Books for the Armchair Detective in Your Life

Inside some of the mildest people we know is a penchant for reading dark stories of small-town murders, or chilling serial killers. Why not arm the armchair detective in your life with true crime books from every dark corner of the American dream? Here are fascinating stories of unsolved cases, organized crime, historical murders, detective memoirs, epic manhunts, and everyday small-town murder. For the true crime fan in your life, we offer these gripping cases served hot, cold, strange, and straight – so go ahead, throw the book at them!
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43 products
San Diego Murder and Mayhem
San Diego Murder and Mayhem
$21.99
Murder & Mayhem in Spokane
Murder & Mayhem in Spokane
$21.99
Murder & Mayhem in Herkimer County
Murder & Mayhem in Herkimer County
$23.99
Murder & Mayhem in Scott County, Iowa
Murder & Mayhem in Scott County, Iowa
$21.99
Murder & Mayhem on Ohio's Rails
Murder & Mayhem on Ohio's Rails
$23.99
Winston & Salem
Winston & Salem
$21.99
Notorious Jefferson County
Notorious Jefferson County
$21.99
Murder & Mayhem in the Crescenta Valley
Murder & Mayhem in the Crescenta Valley
$21.99

San Diego Murder and Mayhem

9781467138550

$21.99 Save Liquid error (snippets/product-template line 248): Computation results in '-Infinity'%
Early twentieth-century San Diego was growing fast, and the officers sworn to protect the city encountered more than their fair share of wily lawbreakers. From a shootout with a lone gunman in Mission Hills to gunfights with a gang of bank robbers that involved enthusiastic bystanders hoping to assist, detectives and patrolmen alike tried to maintain the peace. They encountered unexpected bodies, confronted car thieves and pursued criminals through neighboring states and into Mexico. Join author Steve Willard as he unearths stories directly from the case files of the early San Diego Police Department.
San Diego Murder and Mayhem

Murder & Mayhem in Spokane

9781467150392

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Spokane's dark history is loaded with murders, mischief, and drama.
The beautiful city was once considered a millionaire's paradise as well as a hobo's playground, but danger lurked beneath the surface. The Black Hand gang, police hot on their trail, stalked the streets looking for local mobster Frank Bruno. A teenage boy picked up an ax for nefarious purposes. McNeil State Penitentiary housed notorious characters Charles Manson and the Birdman of Alcatraz, while Herbert Niccolls Jr., locked up at twelve years old, made history as the youngest inmate at Walla Walla Penitentiary.
Join author Deborah Cuyle as she uncovers the Lilac City's violent past.
Murder & Mayhem in Spokane

Murder & Mayhem in Herkimer County

9781467144391

$23.99 Save Liquid error (snippets/product-template line 248): Computation results in '-Infinity'%

Caryl Hopson and Susan R. Perkins collect historic narratives of murder and mayhem in Herkimer County.


Herkimer County is steeped in history, from the settlement of the Mohawk Valley by Palatine German settlers to the flood of western migration with the opening of the Erie Canal. But the region also boasts an infamous history of high-profile homicides and crimes. Roxalana Druse murdered her abusive husband and became the last woman to be hanged in New York in 1887. The death of Grace Brown on scenic Big Moose Lake became one of the most famous cases in the country in 1906, inspiring author Theodore Dreiser's novel An American Tragedy. Psychological tests of intelligence were admitted into court for the first time in an acquittal of sixteen-year-old Jean Gianini in 1914.

Murder & Mayhem in Herkimer County

Murder & Mayhem in Scott County, Iowa

9781625859761

$21.99 Save Liquid error (snippets/product-template line 248): Computation results in '-Infinity'%
Scott County is one of the oldest counties in Iowa. It is where the Blackhawk Treaty was signed and where the first railroad bridge across the Mississippi River was built. But Scott County has also been witness to many shameful deeds. Travel down Utica Ridge Road, where young Grace Reed paid the ultimate price for spurning the affections of a local farmer. Enter the bedroom of Margaretha Nehlsen, who poisoned her children with chocolate candies. Hear the tale of Harry Hamilton, a former policeman turned career criminal who played a key part in perhaps the most infamous bank robbery in Scott County history. Come and explore these stories and more with author John Brassard Jr. as he guides you through the darker side of Scott County history.
Murder & Mayhem in Scott County, Iowa

Murder & Mayhem on Ohio's Rails

9781626192607

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Ride Ohio's rails with some of the bravest trainmen and most vicious killers and robbers to ever roll down the tracks.

The West may have had Jesse James and Butch Cassidy, but Ohio had its own brand of train robbers. Discover how Alvin Karpis knocked off an Erie Railroad train and escaped with $34,000. Learn about the first peacetime train holdup that took place in North Bend when thieves derailed the Kate Jackson, robbed its passengers and blew the Adam's Express safe. Make no mistake--railroading was a dangerous job in bygone days.

Murder & Mayhem on Ohio's Rails

Winston & Salem

9781596292512

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A young man charged with murder is marched through the streets of Winston and Salem and hanged on the outskirts of town...
?A tragic event carries several citizens into a raging river and to their deaths...
?An eccentric with a fascination for chemicals blows himself up at the Salem Hotel...

Through the use of primary documents, these and other fascinating stories of Winston and Salem's past are vividly brought to life. Jennifer Bean Bower, associate curator of photographic collections at Old Salem Museums & Gardens, has spent many years collecting accounts of the extraordinary historic events that have occurred in her hometown of Winston-Salem. Winston & Salem: Tales of Murder, Mystery and Mayhem covers 118 years of history and introduces readers to real-life characters and stories not soon to be forgotten.
Winston & Salem

Notorious Jefferson County

9781596299542

$21.99 Save Liquid error (snippets/product-template line 248): Computation results in '-Infinity'%
Before the Colorado Territory, this land was Jefferson Territory. Made up mostly of ranching and farming communities, early Jefferson County was the kind of place where only the stouthearted and downright crazy could survive. And with any settlement comes violence. It's true that Hollywood has embellished the history of the Wild West, but that doesn't mean it wasn't truly wild. From the "psychic" Italian mother who lured an elderly woman to her death to the violent end of the McQueary-Shaffer feud in the upper Platte region, local historian Carol Turner's Notorious Jefferson County offers readers a peek into some of the area's most famous and infamous murder cases of the frontier era.
Notorious Jefferson County

Murder & Mayhem in the Crescenta Valley

9781609499976

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The pleasant neighborhoods of the Crescenta Valley offer no hint of the many violent and heinous crimes that have occurred between the San Gabriel and Verdugo Mountains. But ties to such macabre episodes as the Onion Field murder and the search for the Hillside Strangler left lasting scars here. Infamous criminals such as mafia boss Joe "Iron Man" Ardizzone, red-light bandit Caryl Chessman and accused yacht bomber Beulah Overell have left a black eye on La Cresecenta's history--not to mention the "Rattlesnake Murder," "Female Bluebeard" and "Santa Claus Killer." Join historians Gary Keyes and Mike Lawler as they expose the crimes and criminals that have inflicted murder and mayhem in Glendale, La Crescenta, Montrose and La Canada Flintridge.
Murder & Mayhem in the Crescenta Valley