The Playground Murders


Book Description

'A class above' IAN RANKIN. Forty years ago, in the dark of the playground, two children's lives were changed for ever. The case of six-year-old Sarah Ferris, killed in an empty playground, haunted Hammersmith police for decades. Not just because the victim would never see her seventh birthday. But because solving the case meant arresting another child on suspicion of Sarah's murder. Now, forty years later, cleaner-turned-detective Stella Darnell has unearthed new information about Sarah and her killer. As Stella pieces together the truth about what happened all those years ago, she is drawn into a story of jealousy, betrayal and the end of innocence. A story that has not yet reached its end... 'One of the most original characters in British crime fiction' SUNDAY TIMES. 'Thomson creates a rich and sinister world that is utterly unique... Gloriously well-written' WILLIAM SHAW.




The Playground Murders


Book Description

'A class above' IAN RANKIN. Forty years ago, in the dark of the playground, two children's lives were changed for ever. The case of six-year-old Sarah Ferris, killed in an empty playground, haunted Hammersmith police for decades. Not just because the victim would never see her seventh birthday. But because solving the case meant arresting another child on suspicion of Sarah's murder. Now, forty years later, cleaner-turned-detective Stella Darnell has unearthed new information about Sarah and her killer. As Stella pieces together the truth about what happened all those years ago, she is drawn into a story of jealousy, betrayal and the end of innocence. A story that has not yet reached its end... 'One of the most original characters in British crime fiction' SUNDAY TIMES. 'Thomson creates a rich and sinister world that is utterly unique... Gloriously well-written' WILLIAM SHAW.




Kill Me Once...Kill Me Twice


Book Description

Sixteen-year-old Rebecca Middleton and best friend Jasmine Meens make their trip of a lifetime to the Queens Jewel in the Atlantic, oblivious to secrets beneath the islands idyllic guise and to the horrors that await them on the dark side of Paradise. Sunny days and teal surf welcome the Canadian teenagers as they roam the twenty- square miles of the seemingly pristine British territory. But on this searing July night, a full moon, an unusual storm, a cancelled cruise, absent taxis, and chance meetings end in the gruesome kidnap, rape, torture, and murder of Rebecca Middleton. Emotions left over from long-standing racial inequities impact Beckys case from the moment of her slaughter--especially the hangings of two black men for the murders of five white men during those racially charged 1970s--a matter many still prefer not to discuss. Repercussions from the young Canadian tourists death and its investigative and judicial failures create international uproar that catches the attention of famed U.S. forensic scientists Dr. Michael Baden and Dr. Henry Lee. During an inquiry brought about by a tourist boycott of Bermuda, advocate LeYoni Junos exposes truths behind this tangled web of deceit. But it won't be long before LeYoni Junos suffers those consequences typically experienced by those who fail to lie in the tide. Then, almost eight years after Rebeccas murder, the case catches the attention of British human rights lawyer Cherie Booth, QC, wife of former Prime Minister Tony Blair, who terms Bermudas responses repugnant to justice." Meanwhile, despite responsibility for territories "good governance," Britain treads lightly. This is a true story of murder, collusion, conspiracy, and cover-up designed to protect the secrets of privilege, and hide the poverty, violence and drugs that darken Bermudas tranquil pastels, a third-world setting of mysterious beauty and international influence incongruent with its size.




Midnight in Peking


Book Description

Winner of the both the Edgar Award for Best Fact Crime and the CWA Non-Fiction Dagger from the author of City of Devils Chronicling an incredible unsolved murder, Midnight in Peking captures the aftermath of the brutal killing of a British schoolgirl in January 1937. The mutilated body of Pamela Werner was found at the base of the Fox Tower, which, according to local superstition, is home to the maliciously seductive fox spirits. As British detective Dennis and Chinese detective Han investigate, the mystery only deepens and, in a city on the verge of invasion, rumor and superstition run rampant. Based on seven years of research by historian and China expert Paul French, this true-crime thriller presents readers with a rare and unique portrait of the last days of colonial Peking.




The Kill Jar


Book Description

In this cold case murder investigation from “a powerful, confident voice in the new true crime memoir genre” (James Renner, author of True Crime Addict), one of America’s most notorious sprees is cracked open. With a foreword by Catherine Broad, sister of victim Timothy King, this is a deftly crafted true story set amid the decaying sprawl of Detroit. Four children were abducted and murdered outside of Detroit during the winters of 1976 and 1977, their bodies eventually dumped in snow banks around the city. J. Reuben Appelman was only six years old when the murders began and even evaded an abduction attempt during that same period, fueling a lifelong obsession with what became known as the Oakland County Child Killings. Autopsies showed that the victims had been fed while in captivity, reportedly held with care. And yet, with equal care, their bodies had allegedly been groomed post-mortem, scrubbed-free of evidence that might link to a killer. There were few credible leads, and equally few credible suspects. That’s what the cops had passed down to the press, and that’s what the city of Detroit, and Appelman, had come to believe. When the abductions mysteriously stopped, a task force operating on one of the largest manhunt budgets in history shut down without an arrest. Although no more murders occurred, Detroit remained haunted. Eerily overlaid upon the author’s own decades-old history with violence, The Kill Jar tells the gripping story of Appelman’s ten-year investigation into buried leads, apparent police cover-ups, con men, child pornography rings, and high-level corruption saturating Detroit’s most notorious serial killer case. “Always deft, often sublime, Appelman uses his investigation to draw us into his personal journey through darkness, to light and life” (Chip Johannessen, producer of Dexter).




A Killing in Capone's Playground


Book Description

Bloody Chicago was the name given to Americas most corrupt city after the St. Valentine's Day Massacre. The masterminds behind the massacre escaped. Ten months later on December 14, 1929, St. Joseph, Michigan Police Officer Charles Skelly came face to face with a killer. Shots were fired, the assailant escaped and the dying Officer Skelly identified his murderer before taking his last breath. The trail led to a home in Stevensville, Michigan which belonged to Fred Burke, a highly sought suspect in the St. Valentines Day Massacre. The backwash of bloody Chicago had made its way into the rural neighborhoods of Southwestern Michigan and Northern Indiana.




Deliberate Intent


Book Description

The riveting account of the landmark "Hit Man Case"--involving a man who hired a contract killer to execute his ex-wife, his severely brain-damaged son, and the boy's nurse--written by a noted First Amendment attorney who risked his reputation and career to take on the case.




Murder by the Book


Book Description

Early on the morning of May 6, 1840, the elderly Lord William Russell was found in his London house with his throat so deeply cut that his head was nearly severed. The crime soon had everyone, including Queen Victoria, feverishly speculating about motives and methods. But when the prime suspect claimed to have been inspired by a sensational crime novel, it sent shock waves through literary London and drew both Dickens and Thackeray into the fray. Could a novel really lead someone to kill? In Murder by the Book, Claire Harman blends a riveting true-crime whodunit with a fascinating account of the rise of the popular novel and the early battle for its soul among the most famous writers of the day.




Murders in the Mist


Book Description

Chronicles the author's investigation into the unsolved murder of the zoologist, exposing the bureaucracy and corruption involved




Murder at San Simeon


Book Description

This entertaining novel, based on an actual unsolved murder involving William Randolph Hearst, is co-authored by Heart's granddaughter, Patricia. Catha Kinsolving Burke is shocked to overhear her grandmother's name in connection with a 70-year-old murder. Her quest to uncover the truth about the incident plunges Catha back into the Hollywood of the roaring '20s.