Classic Biography

In this Notorious USA collection, Death of a Cheerleader, New York Times best-selling author Gregg Olsen and true crime journalist Kevin M. Sullivan write about notorious crimes in the Bluegrass State. In a scene right out of Hitchcock's "Rear Window", a young woman vanishes from a beach on a summer day and a neighbor views the abduction through his telescope. A newlywed disposes of his bride but doesn't know what to do with her head. Selling tickets at a drive-in movie theater proves deadly.

A boy with a rifle walks into a middle school, intent on carrying out Western-style vigilante justice. A wife and mother of four kisses her twelve-year-old student and forever changes our definition of student-teacher conferences. The world's most famous serial killers put Washington on the map. A bathtub, a handgun, a meat grinder, and a burn barrel play a role in the murder of the captain of a freighter.

A seemingly normal husband father of two decides to kill young girls after storming an Amish schoolhouse, and sex may have been the prime motivator. A young high school student has a secret desire for murder, and decides a middle of the night visit to his best friend's house will do nicely to satiate his hunger to kill. A seedy individual living in an even seedier part of Philadelphia decides to populate his basement with kidnapped women for sex and the bearing of children, and it is death to those who do not submit.

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.

John W. Bubbles was the ultimate song-and-dance man. A groundbreaking tap dancer, he provided inspiration to Fred Astaire, Eleanor Powell, and the Nicholas Brothers. His vaudeville team Buck and Bubbles captivated theater audiences for more than thirty years. Most memorably, in the role of Sportin' Life he stole the show in the original production of Gershwin's Porgy and Bess, in the process crafting a devilish alter ego that would follow him through life.

In this group of stories from the Notorious USA archives, we find three ladies who will do anything, just about anything, for money. This journey has no limit to the amount of twists and turns it will take, and things are not always how they appear. Miki McDermott, June Gravlee, and Olga Thomas all had selfish desires to take what did not belong to them. Enlisting friends and family in their devious plots could be a stroke of genius or just may be their undoing.

Young, beautiful, popular, intelligent: You can have all these things going for you and still find yourself in situations you cannot get out of. In Gone Too Soon, author Don Lasseter explores three cases of young lives cut short.

Welcome to Kansas, Notorious USA. This time you’ll have no better guide around the dark and deadly of the Great Plains than Katherine Ramsland, one of America’s most legendary true crime authors and researchers. Dr. Ramsland is a Wall Street Journal best-selling author who has turned her attention to the Sunflower State with an unflinching eye as she takes on some famous cases (the Clutter family murders - of course!) and some that are less well-known. With each story, she gives readers a look deep into the heart of darkness, Kansas-style.

The chilling true story of Oregon's most shocking killer! Jimmy Rode was serving a sentence for burglary in a Florida prison when he met serial killer Ted Bundy. It was Bundy who gave him a Seattle newspaper containing personal ads - an easy means for meeting vulnerable female victims - that launched Rode on a coast-to-coast killing spree under the alias of Cesar Barone. Now, in detail, Lasseter unleashes the story of Jimmy Rode.

During her more than 30 years of performing in the United States, Lillie Langtry came into contact with numerous men and women who are now legends. She was the mistress of Edward Albert, Prince of Wales and future King of England, then turned her talents to acting, her ultimate triumph. At first people came to see her out of curiosity, but she quickly won them over with her beauty, charm and personality if not her acting talent.

In Shadows of Death, acclaimed author Katherine Ramsland takes listeners on a tour of New Jersey, New York and Delaware. Home of the Jersey Devil, New Jersey has its share of other devils, from predatory nurses to thrill killers and sadists. The Empire State has witnessed many unique and perverse crimes. Quite a few triggered international headlines. The first documented female serial killer in the US came out of the tiny state of Delaware, as did a "signature killer" who attracted FBI profilers.

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.

This audiobook chronicles the entire history of this legendary Christian metal band, covering just about everything there is to know about Stryper - not just the fluff. Such questions as, "How did Stryper evolve?" and "What really happened during the Against the Law time period?" are all answered here. The answers, derived from countless hours of interviews, come directly from the band members themselves and many others.

This fascinating account was written as the events of Lincoln's assassination unfolded, and contains insight into the chaos that surrounded it. Included are interesting details of Booth and his motives, the manhunt, as well as the speedy trial and execution of the conspirators, including the first ever woman executed by the federal government, Mary Surratt.

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.

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.

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.

This fascinating account was written as the events of Lincoln's assassination unfolded, and contains insight into the chaos that surrounded it. Included are interesting details of Booth and his motives, the manhunt, as well as the speedy trial and execution of the conspirators, including the first ever woman executed by the federal government, Mary Surratt.

He was a lovable rogue--a gambler, a billiards champion, a cardshark, a dance contest winner, a college student, and perhaps the finest all-around athlete the world has ever known. He was a maverick, a loner, his own man, almost reclusive, yet he was loved and admired by millions while he was alive and mourned nationwide after he died at the young age of 25.

Home of the Jersey Devil, New Jersey has its share of other devils, from predatory nurses to thrill killers and sadists. Here you'll find a family that preyed on one of their own, a mass murderer with a list of grudges, an adulterous minister killed with his mistress, and a wife who cut up her husband. This state is rich in crime, with a significant number of high-profile cases, like the Lindbergh and Reso kidnappings, Unruh's rampage, and the celebrated success of America's Most Wanted in tracking down a man who'd slaughtered his entire family.