but a neighbor: Eric Matthew Frein, a survivalist and military reenactor who had spent years preparing for a private war against the state. As Frein vanished into the dense, unforgiving woodlands he knew intimately, he sparked one of the largest and most expensive manhunts in American history. It also landed him on the FBI’s 10 Most Wanted list. Lying in Wait takes readers deep inside […]
The most disturbing part of a killer’s story happens before the first crime. What if the most dangerous part of a serial killer’s story happened long before the first victim? BLUEPRINT OF A KILLER: Monsters in the Making, from Childhood to Murder asks the uncomfortable question most true crime books avoid: how did this start? What happened to cause the headlines, body counts, and documentaries? It does this in a unique way: for the first half of each of the ten stories, the reader is blindfolded. You don’t know who you’re reading about, only their gender and their experiences. This forces you to set aside assumptions and focus on the human realities of neglect, abuse, trauma, and attachment failures that quietly shaped them. These were not monsters who appeared overnight. They were children first, molded by parents, peers, and systems that neglected, punished, or ignored their needs. By the time […]
Leading Murder Investigations in a Man’s World, She Broke the Glass Ceiling-With Handcuffs. MODEL DETECTIVE: A True Story of Heels, Handcuffs and Homicides takes readers where true crime has never gone before-inside the heart, mind, and soul of a Chicago homicide detective whose grit and instincts prove that a woman’s place is in the homicide division. Sergeant Michele Wood, a 25-year veteran of the Chicago Police Department, has spent nearly two decades in the Detective Division. With hundreds of arrests, and an extraordinary record of solving murders, she has led homicide teams while also appearing as a legal expert on ABC’s 20/20 and other national true crime series. In MODEL DETECTIVE, Wood takes readers through complex murder cases-revealing how she interprets evidence and uses her perspective as a woman to succeed in a male-dominated world. Wood’s skills attest to her high success rate and stellar reputation on the force and […]
When the Tylenol murders follow you home. The son who dared to expose the truth. Chicago, 1982. Seven people swallowed Tylenol capsules meant to heal, then they died within minutes. America changed overnight, then the killer vanished into darkness, and that darkness lived in my home. I was eleven, and my father was The Tylenol Killer that terrorized a nation. He created chaos, and confessed with his last breath. I uncovered the truth, and the rot behind his badge. He built lies, and I built a case. I tore the mask from the madness and discovered that each clue led deeper into a labyrinth of deceit. I stripped his name from mine, and I stripped his power too. He found me, and threatened my life, but I did not run. Instead, I shined a light into his darkness. From the son who would not stay silent, THE TYLENOL MURDERS: A […]
Acquitted in court. Convicted in public opinion. September 1990. In Shaker Heights, Ohio, teenage honors student Lisa Lee Pruett vanishes into the night. A boy calls 911 when she does not arrive for a secret late-night meet-up. Police soon find her nearby, stabbed to death and left exposed. Lisa had just passed an important test and earned her driver’s license. She was a Girl Scout, athlete, musician, and lover of poetry. Then her life was cut short. Investigators quickly focused on a troubled young man who lived a few blocks away. His name leaked, the media swarmed, and the case became a spectacle. Two years later, he was indicted on controversial testimony, tried under national attention, and ultimately acquitted. His life never recovered. Decades later, the murder remains unsolved. Now a former police officer reopens the trail, determined to separate rumor from evidence and find the truth, if it is […]
Justice is, in this day, bewailing its plight… The murder of a retired Los Angeles school teacher in 2004 never made the evening news, yet within hours arrests were made, charges filed, and a speedy conviction sent to prison Jimmy Kitlas, an incredibly shy, special needs teenager with no criminal history whatsoever. 20 years after the murder, a woman named Kelley Leigh asked Burl Barer and Frank C. Girardot to investigate. She believed that the case’s rapid resolution concealed a deeper, more troubling narrative-one marked by deception, manipulation, dishonesty, and a profound disregard for truth and justice. She was right. Of the last three people to see the victim alive, only one had both the motive and the opportunity to strangle him to death, and it wasn’t Jimmy Kitlas. What begins with a dead body on the bed leads to a bizarre scheme to steal a fortune in gold, a […]
The 911 Call That Opened Hell’s Door. One Confession. A Lifetime of Terror. The 911 call was harrowing. “I accidentally killed someone. Please!” the man said, his voice rising. “Who?” “My stepmom. My name is Ian Anselmo. Sue-Ellen Anselmo, she’s in the car with me. My dad is going to kill me. I guess I strangled her. I don’t remember doing it. I remember the argument.” The call disintegrated quickly, with the 20-year-old howling and sobbing so pitifully that the dispatcher could not understand what he was saying, except that he was calling from a cemetery. The graveyard had its own lurid past as the site of a murderous teen vampire cult initiation 20 years earlier, now it was a bloody crime scene, and would later become the site of the pregnant woman’s burial, more family violence, and the removal of her body. The call was just the beginning. Investigators […]
John Hinckley Jr. breaks his silence after four decades. He changed history with six shots. Now he’s rewriting his own. As shots rang out on March 30, 1981, outside the Hilton Hotel in Washington, D.C., President Ronald Reagan and three others lay seriously wounded. Just two months after Reagan was sworn in as the 40th president, John Hinckley Jr. shocked the world with his obsession with a movie star. What followed was chaos. America learned of the deep psychosis that led to Hinckley’s obsession with actress Jodie Foster, and how, in his mind, he did it all for her. His trial gripped the nation. Many expected a guilty verdict, but his acquittal on grounds of insanity sparked outrage and forever changed how the law viewed mental illness. Now, for the first time, Hinckley tells his own story. He takes us through an early life of unfulfilled dreams, a music career, […]
An FBI Agent’s Harrowing Journey Through NYC’s Darkest Decades EMPIRE CITY UNDER SIEGE: Three Decades Of New York FBI Field Office Manhunts, Murders, And Mafia Wars shares true stories of an FBI Special Agent spanning three tumultuous decades in New York City, beginning in the gritty 1970s when law enforcement refused to let their city be consumed by corruption and violence. Starting as an undercover operative investigating Mafia hijackers in Red Hook, Anthony John Nelson offers a gripping insider’s look at the bureau’s largest field office during one of its most transformative eras. From narcotics stings in Miami during the height of the Cocaine Cowboys to international manhunts, stolen Picassos, and late-night rides through Mafia hotspots with NYPD legend Kenneth “Kenny” McCabe, Nelson recounts some of the most impactful cases of the pre-Internet age. Each chapter pulls back the curtain on the dangers, strategies, and sacrifices behind the headlines. Featuring first-hand […]
Powerful. Emotional. Unforgettable. The True Stories Behind the Statistics. In a world where every crime tells a story, some voices remain eerily silent. In The Forgotten Girls, Dr. Alyce Clark, a passionate investigator and scholar, invites you to uncover the chilling realities behind the cold cases of women whose lives were cut short, yet whose stories have been overshadowed by time and society. This gripping exploration delves into the lives of these women, revealing their dreams, struggles, and the profound impact of their untimely deaths on their families and communities. With meticulous research and heartfelt storytelling, Dr. Clark sheds light on the complexities of these cases, presenting not only the factual details but also the emotional truths that lie beneath the surface. Join Dr. Clark on a journey through the shadows of crime and memory, where each chapter unveils the untold tales of resilience and tragedy. Discover the social realities […]
A Ruthless Mind. A Savage Army. A Hunter’s Final Reckoning. International bestselling author James Byron Huggins delivers Last Hunt, the third and final book in the Hunter Saga. Nathaniel Hunter has faced nightmares most men can’t imagine. In Alaska’s frozen wilderness he confronted a primordial killer. On England’s haunted moors he fought a beast born of legend. Each time he walked away scarred but unbroken. Now the battle comes to his own doorstep. Scipio Dante, the brilliant, ruthless mind behind the experiments that created those monsters, has perfected a serum that transforms men into savage, unstoppable predators. Backed by limitless wealth and a private army, he will stop at nothing to rid the world of its greatest threat: the hunter who has foiled him twice before. From his remote mountain cabin, Hunter must prepare for the ultimate confrontation. The wilderness he calls home bristles with danger; the predators he respects […]
An outstanding narrative of the shootings from journalist Mark Gray whose first-person account of the tragedy was published in Rolling Stone Magazine the day after the event. When the Music Stopped, Her Life Changed Forever On October 1, 2017, Mary Jo von Tillow’s world changed forever. Her husband, Kurt, was killed in the Route 91 Harvest Festival mass shooting in Las Vegas, the deadliest in U.S. history. In just eleven minutes, her life-and the lives of thousands of others-were shattered. But what followed was more than grief. Out of devastation came unexpected bonds with other survivors, advocates, and families who knew the same kind of loss. From a 9/11 firefighter who turned his pain into kindness, to a victims’ rights attorney who changed national law, to fellow widows and survivors who refused to give up, Mary Jo discovered what it means to carry tragedy together. THE LAS VEGAS MASSACRE CONNECTIONS […]
Mistakes Murderers Can’t Erase. Cold Cases Cracked Wide Open. They blended in. They raised families, held steady jobs, and hid in plain sight. But behind the mask of normalcy, they were monsters-responsible for decades of terror, pain, and death. Every Killer Leaves A Trace is a chilling narrative nonfiction thriller that exposes moments that led to the shocking unmasking and ultimate capture of twenty-six of America’s most elusive killers. From accidental slips to cutting-edge forensic breakthroughs, each chapter reveals how justice caught up with murderers who thought they’d never be found. Meticulously researched and drawn from court records, autopsy reports, FBI case files, and firsthand interviews with investigators and victims’ families, this book is a haunting journey through deception, violence, and the relentless pursuit of truth. These are not just stories of murder. They are blueprints of how justice, though often delayed, is never truly denied. They got away with murder-until […]
International Impact Book Awards Winner! Breaking the Cycle of Generational Sin. A Story of Crime, Courage, and Hope. I am Judge Michael Randazzo, but by all odds, I never should have been. My story begins in a pop-up trailer-no electricity, no running water-born to parents who dropped out of high school and carried the weight of our family’s excommunication from the Sicilian Mafia. I came into the world premature, delivered by a veterinarian, clinging to life while doctors warned I’d never catch up. Crime and tragedy run through my bloodline: moonshining, sexual abuse, attempted manslaughter. My father struck deals with the Mexican Cartel and still battles opioid addiction. Every member of my family has been both perpetrator and victim. Yet, somewhere between generational sin and the chance to start over, I clawed my way through law school. Today, I serve as one of Missouri’s youngest Presiding Circuit Judges. This memoir […]
8 prisons. 51 months. One savage system. From healer to inmate: one man’s true story. In this haunting memoir, a clinical psychologist sentenced to 51 months for healthcare fraud confronts the harsh realities of federal prison. Incarcerated amid the chaos of the COVID pandemic, he endured a relentless odyssey through eight different prison facilities, caught in a near-perpetual cycle of transfer. Through his expert lens, CRUEL AND UNUSUAL PUNISHMENT: A Memoir of the Psychological Realities of Federal Prison unveils the stark truth of an uncivilized, harsh, and insane system that erodes the very essence of humanity. The author reveals a grim truth: extended exposure to the cruel environment of prison-crafted by government policy and the ruthless prisoner code-strips away humanity, pushing individuals toward savagery. Drawing from his own struggle to preserve his sense of self and the hard-earned wisdom of those who survived years of confinement, he offers a raw, […]
