True Crime Women

From mob wife with blood on her hands to straight-arrow breadwinner for her four kids, a tale of transformation and empowerment from a woman whose life in organized crime makes Carmella Soprano look like June Cleaver.

A shockingly intimate look at the world of honor killings, as seen through the eyes of both the perpetrator and the victim.

Curious about what links three of America’s most baffling disappearances and murders? I created The Vanishing Act: Unsolved Cases of America’s Most Mysterious Women: Shadows of the Past: The First Trilogy Collection to explore the enduring stories of Dorothy Arnold, Mary Rogers, and Belle Gunness—all gathered in a single true crime collection.

Writer Karen Walker knows more than most about murderers. Her first love went on to become The Bagman, a notorious serial killer now locked away for life in a maximum-security prison. Karen has spent her life running from the weight of having loved him, defended him and, ultimately, leading the police to his door. But now, ten years later, just as she’s about to publish her account of his crimes, a young woman is abducted in horribly familiar circumstances.

Saint Paul, Minnesota, is a quiet and comfortable city rich with history. Little known are the days when prostitution was a thriving business hidden in storefront saunas and health clubs. For decades, madams and business owners made hundreds of thousands of dollars selling sex. But as the 21st century drew near, Saint Paul officials were desperate to shut down the trade and rid its city of the stigma surrounding the sex-for-money industry.

Groomed. Gaslighted. Ghosted. They thought they'd found their soulmate. They had no idea he was spying on them. These five motivated, independent women each thought they'd met their perfect partner - someone who shared their values, ambitions and goals. But after a while, in some cases years later, the men started to behave strangely. They disappeared for weeks at a time, saying they needed to go away to clear their heads. Small details about their lives didn't quite fit. Then they vanished, leaving a note saying that the relationship was over.

Roger and Penny Scaggs seemed a poster couple for family values. Evangelical Christians living in booming Austin, Texas, in the mid-1990s, they were respected leaders in their church and community. As Roger diligently worked his way up the high-tech corporate ladder, Penny kept a pristine home and coached similarly devout young women on how to be perfect wives. But on a windy March evening, this godly woman met the devil head-on.

Among the 34 cases covered are: Pamela Smart, a volunteer at a high school drug awareness program who urged her 15-year-old lover and his friends to kill her husband; Nancy Kissel, an expat American in Hong Kong who served her investment banker husband a strawberry milkshake laced with drugs then clubbed him to death with a statue; and Celeste Beard whose husband was disemboweled by her lesbian lover.

Professional bakers and a local food blogger are participating in the Baking Spirits Bright holiday baking competition and they aren’t about to go down without a fight. The competition quickly heats to a boiling point, with flaring tempers and mysterious happenings. When one of the entrants is found dead, stabbed with Becca’s chocolate chipper, Becca tries to salvage the season by finding the killer. But the heat is on, and Becca is in danger of getting burned.

Curious about the real story behind a murder that rattled 1841 New York and caught the attention of a literary master? I’ve delved deep into The Silent Witness: The Unsolved Murder of Mary Rogers to uncover the lingering questions surrounding the tragic fate of the so-called “cigar girl”—a case that not only sparked intense public outcry but also became a notable Edgar Allan Poe inspiration.

Ready to uncover one of New York’s most enduring unsolved mysteries? I wrote The Vanishing Heiress: The Unsolved Disappearance of Dorothy Arnold to explore the baffling case that captured headlines in 1910—when a high-society heiress vanished without a trace. This historical disappearance left detectives, newspapers, and the public grasping for answers.

Trügerische Erinnerung, tödliche Familienbande. Kalifornien, Sommer 1975: In der Kleinstadt Ojai ereignet sich ein grausamer Doppelmord: Die 14-jährige Poppy und der 17-jährige Danny werden erstochen in ihrem Elternhaus aufgefunden. Ein ungeheuerlicher Verdacht macht die Runde: Wurden die beiden von ihrem eigenen Bruder getötet? Kalifornien, 2024: Ghostwriterin Olivia Dumont soll ihrem Vater, einem berühmten Schriftsteller, dabei helfen, seine Memoiren zu verfassen. Seit Jahren haben die beiden keinen Kontakt.

Trügerische Erinnerung, tödliche Familienbande. Kalifornien, Sommer 1975: In der Kleinstadt Ojai ereignet sich ein grausamer Doppelmord: Die 14-jährige Poppy und der 17-jährige Danny werden erstochen in ihrem Elternhaus aufgefunden. Ein ungeheuerlicher Verdacht macht die Runde: Wurden die beiden von ihrem eigenen Bruder getötet? Kalifornien, 2024: Ghostwriterin Olivia Dumont soll ihrem Vater, einem berühmten Schriftsteller, dabei helfen, seine Memoiren zu verfassen. Seit Jahren haben die beiden keinen Kontakt.

In 1995, a fire burned the mansion of Dr. Debora Green and Dr. Michael Farrar. Killed by the flames were 12-year-old Tim and his six-year-old sister Kelly. When Michael returned to the scene, he had lost more than his children and his home. Until that summer, they had it all - a happy marriage, successful medical practices, three beautiful children. Then they went on a trip to Peru. There, they met Celeste Walker, whose husband John was also a doctor. After that trip, nothing was the same again.

In this tantalizing true mystery of a stolen life, an acclaimed reporter and an identity theft investigator follow a series of incredible revelations about the actual identity of a wife, mother, and friend turned perfect stranger. Days after Lori Ruff’s suicide, her family discovered her hidden strongbox containing stunning evidence that her entire life had been invented. Her real identity was buried so deep it would take five years to unearth. Who was Lori Ruff?

One case that stood out to Flowers for its sheer brutality as well as shocking aftermath was that of Karla Faye Tucker and Daniel Garrett, who used a pickaxe to hack to death two people. It began in the wee hours of June 13, 1983, in Houston, Texas, as lovers Tucker and Garrett broke into the apartment of Jerry Lynn Dean. By the time the couple left, Dean and his companion, Deborah Thornton, were dead following a vicious attack with a pickaxe and hammer.

As the saying goes, "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned." The phrase is never more true for the women covered in this audiobook, all of whom harbor a lust for blood and the willingness to kill. While female killers may be considered rare, when they do strike, their cunning and callousness make their crimes all the more shocking. Psychopathy and violence are categories often reserved for men, but as this audiobook will show you, women can be just as evil as their male counterparts.

Indiana-born Vivian Gordon fluttered to New York in 1920 looking for fame and fortune. Before long, the flame-haired chorus girl parlayed her youth, beauty, and ambition into more profitable means as a tough and glamorous symbol of Prohibition-era excess. She was a speakeasy owner, blackmailer, high-end escort, extortionist, racketeer, and con woman. But given her dangerously intimate associations, Vivian was also a woman who knew too much and who rightfully feared for her life.

In her heyday, Stephanie St. Clair went by many names, but one was best known by all: Madame Queen. The undeniable queen of the Harlem numbers game, St. Clair redefined what it meant to be a woman of means. After immigrating to America from the West Indies, St. Clair would go on to manage one of the largest policy banks in all of Harlem by 1923. She knew the power of reputation, and even though her business was illegal gambling, she ran it like any other respectable entrepreneur. Because first and foremost, Madame Queen was a lady.

Everyone is afraid of the boogie man. Society has been conditioned to view “real rape” as that which is perpetrated on a virtuous woman by a horrible, psychotic stranger. The truth is, you are more likely to be sexually assaulted by someone you know. People turn to victim blaming to retain some measure of control and to help conceal the harsh reality that the boogie man could actually be anyone.