“Ferak chronicles the long and sordid history of the Manitowoc County Sheriff’s Department and the reason Sweaty’s license was suspended. Framing Avery was just par for the course.” -Kathleen Zellner Updated 5th Anniversary Edition Including Exclusive Interview with Steve Avery In 2016-17, while working for the USA TODAY NETWORK’s Wisconsin Investigative Team, author John Ferak wrote dozens of articles examining the murder case against Steven Avery, who had already beaten one wrongful conviction only to be charged again with the murder of Teresa Halbach in 2005. This case captured global attention through the Netflix documentary “Making A Murderer.” In this anniversary edition of WRECKING CREW: Demolishing the Case Against Steven Avery, Ferak not only lays out in meticulous detail the post-conviction strategy of Kathleen Zellner, the high-profile, high-octane lawyer fighting to free Avery but also includes a new “Five Years Later” section. This update provides fresh insights and developments in […]
[THE DEAD SOUL] grabs you by the lapels and doesn’t let go.” –JOHN LUTZ, New York Times bestselling author From the desk of one of the most acclaimed and prolific true crime authors comes a mystery thriller certain to captivate his fans. M. William Phelps’s THE DEAD SOUL takes you on a suspenseful journey through Boston’s illicit past, where Detective Jake “Sundance” Cooper fights to redeem his crumbling career. At the same time, a sadistic serial killer known as “the Optimist”-a character based on the author’s 20 years of research and writing about real serial killers-terrorizes young female victims along the city’s Freedom Trail. Cooper’s investigation exposes a corrupt Boston PD. It puts him at the center of a choice between blue blood loyalty and the pursuit of truth as his mentor, Detective Mo Blackhall, faces an indictment for his involvement in a scandal. Originally published in 2014, this gritty […]
As an archaeologist, historian, and now murder investigator, the intellectual curiosity of Richard Carrico has no limits. Well researched and written, his new work, as with all good mysteries, takes us into unknown territories and keeps us reading well into the dark night. -GEORGE H. HARWOOD, Author and Professor Emeritus, University of Colorado “Innocent victim brutalized by deranged killer. Police have no leads. Lock your doors San Diego.” In 1931, San Diego’s idyllic image as a beach town with peaceful suburbs concealed a harrowing reality: a series of unsolved crimes targeting women, fueling fear and vulnerability. MONSTERS ON THE LOOSE tells the tragic and true stories of three women murdered early that year: Virginia Brooks, Louise Teuber, and Hazel Bradshaw. Local law enforcement, out-of-town criminologists, and investigators from what would become the FBI pursued hundreds of leads. Statewide, newspapers covered every angle and clue and sometimes played a role in the […]
New eBook Collection Out Now! HEAR BURL BARER DISCUSS THE COLLECTION ON CRIME BEAT WITH RON CHEPESIUK! This three-in-one volume features Edgar Award-winning author Burl Barer’s works: MAN OVERBOARD, BETRAYAL IN BLUE, and A TASTE FOR MURDER. Barer, a media legend with a decades-spanning career, is a one-of-a-kind, must-read true crime master. MAN OVERBOARD: The Counterfeit Resurrection of Phil Champagne details a mind-boggling blend of fraud, deception, and fine prime rib. Barer’s storytelling prowess shines as he explores a bizarre case that will have you questioning reality itself. Crisp as a freshly printed C-note. Exceptionally clever and vastly entertaining!” –LEE GOLDBERG, #1 New York Times Bestselling Author & TV Producer In BETRAYAL IN BLUE: The Shocking Memoir of the Scandal That Rocked the NYPD, law enforcement blurs with lawbreaking and an electrifying saga unfolds. Barer and award-winning journalist Frank C. Girardot, Jr. dive into the accounts of officers who ventured […]
“I ALWAYS WANTED TO BE A COWBOY” Journey through the dusty plains of Texas and the rugged mountains of Colorado in Jim Duke’s debut, DANCES WITH DONKEYS: The Memoir Of A Half-assed Cowboy-the often hilarious, occasionally poignant, sometimes hair-raising, and always entertaining tales of a man who dropped out of high school and took off for Texas to become a cowboy. In this captivating memoir, Duke recounts his adventures and ass-inine misadventures with mules, donkeys, and horses as he introduces readers to the complexity and variety of personalities among these intelligent creatures. Through prose and poetry, he shows the deep bond that can form between humans and equines. Whether you’re a fan of cowboy culture or just love a good memoir, DANCES WITH DONKEYS is reminiscent of cowboy poet laureate Baxter Black with a twist in the saddle. You’ll laugh your “ass” off and come away with a whole […]
When widow Frances Lacey was murdered in July 1960 on Mackinac Island, only a few meager clues were found by police, and the case soon turned cold. But more than sixty years later, will those same clues finally solve the mystery? On July 24, 1960, the quaint charm and serenity of Mackinac, nestled between Michigan’s Upper and Lower Peninsulas, was shattered by Lacey’s brutal death. Despite a massive manhunt and thousands of pages of police reports, her killer was never caught. Now, in GRIM PARADISE, true crime author Rod Sadler (Killing Women) delves into the secrets of one of Michigan’s most perplexing murder cases. Offering an in-depth and suspenseful account of the long-standing mystery, he poses the question: Could advanced DNA technology lead to the identity of the Mackinac Island murderer as it did recently in the case of the Golden State Killer? Find out in GRIM PARADISE: The Cold […]
STRAIGHT FROM THE AUTHOR’S ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPTS REAWAKENED WORLDS: Vintage Dystopian and Sci-fi Stories by a Master Storyteller is the first volume in a collection of short stories and novelettes by John Hayden Howard (1925-2014), known to fans as Hayden Howard. A well-regarded contemporary of such science fiction icons as Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, and Robert Heinlein, he was a 1967 Nebula Award finalist. Written in the classic science fiction era of the 1950s and ’60s, these stories have out-of-this-world endings reminiscent of The Twilight Zone episodes from the same time. Readers encounter diverse characters, from a teen surfer and a 1940s boxer to space travelers and strange Arctic villagers. Thought-provoking themes create a unique blend of escapism and intellectual stimulation. Whether you’re a fan of classic science fiction or just looking for a wild ride, Howard’s imaginative worlds will leave you questioning what’s possible. Part One: WHAT IF? Encounter […]
Henry Louis Wallace terrorized Charlotte, North Carolina, from May 1992 to March 1994. Wallace preyed on lower economic-class Black women between 17 and 35 years old. He knew most of his victims, some through his job at Taco Bell, and gained their trust with his friendly demeanor and gentle nature-concealing a monster fueled by drug abuse and rage against women. A rarity in that he was an African American serial killer, his murderous rampage spurred controversy throughout the city. Community members accused local police of ignoring the murders because of the victims’ race. Wallace attended the funerals of many of his victims and offered condolences to families. The ensuing investigation became the largest in North Carolina’s history. Wallace was eventually found guilty and convicted of nine counts of murder, but he admitted to more killings while incarcerated; he is potentially responsible for anywhere from 20 to 90 deaths of Black […]
The last few years have not been kind to Janzen Robinson. His tenure as the unelected Champion of Cleveland was rough, but it’s hard not to catch glimpses of hope as tides of change have rippled throughout the city.
On an unseasonably warm April evening in 2001, the headless body of a tiny girl was found discarded in a makeshift dump site in the woods on the southeast side of Kansas City, Missouri. One long night turned into four long years for Sgt. David Bernard and the Kansas City Police Department’s 1020 Squad. They followed 1,500 leads, had a replica of the child’s head sculpted from her skull, and ultimately conducted the single most extensive area canvass in the KCPD’s history. Erica Michelle Marie Green, aka “Precious Doe,” captured the hearts of not only the dedicated detectives who fought tirelessly to identify her and her killer but of an entire community. PRECIOUS FEW CLUES is a candid and touching account of the painful impact that this brutal murder had on Sgt. Bernard, his family, and the KCPD’s 1020 squad. It chronicles the all too frequent story of child abuse, […]
Available Now About the Book In the spring of 1853, a family of eight drove their wagon to the wharf in Bergen, Norway. They unloaded their belongings alongside the other stacks labeled, AMERICA, MINNESOTA, ILLINOIS, MICHIGAN, NEW YORK CITY, CHICAGO and boarded the crowded ship. Hopeful, nervous Norwegians-giving up everything for a place they knew of only through second-hand tales of freedom and opportunity-watched as the shoreline retreated, knowing they would never see their homeland again. Their trip ahead would be spent in cramped conditions for two or three months until they reached Ellis Island. The United States, where they were immigrating to, was facing many problems including tensions over slavery and the subsequent beginning of the Civil War. The family moved west to farm the free land that was offered to them but were met with resistance, as it was land that had been cultivated by Native Americans for thousands of […]
Famous Rock Stars, TV Celebrities, Stone Cold Conmen, A Daring Rescue of Kidnapped Kids, And More! Ready to uncover the truth behind Hollywood’s elite? SECRETS OF A HOLLYWOOD PRIVATE EYE is your ultimate source for the juiciest stories, scandals, and gossip from Tinsel Town. Join private investigator Fred Wolfson on thrilling adventures from the glitz and glamour of Bel Air and Beverly Hills to the gritty streets of Hollywood Boulevard. Experience the real-life drama of Wolfson’s cases firsthand and the truth behind cheating spouses, greedy con artists, duped superstars, jealous directors, kidnapped children, and every type of civil and criminal caper imaginable in a city known for scandal and celebrity intrigue. As the star of the popular USA Network reality series CASE CLOSED and consulting credits on hit crime dramas like L.A. Law, Murder She Wrote, and Picket Fences, Wolfson brings a lifetime of experience to this compelling compendium of […]
In [DEATH BY TALONS], all the evidence is laid bare… I highly recommend this book!” -Larry Pollard It was not enough to suggest that Kathleen began to bleed outside. It was not enough to point to prior owl attacks on humans. Larry needed a smoking gun. And he would find it. -from DEATH BY TALONS by Tiddy Smith On December 9, 2001, Kathleen Peterson was found dead at the bottom of a staircase in her Durham, NC home. Kathleen’s scalp was laced with deep incisions and her blood strewn from outside to inside the house. The sinister truth of that night turned her murder into North Carolina’s most enigmatic criminal case, capturing media attention across the globe. While police zeroed in on Michael Peterson, the husband, and charged him with murder, a neighbor, Larry Pollard, claimed an owl had attacked Kathleen outside her house. He said it sliced her […]
About The Book As you read along, be sure to dog-ear the pages bursting with Franscell’s gritty descriptions – a sentence, a paragraph or a page – of the silver-haired people and the gray places of rural Colorado in this raw, wintry crime novel.” -DAVID STEINBERG, Albuquerque Journal Retired from a big-city homicide beat to a small Colorado mountain town, ex-detective Woodrow “Mountain” Bell yearns only to fade away. He’s failed in so many ways as a father, husband, friend, and cop that it might be too late for a meaningful life. When he stumbles across a long-forgotten, unsolved child murder, his first impulse is to let it lie … but he can’t. He’s drawn into the macabre mystery when he realizes the killer might still be near. Without help from ambivalent local cops, Bell must overcome the obstacles of time, age, and a lack of police resources by calling […]
Originally released in 2018, Lawrence Davis has revised and updated the second book in THE MONSTERS AND MEN TRILOGY set in Cleveland’s magical underworld. Janzen Robinson is no longer a man torn between two worlds, having decided to come off the bench and dive head first into Cleveland’s magical underworld. With his new partner and perpetually exhausted friend Grove, he’s just starting to get a handle on all the supernatural happenings when disaster shows up at their doorstep and doesn’t even have the decency to knock. Gale stands accused of disrupting the Balance, and Janzen finds himself abruptly tasked with finding out who’s behind the accusation. It’s a charge as serious as it is vague, at least to Janzen, but that doesn’t stop the two governing bodies of the In-Between from showing up in his hometown and unleashing a Blind Judge to exact justice. The House of Unet and the […]
Originally released in 2011, New York Times bestselling author Steve Jackson has revised and updated this classic true crime about one of the most monstrous serial killers in American history. “Here’s What Happens When You Mess With Me!” -William Neal William Neal, who called himself “Wild Bill Cody,” was seductive and skillful at separating love-struck women from their money, and ultimately, their lives. Apprehended by police, Neal, who proclaimed himself “better than Ted Bundy,” pleaded guilty to three murders then insisted on representing himself at his death penalty trial. But the psychopathic killer found himself up against the incredible courage of his one surviving victim. William Neal Recent photo of William Neal About the Author New York Times bestselling author and award-winning journalist Steve Jackson has written thirteen non-fiction books in true crime, history and biography genres; he has also written fourteen crime fiction thrillers for the long-running and NYTimes […]
Henry Sirola, a world-renowned art and jewel thief, is given a new assignment by the Croatian mob to retrieve a priceless artifact previously lost to history. He knows it could be the biggest score of his life, but he has a secret. He’s also an FBI informant.
The True Story Behind America’s First Modern School Shooting In 1979, Brenda Spencer, a seemingly average teenage girl living in a nice suburban neighborhood, made and executed plans that would place her in infamy and set a violent and terrifying national precedent. She received a rifle for Christmas and a month later set her sights and opens fire on the elementary school across the street. The event is forever glorified by the song ‘I Don’t Like Mondays’ by The Boomtown Rats and marks the bloody beginning of the American phenomenon of school shootings. Long before Columbine and Sandy Hook, there was Brenda Spencer… I DON’T LIKE MONDAYS: The True Story of America’s First Modern School Shooting sifts through the mythology that has sprung up around this fateful day, presenting the raw and riveting facts for the first time. This book lays bare this seemingly average teenage girl’s brutal motives and […]
Ten must track down and stop rogue scientists behind the development of criminal technology in THE HUMANZEEE EXPERIMENTS, the next installment of The ‘Ten’ Mystery Series! The International Security for Technological Innovations, a federal agency tasked with finding unsanctioned and unethical technologies that pose a threat to global safety, hires Ten to track down the scientists behind the creation and weaponization of chimpanzee human hybrids. His friend Maria, upon learning of the human trafficking involved, sets out to help Ten put a stop to the horrible hybrid production – and save the lives of innocent victims from these vile experiments. From The Book: Abdi had Maria’s assailant, the one still alive, shot from a passing car so he wouldn’t talk. Now the man who had done that job for him lay on the floor with a bullet in his skull. Abdi set the pistol on his desk, where it remained a […]
The next installment in award-winning author Terry Persun’s The ‘Ten’ Mystery Series! THE KILLING MACHINE, follows the cyber detective and scientist known as Ten. He is assigned to work on a top-secret project for the government that is abruptly and mysteriously terminated. In a tragic twist of events, Ten learns that the agency he was working for is the very same government faction that ordered his wife to be killed, and is now hunting him down as well. It comes to light that six other brilliant scientists are also in the crosshairs. On a life-or-death mission to uncover the government’s deadly motives and seek revenge for the brutal murder of his beloved wife, Ten discovers that the top-secret application that he was working on has the potential to kill millions of people. THE KILLING MACHINE is the story of Ten’s fight to stop this deadly project and exact revenge on […]
