True Kidnapping

The Great Depression was a time of desperation in America - parents struggled to feed their children and unemployment was at a record high. Adding to the lawlessness of the decade, thugs with guns and corrupt law-enforcement officers ran rampant. But amidst this panic, there was one surefire way to make money, one used by criminals and resourceful civilians alike: kidnapping. The Kidnap Years is a thoughtfully reported pause-resister that chronicles the sweep of abductions that afflicted all corners of the country as desperate people were pushed to do the unthinkable.

Astonishingly more key evidence is accessible today than was presented at the death penalty trial of Bruno Richard Hauptmann for the kidnap/murder of Charles Lindbergh, Jr. You get to judge for yourself who committed the "crime of the century". This shocking but true story is told in dozens of short, riveting chapters you can't put down. In the depths of the Depression, millions worldwide followed every twist and turn of the Lindbergh baby kidnap/murder.

In 1968, during Albert Lepard's fifth escape from a life sentence at Parchman Penitentiary, he kidnapped Lovejoy Boteler, then 18 years old, from his family's farm in Grenada, Mississippi. Three decades later, still beset by half-buried memories of that time, Boteler began researching his kidnapper's nefarious, sordid life to discover how and why this terrifying abduction occurred.

Brainstorm is an amazing five-year probe into the mysterious death of beloved movie star Natalie Wood by a real-life criminal law authority who determinedly pursued the truth in the face of Los Angeles County officials hell-bent on keeping it buried forever. Brainstorm: An Investigation of the Mysterious Death of Film Star Natalie Wood is the first-person account of Sam Perroni’s probing investigation of the actress’s death.

True crime stories are everywhere - from our screens to podcasts, capturing our imaginations and haunting our dreams. It's raw, it's real, and it's a deep dive into humanity's dark side. Whether you think you've heard it all or are just getting started, "The Ultimate True Crime Trivia Book" is your next must-listen.

From the 1910 disappearance of New York heiress Dorothy Arnold to the 1977 vanishing of teenager Simone Ridinger, author Brunelle details both famous and lesser-known cases that remain unsolved.

The year is 1888, and Louis Le Prince is finally testing his “taker” or “receiver” device for his family on the front lawn. The device is meant to capture 10 to 12 images per second on film, creating a reproduction of reality that can be replayed as many times as desired. In an otherwise separate and detached world, occurrences from one end of the globe could now be viewable with only a few days delay on the other side of the world. No human experience—from the most mundane to the most momentous—would need to be lost to history.

Growing up, Rachel Rear knew the story of Stephanie Kupchynsky’s disappearance. The beautiful violinist and teacher had fled an abusive relationship on Martha’s Vineyard and made a new start for herself near Rochester, NY. She was at the height of her life - in a relationship with a man she hoped to marry and close to her students and her family. And then, one morning, she was gone.

This is not a manufactured dialogue from a thriller but the words of attorney Sharon Muse. They came after she survived an attempted kidnapping, rape, and murder at the hands of Hank Morrison, a former client. On April 7, 2006, Muse miraculously escaped from the sociopathic Morrison, only to find that the threat to her life was just beginning. Ineptitude in the justice system threatened to release Morrison and allow him the opportunity to finish the job, which he adamantly pledged to do. Muse would have to fight at every step to ensure her safety.

In The Vanishing Heiress: The Unsolved Disappearance of Dorothy Arnold, you'll explore the enigma of Dorothy Arnold, a New York socialite whose vanishing still baffles historians. With rich historical context and suspenseful narration, this book offers insights into the mystery that perplexed even the sharpest investigators.

For most of the 20th century, the name Hearst was most closely associated with one of America's most famous (and infamous) newspaper magnates, William Garrison Hearst, whose life was the inspiration for Citizen Kane. But in the 1970s, his granddaughter Patricia made headlines thanks to a series of events that would wind up being one of the most bizarre chapters of the 20th century.

"Yo pensaba: al final se ha disfrazado de guardia civil y, para escarnecerme más, me va a sacar de aquí para matarme fuera. Entonces fue cuando le dije: "No, no, fuera no. Hazlo aquí, que es más fácil y no quiero salir"". Así describe José Antonio Ortega Lara su liberación en una extensa entrevista en la que relata, por primera y única vez, los detalles de su cautiverio por parte de la banda terrorista ETA en aquel zulo de cuatro metros cuadrados en el que permaneció secuestrado 532 días.

The Momster Diaries shines the light on riveting and compelling survival stories with intimacy and candor.

Everyone Is a Suspect has descriptive copy which is not yet available from the publisher.

Alla tragedia di Giulio Regeni, scomparso il 25 gennaio 2016 al Cairo, il mondo della politica non ha ancora risposto. Non ha risposto l’Egitto di Al Sisi. Che, anzi, continua a sabotare le indagini sul sequestro, la tortura e l’omicidio del figlio di Paola Deffendi e Claudio Regeni: in quasi quattro anni gli egiziani hanno ucciso cinque innocenti, inventato storie incredibili, falsificato documenti per allontanare i sospetti dai loro apparati. Senza però riuscirci.

This is a heart-wrenching collection of true stories told through the eyes of family members who have experienced the trauma of a missing loved one. It follows their journeys from the desperate searches in the first days, through the Police investigations and, in many cases, the heartbreak as the years roll by without any news. These stories are just a glimpse into ten of the thousands of missing persons still out there, waiting to be found.

2019 erschien das Erstlingswerk von Adrian Langenscheid True Crime Deutschland und erstürmte aus dem Nichts die Siegertreppchen der genrerelevanten Kategorien. Knapp 2 Jahre und 7 Bücher später ist Langenscheid einer der bekanntesten True Crime-Autoren Deutschlands. Für das achte Werk seiner Erfolgsserie recherchierte der Bestsellerautor aufs Neue einige der spektakulärsten deutschen Kriminalfälle der letzten Jahrzehnte. Dabei ist ein atemberaubendes, zutiefst erschütterndes Portrait menschlicher Abgründe entstanden, das gerade wegen seiner kühlen, sachlich-neutralen Schilderungen gewaltige Emotionen weckt.

True Crime-Erfolgsautor Adrian Langenscheid entfacht erneut mit seinen schockierenden Kurzgeschichten über wahre Verbrechen aus der Schweiz herzklopfendes Lesevergnügen. Es ist ein atemberaubendes, zutiefst erschütterndes Portrait menschlicher Abgründe, das gerade wegen seiner kühlen, sachlich-neutralen Schilderung gewaltige Emotionen weckt. Eiskalte Serienmörder, verhängnisvolle Familiendramen, tragische Entführungen, niederträchtige Folter und skrupelloser Missbrauch: dreizehn schockierende True Crime-Kurzgeschichten zu wahren Kriminalfällen aus der Schweiz erwarten Sie.

In this meticulous and authoritative account of the trial and the times of the Lindbergh kidnapping, Robert Zorn clears away decades of ungrounded speculation surrounding the case. Inspired by his father's relationship with the actual accomplices—including the mastermind—he presents the clearest ever picture of a criminal partnership that would shake every class and culture of American society.

AK47s, masked thugs, and brutal urgency erupt from Roy Hallums' account of his abduction in Iraq, shredding through those frequently sterile cable news reports revealing that another "American contractor is being held hostage...". Hallums was the everyman behind that report⁠—a 56-year-old retired Naval commander working as a food supply contractor in Baghdad's high-end Mansour District. His abduction was transacted in a matter of minutes, amidst a hail of gunfire and a handful of casualties.