Married To Murder


Book Description

Clean Sweep On the morning of December 30, 1978, in Littleton, Colorado, Robert Spangler lured his wife Nancy into the basement with the promise of a "surprise." He then shot her in the head with a .38 handgun. Going upstairs, he shot his teenage children, Susan and David. David was slow in dying, so his father finished him off by smothering him with a pillow. Cover Up Spangler had cunningly framed the crime scene, making it appear that his wife had shot their children and then herself. Now he was free to marry his new love, Sharon Cooper. A former high school athlete, he hiked the Grand Canyon with Sharon, who chronicled the trip in a book dedicated to her "soul mate," Spangler. But their happiness was short-lived. The marriage ended in a costly, messy divorce. Confession In April, 1993, when Spangler's third marriage to 59-year-old aerobics instructor Donna Sundling went sour, he took her hiking in the Grand Canyon and pushed her off a 140-foot drop to her death. In 1994, when ex-wife Sharon committed suicide, Spangler became the focus of intense police scrutiny. Wracked with brain cancer, he told all to investigators in the fall of 2000, detailing his shocking serial saga--the story of a two-time widower. . .and a four-time killer.




Dying to Get Married


Book Description

Dying to Get Married is a modern-day morality tale of the perversion of an American dream. Julie Miller was a successful executive who, through a newspaper ad, met who she thought was "Mr. Right." Little did she know that he had a violent past and a predisposition for bizarre sexual rituals. This tragic, true-crime tale will shock its horrified readers.




Married to Murder


Book Description

Gay Romance Suspense The last thing Seth ever expected was to be involved in a marriage of convenience. After all, he’s not some trembling Victorian heroine. He’s just a guy who loves to surf and spend his days in search of simple pleasures. Life hasn’t always been easy for Seth, but he prefers to focus on the future and forget his dark past. But when he spends the night with sexy millionaire Tanner Trenton, their connection is powerful. When the sexy bachelor explains a secret dilemma he has, Seth can’t help but feel empathy. When Tanner picked Seth up for the night, he didn’t intend on proposing. But he’s oddly drawn to Seth’s quiet energy and, most importantly, he’s got a deadline to meet; if he doesn’t get married by the time he turns thirty, he’s out of his inheritance. Unfortunately, he’s already twenty-nine and still not ready to get hitched. Seth doesn’t want to be tied down any more than Tanner does, so he seems like the perfect person for the job. They can marry but still maintain their independence. Their marriage should be the perfect solution, and it should be smooth sailing, right? Unfortunately for the new couple, when Tanner’s father is murdered on the day of their wedding, things become exponentially complicated. It’s hard for Tanner to imagine that his quiet, serene new husband could possibly be connected to his dad’s death. But the more he gets to know Seth, the more he realizes he’s maybe not the innocent, fun loving guy he assumed he was.




Marrying the Hangman


Book Description

The account of the murder of Diane Whitmore Pikul describes how her wealthy and violent Wall Street husband murdered her and then won custody of her children while under indictment for her murder. “A young mother, so full of promise, is killed by the ‘perfect’ husband. Sheila Weller takes a domestic tragedy and reveals every nuance so that we see the compelling anatomy of a murder in slow motion, from the dynamics of a marriage to the crime itself, to its chilling aftermath. Powerful reporting of an unforgettable story.”—Vincent Bugliosi




Married to Murder


Book Description

The story of a serial wife murderer.




Murder, an Analysis of Its Forms, Conditions, and Causes


Book Description

A unique study providing evidence that murder is predictable and the exceptionally high murder rate in the United States is reduceable. Part I examines 50 case histories and an analysis of 912 homicides from an original study made in Erie County (Buffalo), New York. Part II discusses multicide, serial killers, and mass murderers. Part III covers assassinations and executions and a final part presents conclusions.




The Road to Murder


Book Description

Why do serial killers gravitate towards certain kinds of occupation? Why do they pursue certain types of victim? How do they leave the radar and remain hidden? Through his wide knowledge of the topic honed at one of Britain’s leading centres for criminological studies, Adam Lynes demonstrates how theory, practice, profiling and behaviour intertwine to identify the kind of people we should fear (and especially if we are vulnerable to predators). The book also looks at those personality-types most likely to become serial killers whilst hiding in plain sight. From Britain’s serial killing studies centre of excellence. Looks in depth at eight of Britain’s serial killer drivers, dealing with some of the most notorious crimes of modern times. A fresh and uniquely interesting perspective. Demonstrates the links between mobility, transience, recognisance, predatory behaviour and acting out murderous fantasies. From the text "It is apparent that driving as a form of occupational choice is a “popular” form of employment for British serial murderers. In an effort to determine why this may be, [ the ] case studies of eight British serial murderers [ in the book ] demonstrate just how such an occupation can impact upon these offenders’ criminal behaviour…These findings may prove to be of benefit to scholars of serial murder, and to those who attempt to apprehend them."







Shades of Murder


Book Description

Since the end of the nineteenth century, the Oakley family of Bamford, England, has lived in the shadow of tragedy. In 1889, Cora Oakley died by inhaling a poisonous gas in her sleep, and her husband William was put on trial for the murder. Although the case was dismissed, Oakley's reputation was ruined, and he fled the country, never to be heard from again. Over a hundred years later, the only remaining members of the Oakley family are two elderly sisters living in Bamford, who exist in poverty in their rambling ancestral home, Fourways. Unable to maintain their mansion, the sisters have decided to sell the house and live comfortably on the proceeds. But a young Polish man named Jan appears, claiming to be William Oakley's great-grandson and brandishing what he alleges is Oakley's will, which entitles him to half the profits from the sale. The sisters panic, knowing that, although Jan's claims don't stand up, a court case could drag on for years, and time is not on their side. When Jan is found dead, poisoned by the same substance used to kill his great-grandmother so many years ago, it seems that murder has returned to haunt the Oakley family once again, and Superintendent Markby must unravel two mysteries, one from a hundred years ago, to find the killer. In Shades of Murder, Ann Granger has crafted another tough case for Mitchell and Markby.




Sons of Cain


Book Description

From the author of Serial Killers: The Method and Madness of Monsters comes an in-depth examination of sexual serial killers throughout human history, how they evolved, and why we are drawn to their horrifying crimes. Before the term was coined in 1981, there were no "serial killers." There were only "monsters"--killers society first understood as werewolves, vampires, ghouls and witches or, later, Hitchcockian psychos. In Sons of Cain--a book that fills the gap between dry academic studies and sensationalized true crime--investigative historian Peter Vronsky examines our understanding of serial killing from its prehistoric anthropological evolutionary dimensions in the pre-civilization era (c. 15,000 BC) to today. Delving further back into human history and deeper into the human psyche than Serial Killers--Vronsky's 2004 book, which has been called the definitive history of serial murder--he focuses strictly on sexual serial killers: thrill killers who engage in murder, rape, torture, cannibalism and necrophilia, as opposed to for-profit serial killers, including hit men, or "political" serial killers, like terrorists or genocidal murderers. These sexual serial killers differ from all other serial killers in their motives and their foundations. They are uniquely human and--as popular culture has demonstrated--uniquely fascinating.