Spydus Search Results - True Crime

Al Capone's beer wars : a complete history of organized crime in Chicago during prohibition / John J. Binder.

Although much has been written about Al Capone, there has not been--until now--a complete history of organized crime in Chicago during Prohibition. This exhaustively researched book covers the entire period from 1920 to 1933. Author John J. Binder, a recognized authority on the history of organized crime in Chicago, discusses all the important bootlegging gangs in the city and the suburbs and also examines the other major rackets, such as prostitution, gambling, labour and business racketeering, and narcotics. A major focus is how the Capone gang -- one of twelve major bootlegging mobs in Chicago at the start of Prohibition--gained a virtual monopoly over organized crime in northern Illinois and beyond. Binder also describes the fight by federal and local authorities, as well as citizens' groups, against organized crime. In the process, he refutes numerous myths and misconceptions related to the Capone gang, other criminal groups, the St. Valentine's Day Massacre, and gangland killings. What emerges is a big picture of how Chicago's underworld evolved during this period. This broad perspective goes well beyond Capone and specific acts of violence and brings to light what was happening elsewhere in Chicagoland and after Capone went to jail. Based on 25 years of research and using many previously unexplored sources, this fascinating account of a bloody and colourful era in Chicago history will become the definitive work on the subject.
Author: Binder, John J., 1956-
Published: Amherst : Prometheus Books, [2023]
Published: ©2017
414 pages : illustrations (black and white) ; 23 cm.

Sandringham Library - (Bayside Library Service) - Adult Non Fiction - True Crime - 364.106 BIN - Onloan - Due: 29 May 2024 - 010695844

The teacher's pet / Hedley Thomas ; with epilogue by Matthew Condon.

Lynette Dawson (nee Simms) disappeared from Sydney's idyllic northern beaches in 1982 and was never seen again. Lynette was a caring nurse, a loving mother and devoted wife. Her husband, Chris Dawson, was a rugby league football legend, a popular teacher, and an exceptionally close identical twin of his brother, Paul. This golden-haired couple with their two young daughters would have been a model of domestic bliss if not for the fact that Chris was infatuated with their babysitter, his 16-year-old student, a girl he moved into the family house just two days after Lyn's disappearance and subsequently married. Thirty-six years later, veteran print journalist Hedley Thomas revisited the story he'd first investigated nearly two decades earlier, but this time using podcast as his format. The Teachers Pet, the book, tells the extraordinary story of the crime, the podcast investigation, the sexual exploitation of female teenage students, the failure for four decades of the criminal justice system, the hopes of a family and a community desperate for answers, and the courtroom drama.
Author: Thomas, Hedley
Published: Sydney, New South Wales : Macmillan, Pan Macmillan Australia, 2023.
Published: ©2023
ix, 502 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some colour), portraits (some colour) ; 24 cm

Beaumaris Library - (Bayside Library Service) - Adult Non Fiction - True Crime - 364.152 THO - Onloan - Due: 02 Jun 2024 - 010959915
Beaumaris Library - (Bayside Library Service) - Adult Non Fiction - True Crime - 364.152 THO - Available - Recently returned - 010959908

The Australian gamble : organized crime Down Under / Paul Bleakley.

The Australian Gamble explores Jack Rooklyn's role as a thread that connects some of the best-recognized characters, and most pivotal events, in Australian criminal history. It is a story that begins overseas, with the origins of the Bally poker machine company - a scandal-prone business with a name that was fated to be forever linked with Rooklyn's. From humble origins in Al Capone's Chicago, Bally rode the amusement game wave to become one of the biggest players in the gaming industry worldwide ... a status that made it an attractive target for takeover by America's Italian Mafia. Run out of Cuba on the heels of Castro's communist revolution, 'The Families' were looking for new opportunities to expand their gaming ambitions, both in the desert mecca Las Vegas and (more quietly) through clandestinely sinking their hooks into a financially struggling Bally.
Author: Bleakley, Paul
Published: Lanham, Maryland : Rowman & Littlefield, [2023]
Published: ©2023
xxv, 233 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm.

Brighton Library - (Bayside Library Service) - Adult Non Fiction - True Crime - 364.106 BLE - Available - 010944256

Killers of the Flower Moon : oil, money, murder and the birth of the FBI / David Grann.

Presents a true account of the early twentieth-century murders of dozens of wealthy Osage and law-enforcement officials, citing the contributions and missteps of a fledgling FBI that eventually uncovered one of the most chilling conspiracies in American history.
Author: Grann, David
Published: London : Simon & Schuster, 2023.
Published: ©2017
viii, 339 pages : illustrations ; 20 cm
12 reserves

Brighton Library - (Bayside Library Service) - Adult Non Fiction - History - 976.6 GRA - On Reserve Shelf - Awaiting collection within 10 days of this date. (Set: 01 May 2024) - 010927433
Brighton Library - (Bayside Library Service) - Adult Non Fiction - True Crime - 364.973 GRA - On Reserve Shelf - Awaiting collection within 10 days of this date. (Set: 29 Apr 2024) - 009419864
Hampton Library - (Bayside Library Service) - Adult Non Fiction - History - 976.6 GRA - Onloan - Due: 07 May 2024 - 010938712
Sandringham Library - (Bayside Library Service) - Adult Non Fiction - History - 976.6 GRA - On Reserve Shelf - Awaiting collection within 10 days of this date. (Set: 03 May 2024) - 010939054
Sandringham Library - (Bayside Library Service) - Adult Non Fiction - True Crime - 364.973 GRA - Onloan - Due: 30 Apr 2024 - 009510653

Naked city : true stories of crimes, cock-ups, crooks & cops / John Silvester.

John Silvester has been reporting on crime from the cop stations, courthouses, back alleys and gangster mansions of Melbourne for forty years. His contact book is a who's who of both sides of criminal justice and the shadowy worlds between. He is the trusted confidant of cops, criminals, lawyers and judges. He knows where the cash is stashed and where the bodies are buried. Naked City is a collection of Silvester's best stories, from sophisticated heists to mindless acts of violence and deeds of pure evil - impeccably sourced, wry, wise and witty. Travel the dark depths of Australia's criminal underworld with our most formidable crime reporter and an icon of Australian true crime.
Author: Silvester, John
Published: Sydney, New South Wales : Macmillan, Pan Macmillan Australia, 2023.
Published: ©2023
xxii, 330 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some colour) ; 24 cm
4 reserves

Beaumaris Library - (Bayside Library Service) - Adult Non Fiction - True Crime - 364.994 SIL - Onloan - Due: 03 Jun 2024 - 010927846
Beaumaris Library - (Bayside Library Service) - Adult Non Fiction - True Crime - 364.994 SIL - Onloan - Due: 17 May 2024 - 010927839
Beaumaris Library - (Bayside Library Service) - Adult Non Fiction - True Crime - 364.994 SIL - Onloan - Due: 24 May 2024 - 010985235
Sandringham Library - (Bayside Library Service) - Adult Non Fiction - True Crime - 364.994 SIL - Onloan - Due: 29 May 2024 - 010927853

The world's even dumber criminals : unbelievable true tales of crime gone wrong / Duncan McKenzie.

"A hilarious collection of all-new true stories of dumb criminals committing stupid crimes A woman filled out a form online to hire a hitman, only to find the website was a fake and law enforcement had a complete record of her attempted crime. A thief on a motorbike snatched a phone out of a man's hand, only to find the man was a reporter in the middle of livestreaming a report to thousands of viewers, including footage of the criminal and his crime. A woman made bomb threats to her boyfriend's workplace because she wanted to spend more time with him. A would-be robber escaped police by hiding out in a large building, only to find himself behind the gates of infamous Sing Sing Correctional Facility. Whether accidentally calling 911 on themselves, locking themselves in the house they're robbing or other outrageous acts of stupidity, there's no shortage of people who seem intent on getting themselves caught. The World's Even Dumber Criminals contains many all-new stories about criminals who put the wrong in wrongdoing."-- Provided by publisher.
Author: McKenzie, Duncan
Published: Toronto, Ontario : HarperCollins Publishers, [2023]
Published: ©2023
323 pages ; 23 cm

Sandringham Library - (Bayside Library Service) - Adult Non Fiction - True Crime - 364.3 MACK - Available - 010927501

My girl : the Babes in the Wood murders : a mother's fight for justice / Michelle Hadaway with Jean Ritchie.

The first and only insider's account of the Babes in the Wood, one of Britain's most shocking and disturbing murder cases. On Thursday 9th October 1986, Michelle Hadaway's worst fears came true. After watching her daughter Karen playing in the neighbour's garden with her best friend Nicola, Michelle returned to cook dinner for her family. Unbeknownst to her, this would be the last time she would ever see Karen alive. In the following days and months, shocking details would come to light about the nature of Karen and Nicola's murders, and the case which had come to be known as 'the Babes in the Wood murders' would lead to one of the most infamous and cruellest miscarriages of justice in British history. For decades, Michelle fought tirelessly to bring justice to her daughter's murder, shining light on countless police failings and media manipulations in the process. Finally, in 2018 after 32 years of suffering, Russell Bishop, the man Michelle had long known to be guilty, was sentenced in court. This is the story of two stolen lives, of the long road to justice, but most of all the story of a mother's love and determination.
Author: Hadaway, Michelle, 1957-
Published: London : Penguin Books, 2023.
Published: ©2023
308 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (chiefly colour), portraits ; 20 cm

Beaumaris Library - (Bayside Library Service) - Adult Non Fiction - True Crime - 363.259 HAD - Onloan - Due: 01 Jun 2024 - 010923343

I am a killer : inside the mind of murderers / Danny Tipping & Ned Parker.

What goes through the mind of a killer when they commit murder? Based on the massively successful Netflix documentary series of the same name, this book features ten of the most compelling cases from the first two series and is full of exclusive never-seen-before material. The authors, Ned Parker and Danny Tipping secured exceptional access to high-security prisons across America. The majority of the killers will die in prison -- either by serving their sentence of life without parole or they are on Death Row, waiting to be executed. In each of the cases the inmate speaks openly about themselves and reflects on their life and their crimes. To gain a complete picture of the impact of the murders the authors spoke to both the families of both the perpetrators and the victims, and those in law enforcement who were involved in the case, leaving it up to the reader to make up their own mind about the killers and their crimes. The book draws on handwritten letters from the inmates and full transcripts of the interviews to tell each story, and features exclusive material including personal pictures, crime scene images, and original police and court documents, this is a fascinating and detailed look at some of America's most gripping murder cases.
Author: Tipping, Danny
Published: London : Pan Books, 2022.
Published: ©2022
320 pages : illustrations ; 20 cm.

Brighton Library - (Bayside Library Service) - Adult Non Fiction - True Crime - 364.152 TIP - Available - 010524977

When a killer calls : a haunting story of murder, criminal profiling, and justice in a small town / John Douglas and Mark Olshaker.

"From John Douglas--the legendary FBI criminal profiler, #1 New York Times bestselling author, and inspiration for the Netflix show Mindhunter--comes a chilling journey inside the mind and crimes of Larry Gene Bell, one of the most dangerous serial killers Douglas confronted, and the desperate effort to identify and catch him"-- Provided by publisher.
Author: Douglas, John E.
First edition.
Published: New York, NY : Dey St., an imprint of William Morrow, [2022]
Published: ©2022
328 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some colour) ; 21 cm.
Cases of the FBI's original mindhunter ; 2.

Beaumaris Library - (Bayside Library Service) - Adult Non Fiction - True Crime - 364.152 DOU - Available - Recently returned - 010484554

Deep cover : how I took down Britain's most dangerous gangsters / Shay Doyle with Scott Hesketh.

An explosive first-hand account of Level 1 undercover police work, from the cop who infiltrated and dismantled some of the UK's toughest gangs and high-profile gangsters, including Salford's 'Mr Big' and cop killer Dale Cregan. For fans of Running with the Firm, Good Cop Bad War and Soldier Spy Street kid turned undercover cop. 'This time he wasn't getting up. Neither were the two young women he'd just murdered. The two unarmed young police officers he cut down in a hail of 32 bullets and the fragments of a grenade, ending their promising lives so savagely, so senselessly. I felt empty. Cold. How had it come to this?' Shay grew up on a tough Manchester council estate where drugs and gangs were rife. A life of crime would have been an easy path to take. So it went against everything that was expected of him when he joined the police. It wouldn't be long before Shay's prodigious talent caught the attention of the top. Then came the call that changed his life: an offer to join the secret Level 1 undercover unit known as Omega. And it was easy to see why they wanted him: he wouldn't have to stray too far from what he already knew. He had all the attributes of a professional criminal: the athletic physique of a cage fighter, the talk, the walk. Streetwise and fearless, he'd be a match for the most hardened villain. He was given a new identity, his DNA and fingerprints were removed from the national database, and so began the life of Mikey O'Brien. In a distinguished covert career spanning 17 years, former solider Shay infiltrated Moss Side gangs, was part of a hand-picked team hunting Dale Cregan and was brought in to break up a gang war wall of silence after the murder of Salford 'Mr Big' Paul Massey. But there would be a heavy price to pay for a life in the shadows, where any mistake could have lethal consequences...
Author: Doyle, Shay
Published: London : Ebury Spotlight, 2022.
Published: ©2022
xvi, 304 pages ; 24 cm.

Sandringham Library - (Bayside Library Service) - Adult Non Fiction - Biography - 363.232 DOY - Available - 010518990

Dark dames, dastardly deeds : women who chose to 'cross the line' / William J. Allender.

"In this book, I have presented a selection of twenty case stories involving women who have decided to 'take matters into their own hands' quite often with terrible outcomes for all parties concerned. However, murder, to intentionally take a human life would have to be one of the gravest crimes one could commit when a human decides to take the life of another. What brings people to kill? What goes through their minds? Not being a psychologist, I find it difficult even with the cases where I've provided testimony in Court, why some people have found in necessary to end the life of a person who was even their former lover! In some cases, what if the sensation of being killed is what the killer is after? Unfortunately, matters become even more intense and extremely dangerous when sex, violence and/or drugs become part of their dubious lifestyle. In most cases and certainly in my experience, the perpetrator of the crime was a mostly male. Here is a selection of case stories from the many I have been involved in over the years where the villains were actually female. Yes, the evil female criminals (femme fatales) who carried out their dastardly deeds to their unfortunate victims. Generally, the victims have been their spouses and/or lovers for example, " The Black Widow"; " The Aberdeen Butcher." and even their father, "Psychosis and a Case of Patricide" Sometimes, mental illness may have played a role in the crimes, as it appeared in the latter case. But some, even their innocent kids, "Mums and Methadone" Also, included are some other earlier stories of which I had no involvement for example, " The Self-Made Widow -Nannie Doss", with further nasty poisonings in "Pastries and Poisons - Caroline Grills"; "Dancing with Death -- Yvonne Fletcher; "Rats and Rugby -- Veronica Monty and several kid killers in, "Mum the Murderer- Diane Downs", "Drowning Tub Murders -- Andrea Yates"; "Death in a Duck Pond -- Rachel Pfitzner" to name but a few."--
Author: Allender, William J. (William John)
Published: Wahroonga, NSW : New Holland Publishers, 2022.
Published: ©2022
200 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm.

Beaumaris Library - (Bayside Library Service) - Adult Non Fiction - True Crime - 364.152 ALL - Available - 010515074

Collateral damage : the unintended victims of crime / Robin Bowles.

For every crime, there are unintended victims. People living their lives until something happens to them or someone they love. Many are innocent; some are not perfect themselves. No matter their story, they are put in a terrible situation due to the crimes of another. Whenever a serious crime is committed, police swarm around, asking searching questions, poking and prying. They impose themselves on the grief of those who were intimately connected with the victim and the alleged perpetrator. Then they are gone. The blue lights disappear, as does the blue-and-white ribbon. The stream of uniforms and suits moves on the next drama.
Author: Bowles, Robin
Published: South Melbourne, VIC : Lake Press, 2022.
Published: ©2022
212 pages ; 23 cm.

Brighton Library - (Bayside Library Service) - Adult Non Fiction - True Crime - 362.88 BOW - Available - 010695882

Mafioso : the bloody and compelling history of the Mafia - from its birth in Italy to its invasion of America and present-day global infiltration - told by an Australian undercover insider / Colin McLaren.

The Mafia began on a small island in the Mediterranean, Sicily. It grew to become a major political force in Italy, while its tentacles penetrated every aspect of life in the United States. Through drugs, it spread its influence to Britain, Canada and Australia. And through the gangster movies of Hollywood, including The Godfather and Goodfellas, it permeates popular culture. The History of the Mafia is full of blood-chilling characters, from Al Capone, who ran Chicago during Prohibition, and hitmen Louis Lepke and Alberto Anastasia who founded Murder, Inc, to Totò Riina, "boss of bosses," John Gotti, "the Teflon don," and Bernardo "The Tractor" Provenzano, who hid out from the law in a farmhouse for 43 years... These were extraordinary men who lived through extraordinary times. The History of the Mafia tells the story of their lives, their families, their codes, their crimes and their cold-blooded murders. A long and enthralling tale, drenched in blood and scored with betrayal.
Author: McLaren, Colin
Published: Sydney, N.S.W. : Hachette Australia, 2022.
Published: ©2022
317 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some colour), portraits (some colour) ; 24 cm.

Brighton Library - (Bayside Library Service) - Adult Non Fiction - True Crime - 364.106 MACL - Available - 010524892

Catch the sparrow / Rachel Rear.

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. Around Rochester-a region which has spawned such serial killers as Arthur Shawcross and the "Double Initial" killer-Stephanie's disappearance was just a familiar sort of news item. But Rachel had more reason than most to be haunted by this particular story of a missing woman: Rachel's mother had married Stephanie's father after the crime, and Rachel grew up in the shadow of her stepsister's legacy."--Amazon.
Author: Rear, Rachel
Published: London : Sphere, 2022.
Published: ©2022
245 pages : illustrations : 24 cm.

Sandringham Library - (Bayside Library Service) - Adult Non Fiction - True Crime - 364.152 REA - Available - 010522416

The secret prison governor : the brutal truth of life behind bars / Anonymous.

An eye-opening, thought-provoking and mind-blowing account from a genuine prison governor of what it's really like behind bars. How do you bring order to the lawless? The Secret Prison Governor has spent decades surrounded by every type of prisoner known to man, from petty thieves and common drug dealers to crime bosses and dangerous serial killers. Since starting as a rookie, he has experienced the reality of the UK's harsh prison system and the hard challenge of ruling those within it. In his own words, the Secret Prison Governor spares no detail of prison life, whether that's breaking up shiv fights, investigating and crushing vast networks of contraband, negotiating with hardened criminals or dealing with full-scale cellblock gang wars. This is the brutal truth of what life is really like behind bars.
Published: London : Welbeck, 2022.
Published: ©2022
xiii, 305 pages ; 20 cm.

Brighton Library - (Bayside Library Service) - Adult Non Fiction - True Crime - 365.92 SEC - Available - 010512714

A taste for poison : eleven deadly substances and the killers who used them / Neil Bradbury.

As any reader of murder mysteries can tell you, poison is one of the most enduring - and popular - weapons of choice for a scheming murderer. It can be slipped into a drink, smeared onto the tip of an arrow or the handle of a door, even filtered through the air we breathe. But how exactly do these poisons work to break our bodies down, and what can we learn from the damage they inflict? In a fascinating blend of popular science, medical history, and narrative crime nonfiction, Dr Neil Bradbury explores this most morbidly captivating method of murder from a cellular level.
Author: Bradbury, Neil
Published: Manchester : HarperNorth, 2022.
Published: ©2022
291 pages ; 24 cm.

Beaumaris Library - (Bayside Library Service) - Adult Non Fiction - True Crime - 615.9 BRA - Available - Recently returned - 010644163

Inside the mind of Jeffrey Dahmer : the cannibal killer / Christopher Berry-Dee.

Sunday Times bestselling author Christopher Berry-Dee seeks to understand the motivation, the amoral urges and the merciless horror behind Dahmer's inhuman behaviour. Sunday Times bestselling author Christopher Berry-Dee is the man who talks to serial killers. A world-renowned investigative criminologist, he has gained the trust of murderers across the world, entered their high security prisons, and discussed in detail their shocking crimes. Berry-Dee now delves into the mind of perhaps the most sadistic and psychopathic killer of all time. Between 1978 and 1991, Jeffrey Dahmer murdered and dismembered seventeen boys and men. But he is most notorious for what happened to his victims after their grisly deaths and the shocking depravity that led to Dahmer being dubbed the 'Milwaukee Cannibal'. Using his long experience and psychological expertise, Berry-Dee seeks to understand the motivation, the amoral urges and the merciless horror behind Dahmer's inhuman behaviour: what could make a man do this?
Author: Berry-Dee, Christopher
Published: London : Ad Lib Publishers, 2022.
Published: ©2022
256 pages ; 20 cm.

Brighton Library - (Bayside Library Service) - Adult Non Fiction - Biography - 364.152 DAH - Available - 010599913

Murder in the neighborhood / Ellen J. Green.

On September 6,1949, twenty-eight-year-old Howard Barton Unruh shot thirteen people in less than twelve minutes on his block in East Camden, New Jersey. The shocking true story of the first recorded mass shooting in America has never been told, until now. The sky was cloudless that morning when twelve-year-old Raymond Havens left his home on River Road. His grandmother had sent him to get a haircut at the barbershop across the street - where he was about to witness his neighbour and friend Howard open fire on the customers inside. Told through the eyes of the young boy who visited Howard regularly to listen to his war stories, and the mother trying to piece together the disturbing inner workings of her son's mind, Ellen Green uncovers the chilling true story of Howard Unruh - the quiet oddball who meticulously plotted his revenge on the neighbours who shunned him and became one of America's first mass killers.
Author: Green, Ellen J.
Published: London : Thread, 2022.
Published: ©2022
317 pages : illustrations, plan, portraits ; 20 cm.

Sandringham Library - (Bayside Library Service) - Adult Non Fiction - True Crime - 364.152 GRE - Available - 010599395

This woman : Myra Hindley's prison love affair and escape attempt / Howard Sounes.

In 1973, Myra Hindley, the most notorious woman in Britain, is serving a life sentence for the moors murders - a case that shocked the world. Behind bars she has fallen in love. When Hindley is refused parole she persuades a sympathetic prison officer and former nun to help her break out of London's grim Holloway prison. The women plan to run away together to Brazil. Twenty years after Hindley's death, this extraordinary true story is brought to life in vivid new detail by Howard Sounes, author of the true crime classic Fred & Rose, drawing on unseen prison files and new interviews with former Holloway inmates, prison officers and detectives. It is a tale of infatuation and manipulation, crime and punishment. Despite her part in the appalling murders of five children and teenagers, Myra Hindley is revealed as a highly complex woman of intelligence and charm, which she used to get what she wanted. Or was she, as her supporters claimed, a misunderstood person who regretted her past and only attempted to escape out of desperation?
Author: Sounes, Howard, 1965-
Published: London : Seven Dials, 2022.
Published: ©2022
331 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, facsimiles, map, portraits ; 24 cm.

Brighton Library - (Bayside Library Service) - Adult Non Fiction - Biography - 364.152 HIN - Available - 010592013

Betrayed : the incredible untold inside story of the two most unlikely drug-running grannies in Australian history / Sandi Logan.

In 1977, Vera 'Toddie' Hays and Florice 'Beezie" Bessire thought they were about to embark on the trip of a lifetime when Vera's nephew, Vern Todd, offered them a campervan to drive from Germany to India. Little did the women know that Vern and his accomplices would secretly pack two tonnes of hashish into the vehicle along the way. This shocking inside story chronicles Toddie and Beezie's wild ride across continents and oceans to our shores, their arrest by Australia Federal Bureau of Narcotics agents, and all that the women faced in the aftermath. On the ground at the time, journalist Sandi Logan draws from his interviews with those attached to the events, and accounts in the women's diaries, to tell the incredible tale of an unlikely pair who became infamous and their fight for justice.
Author: Logan, Sandi
Published: Sydney, NSW : Hachette Australia, 2022.
Published: ©2022
xii, 333 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some colour) ; 24 cm.

Sandringham Library - (Bayside Library Service) - Adult Non Fiction - True Crime - 364.133 LOG - Available - 010621683

The ballroom murder : the dancefloor shooting that shocked Australia / Leigh Straw.

n August 1925, Audrey Jacob shot dead her former fiancé, Cyril Gidley, in full view of hundreds of guests at a charity ball in Perth's Government House. When she was arrested, she still held the gun in her hand. It was an open-and-shut case of wilful murder - that is until lawyer Arthur Haynes took the case with a unique defence. His ability to play both the press and the jury for sympathy led to an extraordinary outcome.
Author: Straw, Leigh S. L.
Published: North Fremantle, Western Australia : Fremantle Press, 2022.
Published: ©2022
178 pages ; 24 cm.

Sandringham Library - (Bayside Library Service) - Adult Non Fiction - True Crime - 364.152 STR - Available - 010579618

The big Folbigg mistake : a mother's fight for justice / John Kerr.

Kathleen Folbigg was found guilty of killing her four children by opinions - medical, literary and her estranged husband's opinion - nearly 20 years ago. There never was hard evidence of homicide in the infants' deaths. This book traces her life story, the rise and fall of a medical mania that saw so-called 'smother mothers' imprisoned.
Author: Kerr, John, 1947-
Published: Melbourne, Victoria : Kerr Publishing, 2022.
Published: ©2022
xi, 258 pages : illustrations, portraits ; 24 cm.

Beaumaris Library - (Bayside Library Service) - Adult Non Fiction - True Crime - 364.152 KER - Available - Recently returned - 010576396

The boxing butterfly : a life of conviction / Margaret Cunneen ; introduced and edited by Andrew L. Urban.

The Boxing Butterfly is a career chronicle of Margaret Cunneen SC - the boxing butterfly who turned the tables on ICAC, amidst prosecuting murderers, paedophiles and rapists - as she launches into her new chapter as a defence barrister. In her rear view mirror, Cunneen sees her trial successes - her convictions - interspersed with the flak from the ground fire of some colleagues who resented her success and were determined to stop her climb to greater heights. She regrets nothing and is totally satisfied with what she does. As Madam Crown, she empathised with the victims and their families. Now, as defence counsel she empathises with the accused she defends. And what stories she tells! Some are gruesome and confronting, such as prosecuting the irreverent Skafs for gang rape, Robert 'Dolly' Dunn for paedophilia, the Butcher of Bega for unspeakable medical malpractice and the Charbaji Brothers for an ice-fuelled torture session that ended in murder. Others - especially relating to her defence clients, are filled with humanity and surprising moments of amusement, like the Chinese movie producer who couldn't speak English yet taught inmates chess while awaiting trial.
Author: Cunneen, Margaret, 1959-
Published: Melbourne : WP, [2022]
Published: ©2022
298 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : colour illustrations, portraits ; 24 cm.

Sandringham Library - (Bayside Library Service) - Adult Non Fiction - True Crime - 345.07 CUN - Available - 010595212

American demon : Eliot Ness and the hunt for America's Jack the Ripper / Daniel Stashower.

"New York Times bestselling author and Edgar Award-winner Daniel Stashower returns with American Demon, a historical true crime starring legendary lawman Eliot Ness"-- Provided by publisher.
Author: Stashower, Daniel
First edition.
Published: New York : Minotaur Books, 2022.
Published: ©2022
viii, 342 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 25 cm

Sandringham Library - (Bayside Library Service) - Adult Non Fiction - True Crime - 364.152 STA - Onloan - Due: 22 May 2024 - 010693291

The good girls : an ordinary killing / Sonia Faleiro.

Katra Sadatganj. A tiny village in western Uttar Pradesh. A community bounded by tradition and custom; where young women are watched closely, and know what is expected of them. It was an ordinary night when two girls, Padma and Lalli, went missing. The next day, their bodies were found – hanging in the orchard, their clothes muddied. In the ensuing months, the investigation into their deaths would implode everything that their small community held to be true, and instigated a national conversation about sex, honour and violence. The Good Girls returns to the scene of Padma and Lalli's short lives and shocking deaths, daring to ask: what is the human cost of shame?
Author: Faleiro, Sonia
Published: London : Bloomsbury Circus, 2021.
Published: ©2021
xxii, 314 pages : maps ; 22 cm.

Beaumaris Library - (Bayside Library Service) - Adult Non Fiction - True Crime - 364.152 FAL - Available - Recently returned - 010442967

Sleeping with a psychopath / Carolyn Woods.

This is an epic true story of love and deception told by the woman whose life was destroyed by a seductive conman, Mark Acklom. Over eighteen months Carolyn - an educated, elegant woman in her early fifties, who was rebuilding her life in the Cotswolds after a job change and divorce - endured a hellish rollercoaster of emotions as the man she thought would become her second husband, a man she was led to believe was successful, wealthy and fascinating, proved to be anything but. By the time the scales fell from her eyes she had lost her home, her clothes, possessions, 850,000 of savings, and nearly her sanity. As gripping as a crime thriller, this is a blow-by-blow account of a master of fraud at work, a detailed study of the power of manipulation and coercive control, and the devastating effects it can have on the innocent. This book will reveal how an intelligent, confident woman fell for the charms of one of the most calculated fraudsters of all time a man who convincingly claimed to be a rich Swiss banker and MI6 agent when in fact he was nothing but a crook. But when suspicions were aroused and the devastating truth came out, despite her world being torn apart and on the brink of suicide, Carolyn along with Acklom's other victims found the strength to go to court and watch the man she thought she loved go to prison for five years. A page-turner, made all the more compelling by the knowledge every word is true. This is an explosive true crime story that shines a light on both the frailty and strength of human nature.
Author: Woods, Carolyn
Published: London : HarperElement, 2021.
Published: ©2021
xiii, 322 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (chiefly colour) ; 20 cm.

Brighton Library - (Bayside Library Service) - Adult Non Fiction - True Crime - 364.163 WOO - Available - 010423546

Confident women : swindlers, grifters, and shapeshifters of the feminine persuasion / Tori Telfer.

The art of the con has a long and venerable tradition, and its female practitioners are some of the best-- or worst. Telfer introduces us to a host of lady swindlers whose scams ranged from the outrageous to the deadly. Among them: In 1700s Paris, Jeanne de Saint-Rémy scammed the royal jewellers out of a necklace made from six hundred and forty-seven diamonds by pretending she was best friends with Queen Marie Antoinette. Cassie Chadwick got banks to loan her upwards of $40,000 by telling people she was Andrew Carnegie's illegitimate daughter. In the 1970s teenager Roxie Ann Rice scammed the entire NFL. And the scams continue... -- adapted from jacket.
Author: Telfer, Tori
First edition.
Published: New York, NY : Harper Perennial, [2021]
Published: ©2021
xiv, 336 pages ; 21 cm.

Brighton Library - (Bayside Library Service) - Adult Non Fiction - True Crime - 364.163 TEL - Available - 010347569

Flash Jim [Paperback] / Kel Richards.

The astonishing story of James Hardy Vaux, writer of Australia's first dictionary and first true-crime memoir. If you wear 'togs', tell a 'yarn', call someone 'sly', or refuse to 'snitch' on a friend then you are talking like a convict. These words, and hundreds of others, once left colonial magistrates baffled and police confused. So comprehensible to us today, the flash language of criminals and convicts had marine officer Watkin Tench complaining about the need for an interpreter in the colonial court. Luckily, by 1811, that man was at hand. James Hardy Vaux - conman, pickpocket, absconder and thief, born into comfortable circumstances in England - was so drawn to a life of crime he was transported to Australia ... not once, but three times! Vaux's talents, glibness and audacity were extraordinary, and perceiving an opportunity to ingratiate himself with authorities during his second sentence, he set about writing a dictionary of the criminal slang of the colony, which was recognised for its uniqueness and taken back to England to be published. Kel Richards tells Vaux's story brilliantly, with the help of Vaux's own extraordinarily candid memoir of misdeeds - one of the first true-crime memoirs ever published. Kel's book combines two of his favourite subjects: the inventiveness, humour and origins of Australian English, and our history of fabulous, disreputable characters. With echoes of The Surgeon of Crowthorne as well as Oliver Twist, Flash Jim is a ripping read - especially for those who appreciate the power of words and the convict contribution to our idiom.
Author: Richards, Kel, 1946-
Published: Sydney, NSW : HarperCollins Publishers, 2021.
Published: ©2021
312 pages ; 21 cm.

Hampton Library - (Bayside Library Service) - Adult Non Fiction - Biography - 423 VAU - Available - 010443551

Toxic : cold-blooded Australian murders / Lindy Cameron & Fin J Ross.

Men often kill as a result of "toxic masculinity", the old norms that men should be tough, aggressive, quick to anger. Or they feel entitled, and the perceived loss of power has deadly consequences. Women killers most often kill to protect themselves or their children; however, although fewer in number, there are those with toxic personalities, who are manipulative, and kill because they want something. Read the fascinating stories of the men and women who kill in Toxic.
Author: Cameron, Lindy, 1958-
Published: Hawthorn, VIC : Lake Press, 2021.
Published: ©2021
250 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 24 cm.

Brighton Library - (Bayside Library Service) - Adult Non Fiction - True Crime - 364.152 CAM - Available - 010436485

The disappearance of Lydia Harvey : a true story of sex, crime and the meaning of justice / Julia Laite.

In 1910, sixteen-year-old Lydia Harvey boarded a steamship bound for Buenos Aires amid a global panic about sex trafficking. Pimps, politicians and moral reformers expected her to 'vanish forever into the slims of the underworld.' Instead, she reappeared on the grey streets of Londons Soho, and made a choice that meant she wouldn't be forgotten. Historian Julia Laite traces not only Lydia's life, but the lives of those who shaped her story, who were brought together by one dramatic trial at London's Old Bailey, the flamboyant border-crossing criminals who entrapped her, the detective who tracked them down, the reporter who stoked the scandal and the social worker who made it her life's mission to help young women be heard.
Author: Laite, Julia
Published: London : Profile Books, 2021.
Published: ©2021
xiv, 410 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm.

Beaumaris Library - (Bayside Library Service) - Adult Non Fiction - True Crime - 364.155 LAI - Available - Recently returned - 010349099