No Place Like Murder


Book Description

A modern retelling of 20 sensational true crimes, No Place Like Murder reveals the inside details behind nefarious acts that shocked the Midwest between 1869 and 1950. The stories chronicle the misdeeds, examining the perpetrators' mindsets, motives, lives, apprehensions, and trials, as well as what became of them long after. True crime author Janis Thornton profiles notorious murderers such as Frankie Miller, who was fed up when her fiancé stood her up for another woman. As fans of the song "Frankie and Johnny" already know, Frankie met her former lover at the door with a shotgun. Thornton's tales reveal the darker side of life in the Midwest, including the account of Isabelle Messmer, a plucky young woman who dreamed of escaping her quiet farm-town life. After she nearly took down two tough Pittsburgh policemen in 1933, she was dubbed "Gun Girl" and went on to make headlines from coast to coast. In 1942, however, after a murder conviction in Texas, she vowed to do her time and go straight. Full of intrigue and revelations, No Place Like Murder also features such folks as Chirka and Rasico, the first two Hoosier men to die in the electric chair after they brutally murdered their wives in 1913. The two didn't meet until their fateful last night. An enthralling and chilling collection, No Place Like Murder is sure to thrill true crime lovers.




No Place Like Home


Book Description

Liza Barclay, aged 10, shot her mother while trying to protect her from her violent stepfather, ex-FBI agent Charley Foster. Despite her stepfather's claim that it was a deliberate act, the Juvenile Court ruled the death an accident. Many people, however, agreed with Foster and tabloids compared Liza to the infamous murderess, Lizzie Borden, pointing even to the similarity in name. Growing up with adoptive parents who tried to erase every trace of her past, her name is changed to Celia. Always, though, the fear hung over her and the family - that someday, her vengeful stepfather would reappear to harm her. Aged 25, a successful interior designer, she marries a childless sixty-year old widower and they have a son. Before their marriage, she had confided her earlier life to her husband. Two years on, on his deathbed, he tells her that he would want her to re-marry, but makes her swear never to reveal her past to anyone, so that their son would not carry the burden of this family tragedy - a promise that plunges her into a new cycle of violence. Three years later, happily re-married, Celia is shocked when her second husband presents her with a gift -- the house where she killed her mother. When the real estate agent who has made the sale recognises her and, soon after, is murdrered, Celia is accused of the crime. Once again, she is home -- the place where she is stamped as a murderess.




No Place Like Murder


Book Description

“This engrossing collection of historical Midwest murders reads like a thriller. True crime at its best. I couldn’t put it down.” —Susan Furlong, author of the Bone Gap Travellers novels A modern retelling of 20 sensational true crimes, No Place Like Murder reveals the inside details behind nefarious acts that shocked the Midwest between 1869 and 1950. The stories chronicle the misdeeds, examining the perpetrators’ mindsets, motives, lives, apprehensions, and trials, as well as what became of them long after. True crime author Janis Thornton profiles notorious murderers such as Frankie Miller, who was fed up when her fiancé stood her up for another woman. As fans of the song “Frankie and Johnny” already know, Frankie met her former lover at the door with a shotgun. Thornton’s tales reveal the darker side of life in the Midwest, including the account of Isabelle Messmer, a plucky young woman who dreamed of escaping her quiet farm-town life. After she nearly took down two tough Pittsburgh policemen in 1933, she was dubbed “Gun Girl” and went on to make headlines from coast to coast. In 1942, however, after a murder conviction in Texas, she vowed to do her time and go straight. Full of intrigue and revelations, No Place Like Murder also features such folks as Chirka and Rasico, the first two Hoosier men to die in the electric chair after they brutally murdered their wives in 1913. The two didn’t meet until their fateful last night. An enthralling and chilling collection, No Place Like Murder is sure to thrill true crime lovers. “Thornton wittily describes heretofore unheralded true crime stories from Indiana’s small towns.” —Keven McQueen, author of Horror in the Heartland




Too Good a Girl


Book Description

"Too Good a Girl" - part true crime, part oral history, part memoir - explores the mystery of a 17-year-old, Tipton (Indiana) High School girl, who went missing on a chilly Saturday night in October of 1965 and was found dead two days later, discarded along a remote country road. How she died and who abandoned her was never known. Throughout the next five decades, numerous people in Tipton believed they had the answers, but only one person truly knew. Unfortunately, whoever that may be, isn't telling.




A Mind to Murder


Book Description

Adam Dalgluish is called to the elegant Steen Psychiatric Clinic to investigate why the head of the clinic, Enid Bolan was found with a chisel through her heart.




No Room for Doubt


Book Description

When a young woman is murdered, the lives of those in her immediate circle are thrown into chaos as the mother become obsessed with keeping the authorities interested in the case and the husband falls into despair after being convicted in the court of public opinion. Original.







Murder in the Place of Anubis


Book Description

“This exceptional debut melds ancient Egyptian religious belief and practice with court intrigue to produce a riveting mystery.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review The body of a much-hated scribe has been found in the sacred place of embalming, and the resulting outrage could threaten the reign of Tutankhamun. So the boy king tasks his investigator, Lord Meren, to look into the crime. The quest will take Meren into the worlds of nobles, slaves, and schemers in the royal court—all while he fights to keep the teenaged pharaoh safe from those who would take advantage of this crisis . . . “It’s always a pleasure to negotiate the treacherous corridors of power with Lord Meren.” —The New York Times Book Review “Robinson’s research, both criminological and archaeological, serves her well.” —San Jose Mercury News “A marvelous series.” —Historical Novel Society




No Place Like Here


Book Description

After a year spent at a boarding school for her past mistakes, Ashlyn is ready to reconnect with her friends, restart her life, and enter senior year. But when family trouble hits home and she is forced to help out at her estranged cousin’s wilderness retreat center, Ashlyn struggles between returning to the girl she was or growing into someone new. Ashlyn Zanotti has big plans for the summer. She's just spent a year at boarding school and can't wait to get home. But when Ashlyn's father is arrested for tax evasion and her mother enters a rehab facility for "exhaustion," a.k.a. depression, her life is turned upside down again. Things go from bad to worse when Ashlyn's father sends her to work with a cousin she doesn't even know at a rustic team-building retreat center in the middle of nowhere. A self-proclaimed "indoor girl," not even Ash's habit of leaving breadcrumb quotes--inspirational sayings she scribbles everywhere--can help her cope. With a dangerously careless camp manager doling out grunt work, an overbearing father trying to control her even from prison, and more than a little boy drama to struggle with, the summer is full of challenges. And Ashlyn must make the toughest decision of her life: keep quiet and follow her dad's marching orders or find the courage to finally stand up to her father to have any hope of finding her way back home. A modern twist on Hansel and Gretel, No Place like Here features: A strong female lead who doesn’t shy away from difficult parent-teen relationships A clean and wholesome love triangle, romcom vibes, and feel-good fuzzy emotions Returning cast of characters from Christina June’s It Started With Goodbye Perfect for fans of Elise Bryant, Morgan Matson, and Sarah Dessen




A Bright and Guilty Place


Book Description

Best Book of the Year The Los Angeles Times • The Washington Post Los Angeles was the fastest growing city in the world, mad with oil fever, get-rich-quick schemes, and celebrity scandals. It was also rife with organized crime, with a mayor in the pocket of the syndicates and a DA taking bribes to throw trials. In A Bright and Guilty Place, Richard Rayner narrates the entwined lives of two men, Dave Clark and Leslie White, who were caught up in the crimes, murders, and swindles of the day. Over a few transformative years, as the boom times shaded into the Depression, the adventures of Clark and White would inspire pulp fiction and replace L.A.’s reckless optimism with a new cynicism. Together, theirs is the tale of how the city of sunshine went noir.