True Thrillers

For Butch Karp, chief assistant district attorney for New York County, the nightmare begins when a shocking act of negligence results in homicide. Goaded by the media's sensational publicity, the public is screaming for blood, and the DA is listening. It is Butch Karp's unpleasant job to give the public what it wants - a thorough administration of hard-line justice - by prosecuting a poor, Hispanic, fifteen-year-old mother for murder. Complicating matters further is Butch's wife, private investigator Marlene Ciampi, who has decided to return to law.

After a mysterious fall from his New York City apartment, Philip Chase has moved back home with his mother, Charlene, a bitter woman who has never fully accepted the death of her younger son, Ronnie, five years earlier. Surrounded by memories of the family he no longer has, Philip is in stasis. But everything changes late one windy February night when Ronnie's high school girlfriend shows up on their doorstep. A sad young woman who still bears the scars of the accident that took Ronnie's life, Melissa is nine months pregnant. The father, she claims, is Ronnie.

Unflappable Santa Fe detective Sam Williams must track down the murderer of the City Different’s most notorious "trust fund baby" - Farley Doyle III. Wealthy, tyrannical Doyle, known as 3D by friends and enemies alike, strides through the Southwestern resort town as if he owns it. He intimidates and browbeats everyone he comes in contact with.

Max Yuma has a score to settle but, for now, there is no need to carry out his plan. He and Chloe Nicholas have managed to stay well-hidden, allowing Max to bide his time and strike when he's ready. If no one is looking for him, why bother? He knows that he will eventually need to strike; it's only a matter of time. If he doesn't strike, they will they track him down; he's absolutely sure of that. They will never forget about him. Without warning, Max and Chloe are cast into the public eye, forcing them into action, but they need time to prepare.

When her husband of 30 years runs off with a college student named Cherri, Jane Delight returns to Pennsylvania to work in her Amish sister's cupcake store. Having lost everything in the divorce, Jane now finds herself sharing an apartment with two feisty octogenarians and their quirky cat, Mr. Crumbles. But there is no time to despair. A man is murdered in the cupcake store, and now Jane is the prime suspect. Enter brooding Detective Damon McCloud, a Scot with a tragic past and a desire for justice.

Detectives O'Roarke and Garcia have a cold case dumped on their desk. Despite their objections that they don't do cold cases, their commander tells them that they do now, since the new mayor has asked for them. Three years earlier, a relative of the mayor's was murdered and the case was never solved. The cold case plunges the murder cops into the world of television and cooking.

A bankrupt lawyer and a greedy insurance adjuster concoct a personal injury scam involving a runaway grocery cart and recruit a half-wit golf course greenskeeper as their fall guy. But the plan goes horribly wrong, and as it spirals into a murderous fiasco, the grifters must deal with betrayals, shakedowns, bombs, and mobsters to avoid prison...or worse, an early grave in a Southern California landfill.

Edgar, Anthony, and Gumshoe finalist Craig McDonald takes listeners to 1924 Paris for this riveting tale. Someone is murdering literary magazine editors, so Gertrude Stein assigns Hector Lassiter, fellow mystery writer Brinke Devlin, and Hector’s dear friend Papa Hemingway to track down the killer. While the romance smolders between Hector and Brinke, their investigation takes them down a path that grows stranger by the minute.

Maxwell Smart tenía solo once años cuando toda su familia fue asesinada. Pudo haber muerto también, pero su madre le ordenó salvarse. Huyó al bosque, cavó un hoyo para refugiarse y buscó comida en las granjas cercanas. Con la ropa hecha harapos y al borde de la inanición, escapó repetidamente de la muerte a manos de los nazis. Después de meses en soledad, Maxwell se encontró con otro niño que deambulaba por el bosque en busca de comida. Janek, al igual que Maxwell, era huérfano y los dos se hicieron amigos.

Police Officer Patrick MacKenna finally gets his transfer to the Neighborhood Anti-Crime Section with the City of Syracuse Police Department. Officially beginning his investigative career with a set of soon to be lifelong friends. If the young cops can survive the harrowing experience they are all soon destined to achieve their gold shields. But trouble looms along the way as the princes of the city run around the urban metropolis with their hair on fire in this high speed, low drag anti-crime unit.

Elise Phillips, a doctor in training, has successfully repressed her kidnapping five years prior. The only problem is...she has six and one half days to remember every terrible detail, or a total stranger will die. But to make matters even worse, in order to save this nameless woman, Elise will have to face something that scares her even more than death-intimacy.

Brad loved her deeply, but she did not want to settle down. She worked as an assistant to a Senator and enjoyed the opulence that the job offered. The Senator worked with Omar. Brad found her with Omar. Brad went into a rage. Omar missed his meeting with the Senator. No one could find Omar. The local Sheriff's office searched for Omar. The FBI, and others, searched for Omar. But they could not find him. But Brad and his friends found Omar again, and again, and again, and again....

When Samantha True witnesses Wind River's most popular principal keel over dead she knows three things. He's been murdered. Proving it will be impossible. They're gonna think she did it. As she works to clear her name, Samantha learns "Principal Josh" is the king of slime balls. Eliminating suspects proves tricky when half the town has a motive for murder.

I have dreams. I can see them as clearly as I see you. They are all dead and I'm covered in their blood, thick and smelling of rust. They are ghostly, but their lips are stretched wide, almost like they're smiling at me. My name is Kendall and I have nothing to hide. Bound by Blood is the story of a girl who had been suffering from nightmares. Everyone around her thought it was just her wild imagination. But maybe it wasn’t, because your thoughts are the darkest things you own.

A savage murder, committed the same day Martin Luther King Jr. gave his "I Have a Dream" speech. A young black man is falsely accused. In the style of Truman Capote's In Cold Blood, Erik German's Kindle Single Dead Girls picks up where the reporters left off - just in time for the 50th anniversary of a crime that captivated the nation. On August, 28, 1963, two young white women were found slain and mutilated in their apartment on New York's Upper East Side.

London 1901. The city is in the grip of "monkey man mania". Intrepid explorer Drake Patterson has caused a media storm following his astonishing discovery of a frozen ancient man in the remote Himalayan Mountains. This primal man has been triumphantly transported back to England as proof of the missing link in evolutionary theory. The upcoming auction of the specimen causes a stir amongst academics and the board of the British Museum.

After laterally transferring from the sleepy bedroom hamlet of the Town of Camillus Police Department, Officer Patrick MacKenna has a whole different learning curve to contend with.... He rarely if ever had to pull his gun at CPD, but now he has a hard time leaving it in the holster. Drug dealers, gang bangers, robberies, shootings, and stabbings just keep adding up in his daily log as he tries to assimilate to the fast pace life of a city cop in an urban setting.

Join Marsha and Danny Jones as they face the greatest threat yet to the Sea Empress and her passengers on a wonderful cruise to the Caribbean - with a serial killer on board! A fascinating group of people have joined the cruise to the warm and sunny islands, from famous authors to stalking reviewers, a country music legend and a top FBI agent sent to help track down a killer. Danger lurks every day as the body count begins. When will it all end? Only The Shadow knows for sure!

An electrifying true story of Marco, a poor adolescent Colombian fishermen who dreams of wealth and whose ambitions result in his forced servitude to the AUC, a ruthlessly violent narco paramilitary organization that operates at the height of Colombia's drug-fueled civil war. The adventure thrusts the listener into the mind and soul of Marco, who's charged with the dangerous responsibility of moving millions of dollars in cash and thousands of kilos of cocaine through the treacherous jungles of Central and South America and the Gulf of Mexico's unforgiving waters.

The first digital collection of true crime tales from Reader's Digest, featuring the most gripping thrillers and mind-blowing mysteries from its digitized archives.