Duel with the Devil: The True Story of How Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr Teamed Up to Take on America's First Sensational Murder Mystery

Midnight Assassin: A Murder in America's Heartland

Patricia L. Bryan · 287 pages

The Girls of Murder City: Fame, Lust, and the Beautiful Killers who Inspired Chicago

Douglas Perry · 585 pages

Furious Hours: Murder, Fraud, and the Last Trial of Harper Lee

Casey Cep · 314 pages

For the Thrill of It: Leopold, Loeb, and the Murder That Shocked Chicago

Simon Baatz · 512 pages

It was a crime that shocked the nation, a brutal murder in Chicago in 1924 of a child, by two wealthy college students who killed solely for the thrill of the experience. Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb had first met several years earlier, and their friendship had blossomed into a love affair. Both were intellectuals—too smart, they believed, for the police to catch them. However, the police had r

The Beautiful Cigar Girl: Mary Rogers, Edgar Allan Poe, and the Invention of Murder

Daniel Stashower · 331 pages

On July 28, 1841, the body of Mary Rogers, a twenty-year-old cigar girl, was found floating in the Hudson-and New York's unregulated police force proved incapable of solving the crime. One year later, a struggling writer named Edgar Allan Poe decided to take on the case-and sent his fictional detective, C. Auguste Dupin, to solve the baffling murder of Mary Rogers in "The Mystery of Marie Rogt."

Killing Lincoln: The Shocking Assassination that Changed America Forever

Bill O'Reilly, Martin Dugard · 324 pages

This book is a riveting historical narrative of the heart-stopping events surrounding the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, and the first work of history from mega-bestselling author Bill O'Reilly. The anchor of The O'Reilly Factor recounts one of the most dramatic stories in American history -- how one gunshot changed the country forever. In the spring of 1865, the bloody saga of America's Civil

American Lightning: Terror, Mystery, the Birth of Hollywood & the Crime of the Century

Howard Blum · 339 pages

It was an explosion that reverberated across the country--and into the very heart of early-twentieth-century America. On the morning of October 1, 1910, the walls of the Los Angeles Times Building buckled as a thunderous detonation sent men, machinery, and mortar rocketing into the night air. When at last the wreckage had been sifted and the hospital triage units consulted, twenty-one people were

The Italian Boy: A Tale of Murder and Body Snatching in 1830s London

Sarah Wise · 387 pages

Describes the 1831 murder of a young vagrant and the sale of his body to a London medical college, a case that led to the arrest of his killers, "resurrection men" who acted to satisfy the demand for fresh cadavers for the study of human anatomy.

Bloody Crimes: The Funeral of Abraham Lincoln and the Chase for Jefferson Davis

James L. Swanson

On the morning of April 2, 1865, Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederacy, received a telegram from General Robert E. Lee. There is no more time. The Yankees are coming, it warned. Shortly before midnight, Davis boarded a train from Richmond and fled the capital, setting off an intense and thrilling chase in which Union cavalry hunted the Confederate president. Two weeks later, President Linc

The Invention of Murder: How the Victorians Revelled in Death and Detection and Created Modern Crime

Judith Flanders · 556 pages

In this exploration of murder in the nineteenth century, Judith Flanders explores some of the most gripping cases that fascinated the Victorians and gave rise to the first detective fiction. She retells the gruesome stories of many different types of murder--both famous and obscure--from the crimes (and myths) of Sweeney Todd and Jack the Ripper to the tragedies of the murdered Marr family in Lon

The Lynching: The Epic Courtroom Battle That Brought Down the Klan

Laurence Leamer · 378 pages

"The New York Times bestselling author of The Kennedy Women chronicles the powerful and spellbinding true story of a brutal race-based killing in 1981 and subsequent trials that undid one of the most pernicious organizations in American history--the Ku Klux Klan. On a Friday night in March 1981 Henry Hays and James Knowles scoured the streets of Mobile in their car, hunting for a black man. The yo

Four Days in November: The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy

Vincent Bugliosi · 688 pages

The Outfit

Gus Russo · 550 pages

Thunderstruck

Erik Larson · 480 pages

A true story of love, murder, and the end of the world's "great hush." In Thunderstruck, Erik Larson tells the interwoven stories of two men--Hawley Crippen, a very unlikely murderer, and Guglielmo Marconi, the obsessive creator of a seemingly supernatural means of communication--whose lives intersect during one of the greatest criminal chases of all time.Set in Edwardian London and on the stormy

Paddy Whacked

T.J. English · 480 pages

Here is the shocking true saga of the Irish American mob. In Paddy Whacked, bestselling author and organized crime expert T. J. English brings to life nearly two centuries of Irish American gangsterism, which spawned such unforgettable characters as Mike "King Mike" McDonald, Chicago's subterranean godfather; Big Bill Dwyer, New York's most notorious rumrunner during Prohibition; Mickey Feathersto

The League of Lady Poisoners: Illustrated True Stories of Dangerous Women

Lisa Perrin · 208 pages

The Inheritor's Powder: A Tale of Arsenic, Murder, and the New Forensic Science

Sandra Hempel · 278 pages

Explores how an infamous murder case led to the birth of modern toxicology.

Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders

Vincent Bugliosi, Curt Gentry · 676 pages

Prosecuting attorney in the Manson trial, Vincent Bugliosi held a unique insider's position in one of the most baffling and horrifying cases of the twentieth century: the cold-blooded Tate-LaBianca murders carried out by Charles Manson and four of his followers. What motivated Manson in his seemingly mindless selection of victims, and what was his hold over the young women who obeyed his orders? H

Public Enemies: America's Greatest Crime Wave and the Birth of the FBI, 1933-34

Bryan Burrough · 624 pages

In Public Enemies, bestselling author Bryan Burrough strips away the thick layer of myths put out by J. Edgar Hoovers FBI to tell the full storyfor the first timeof the most spectacular crime wave in American history, the two-year battle between the young Hoover and the assortment of criminals who became national icons: John Dillinger, Machine Gun Kelly, Bonnie and Clyde, Baby Face Nelson, Pretty

Lincoln's Grave Robbers

Steve Sheinkin · 214 pages

A dramatic account of the 1875 attempt to steal the 16th president's body describes how a counterfeiting ring plotted to ransom Lincoln's body to secure the release of their imprisoned ringleader and how a fledgling Secret Service and an undercover agent conducted a daring election-night sting operation.

The Dead Duke, His Secret Wife, and the Missing Corpse

Piu Marie Eatwell · 350 pages

"One of the most notorious and bizarre mysteries of the Edwardian age, for readers who loved The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher. At the close of the Victorian era, as now, privacy was power. The extraordinarily wealthy 5th Duke of Portland had a mania for it, hiding in his horsedrawn carriage and creating tunnels between buildings to avoid being seen. So when, in 1897, an elderly widow asked the court

The Skies Belong to Us: Love and Terror in the Golden Age of Hijacking

Brendan I. Koerner · 327 pages

In an America torn apart by the Vietnam War and the demise of sixties idealism, airplane hijackings were astonishingly routine. Over a five-year period starting in 1968, the desperate and disillusioned seized commercial jets nearly once a week. Some hijackers wished to escape to foreign lands; others aimed to swap hostages for sacks of cash. The longest-distance hijacking in American history took

Raven: The Untold Story of the Rev. Jim Jones and His People

Tim Reiterman · 623 pages

Tim Reiterman’s *Raven* provides the seminal history of the Rev. Jim Jones, the Peoples Temple, and the murderous ordeal at Jonestown in 1978. This PEN Award–winning work explores the ideals-gone-wrong, the intrigue, and the grim realities behind the Peoples Temple and its implosion in the jungle of South America. Reiterman’s reportage clarifies enduring misperceptions of the character and moti

A Very English Scandal: Sex, Lies and a Murder Plot at the Heart of the Establishment

John Preston · 352 pages

Behind oak-panelled doors in the House of Commons, men with cut-glass accents and gold signet rings are conspiring to murder. It's the late 1960s and homosexuality has only just been legalised, and Jeremy Thorpe, the leader of the Liberal party, has a secret he's desperate to hide. As long as Norman Scott, his beautiful, unstable lover is around, Thorpe's brilliant career is at risk. With the help