True Crime Thriller

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.

Norman Mailer's Pulitzer Prize-winning and unforgettable classic about convicted killer Gary Gilmore now in audio. Arguably the greatest book from America's most heroically ambitious writer, The Executioner's Song follows the short, blighted life of Gary Gilmore who became famous after he robbed two men in 1976 and killed them in cold blood. After being tried and convicted, he immediately insisted on being executed for his crime. To do so, he fought a system that seemed intent on keeping him alive long after it had sentenced him to death.

On January 15, 1947, the tortured body of a beautiful young woman was found in a vacant lot in Hollywood. Elizabeth Short, the Black Dahlia, a young Hollywood hopeful, had been brutally murdered. Her murder sparked one of the greatest manhunts in California history.

Prison buddies Billy Good and Jackie Walker made time pulling small jobs here and there. Not a bad living if you liked scraping by. The thing to worry about was the next fix. Nothing else mattered. When Billy and Jackie fell in with Kenyatta, a ghetto lord ready to take back the streets, they thought they'd hit the big time. Dealing with drug pushers and crooked cops in the name of justice sure felt good, but in a world where "kindness was the sweetest con of all", every bullet fired echoed with the sound of payback.

Elodie Fray wants to be more like her perfect sister, Ada, the one her parents are actually proud of. When she decided to quit her job and pursue her dream of becoming an author, she thought it would be her time to shine, but a year on nothing has happened. And she's getting desperate. When Elodie makes one small mistake on a drunken night with a friend, things quickly spiral and suddenly everyone believes she has a book deal. Unable to find a way back from her little lie, her perfect dream becomes a perfect nightmare - and desperate times call for desperate measures.

In Murder, Interrupted (with Alex Abramovich), rich, cheating financier Frank Howard wants his wife dead, and he's willing to pay Billie Earl Johnson whatever it takes: $750,000, to be exact. When his bullet misses the mark, Billie Earl and Frank will turn on each other in a fight for their lives.... Mother of All Murders (with Christopher Charles) is the story of local celebrity Dee Dee Blancharde. Television reports praise her as a single mother who tirelessly cares for her wheelchair-bound, chronically ill daughter.

When young teacher Anna Blackwell is found dead in her home, the police think her death was suicide or a tragic accident. After all, Stonebridge is a quiet country village in the Scottish Borders, where murders just don't happen. But Detective Inspector Jimmy Perez soon arrives from faraway Shetland when his ex-wife, Sarah, asks him to look into the case. The local gossips are saying that her new husband, Tom, was having an affair with Anna. Could Tom have been involved with her death?

Stevie Bell solved the case of Truly Devious, and now she’s taking her detecting skills abroad when she becomes embroiled in a mystery from 1990s England. Another pulse-pounding and laugh-out-loud stand-alone mystery from New York Times bestselling author Maureen Johnson.

Before Alex Marzano-Lesnevich begins a summer job at a law firm in Louisiana, working to help defend men accused of murder, they think their position is clear. The child of two lawyers, Alex is staunchly anti-death penalty. But the moment convicted murderer Ricky Langley’s face flashes on the screen as Alex reviews old tapes—the moment they hear him speak of his crimes—they are overcome with the feeling of wanting him to die. Shocked by their reaction, Alex digs deeper and deeper into the case.

In 1998 an Alku, Minnesota, family of five was brutally murdered in their sleep. The event shook the insulated community but, without any solid leads, was relegated to the cold case files, where it moldered for twenty-five years. Until today. Agent Harry Steinbeck hoped never to return to the northland, a place that holds terrible memories of his sister’s abduction. But when a recent homicide is connected to Alku’s unsolved mass murder, he and cold case agent Evangeline Reed have no choice but to investigate.

Summer 1980: Despite the local superstition that the Bendy Man haunts the woods, three girls go into a Minnesota forest. Only one comes out, dead silent, her memory gone. The mystery of the Taken Ones captures the nation. Summer 2022: Cold case detective Van Reed and forensic scientist Harry Steinbeck are assigned a disturbing homicide—a woman buried alive, clutching a heart charm necklace belonging to one of the vanished girls. Van follows her gut. Harry trusts in facts. They’re both desperate to catch a killer before he kills again.

BKA-Rechtsmediziner Dr. Fred Abel arbeitet unter Hochdruck an einem großen Fall: Ein winziger Einstich in der Kniekehle eines Toten verrät ihm, dass einer der gefährlichsten Killer der letzten Zeit weiterhin sein Unwesen treibt. Doch bevor Abel ihn stoppen kann, wird er in heikler Mission in den osteuropäischen Pseudostaat Transnistrien geschickt. Dort soll er zwei Mordopfer identifizieren, die in Kalkfässern gelagert wurden und fast vollständig zersetzt sind.

Der erste Thriller von Michael Tsokos basiert - wie könnte es anders sein - auf einem authentischen Fall und echten Ermittlungen. Sein Protagonist, Rechtsmediziner Dr. Fred Abel vom BKA, bekommt es mit einem europaweit agierenden Serienmörder zu tun: Im Umkreis europäischer Flughäfen geschehen Schlag auf Schlag Morde an Frauen, die der Täter mit einer mysteriösen Parole beschriftet. Durch eine spezielle DNA-Analyse gerät der Ex-Soldat Lars Moewig in Verdacht - ausgerechnet ein alter Kumpel des Rechtsmediziners aus gemeinsamen Bundeswehrzeiten, dem Abel so brutale Verbrechen niemals zugetraut hätte.

Sara Parcell disappeared without a trace on a crisp April morning in Frederick, Maryland. Her tragic story was a national obsession and the centerpiece of a controversial television docuseries that followed her disappearance in real time. But is it possible that everyone missed the biggest secret of all?

Im Umkreis mehrerer europäischer Hauptstadt-Flughäfen geschehen Morde an Frauen - an alten wie jungen, Raubmorde wie Sexualdelikte. Das Bindeglied: Der Täter markiert die Beine der Opfer mit blutroter Schrift. Bei der Haplotyp-Genanalyse (einer speziellen Untersuchung, die man auch mit winzigsten Mengen DNA durchführen kann) stößt der Rechtsmediziner auf einen Verdächtigen - und es ist ausgerechnet ein alter Kumpel von ihm aus Bundeswehrzeiten.

BKA-Rechtsmediziner Dr. Fred Abel arbeitet unter Hochdruck an einem großen Fall: Ein winziger Einstich in der Kniekehle eines Toten verrät ihm, dass einer der gefährlichsten Killer der letzten Zeit weiterhin sein Unwesen treibt. Doch bevor Abel ihn stoppen kann, wird er in heikler Mission in den osteuropäischen Pseudostaat Transnistrien geschickt. Dort soll er zwei Mordopfer identifizieren, die in Kalkfässern gelagert wurden und fast vollständig zersetzt sind.

Dr. Fred Abel ist von seiner lebensgefährlichen Verletzung genesen, und die ersten Fälle halten ihn schon wieder in Atem. Vor allem aber freut er sich darauf, seine Zwillinge aus einer lang vergangenen "karibischen Affäre" in Berlin zu begrüßen. Doch kaum sind die Jugendlichen da, werden sie entführt. Gibt es einen rassistischen Hintergrund? Ein verbrecherisches Komplott in deren Heimat? Oder hat jemand mit Abel noch eine Rechnung offen?

Rechtsmediziner Dr. Fred Abel ist zurück - in einer nervenzerreißenden Mischung aus True Crime, klassischer Ermittlung und hartem Thrill. Dr. Fred Abel muss vor Gericht in einem besonders schweren Fall von Misshandlung aussagen. Bei dem Opfer, einem kleinen Mädchen, handelt es sich ausgerechnet um die Nichte seiner langjährigen Kollegin Sabine Yao. Das Verhältnis zwischen den beiden Rechtsmedizinern ist dadurch äußerst angespannt. Währenddessen findet Privatermittler Lars Moewig, Fred Abels alter Freund, in seinem Kickboxclub eine grausam zugerichtete Leiche in einem Boxsack.

Manhattan, 1923. Scandalous flapper Dot King is found dead in her Midtown apartment, a bottle of chloroform beside her and a fortune in jewels missing. Dot’s headline-making murder grips the city. It also draws a clutch of lovers, parasites, and justice seekers into one of the city’s most mesmerizing mysteries.

Reverend Willie Maxwell was a rural preacher accused of murdering five of his family members for insurance money in the 1970s. With the help of a savvy lawyer, he escaped justice for years until a relative shot him dead at the funeral of his last victim. Despite hundreds of witnesses, Maxwell's murderer was acquitted—thanks to the same attorney who had previously defended the reverend. Casey Cep brings this story to life, from the shocking murders to the courtroom drama to the racial politics of the Deep South.