Crime Song


Book Description

The return of Frank Marr, the "refreshing" protagonist of one of the New York Times' Best Crime Novels of 2016. Frank Marr was a good cop with a bad habit, until his burgeoning addictions to alcohol and cocaine forced him into retirement from the DC police. Now barely eking out a living as a private investigator, he agrees to take on a family case: a favor for his aunt, who was like a second mother to him growing up. Frank's surveillance confirms that his cousin Jeffrey is involved with a small-time drugs operation. Modest stuff, until Frank's own home is burglarized, leaving a body on the kitchen floor: Jeffrey. Worse, Frank's .38 revolver-the murder weapon-is stolen, along with his cherished music collection, his only possessions of sentimental value: dozens of vinyl albums that belonged to his late mother. Only Frank's stash, his dwindling supply of the cocaine he needs to get through the day, is untouched. Why? Clearly, his cousin was deeper in the underworld than anyone realized. With the weight of his family, his reputation, and his own life on the line, he'll have to find the culprit by following the stolen goods through a tangled network of petty thieves, desperate addicts, deceiving fences, good cops, bad cops, and one morally compromised taxi driver. Frank's as determined to uncover the truth as he is to feed his habit, and both pursuits could prove deadly. This time, it may just be a question of what gets him first.




Crime and Music


Book Description

This unique volume explores the relationship between music and crime in its various forms and expressions, bringing together two areas rarely discussed in the same contexts and combining them through the tools offered by cultural criminology. Contributors discuss a range of topics, from how songs and artists draw on criminality as inspiration to how musical expression fulfills unexpected functions such as building deviant subcultures, encouraging social movements, or carrying messages of protest. Comprised of contributions from an international cohort of scholars, the book is categorized into five parts: The Criminalization of Music; Music and Violence; Organised Crime and Music; Music, Genocide, and Crimes Against Humanity and Music as Resistance. Spanning a range of cultures and time periods, Crime and Music will be of interest to researchers in critical and cultural criminology, the history of music, anthropology, ethnology, and sociology.




CrimeSong


Book Description

CrimeSong: True Crime Stories From Southern Murder BalladsCrimeSong plunges readers into a world of violence against women, murders, familicide, suicides, brutal mob action, and many examples of a failed justice system. Although these ballads and stories are set in specific times, cultures, and places, they present universal themes of love, betrayal, jealousy, and madness through true-life tales that are both terrifying and familiar'stories that could be ripped from today's headlines. This compelling investigation of the gripping true crimes behind American ballads dispels myths and legends and brings to life a cast of characters --both loathsome and innocent--shadowy history, courtroom dramas, murders, mayhem, and music. In CrimeSong, law professor and authentic storyteller Richard H. Underwood recreates in engaging and folksy prose the true facts behind twenty-four Southern murder ballads. All of these ballads were composed and eventually written down by simple folk, mostly unknown, who were preserving, in their homespun lyrics, actual, tragic events. Because of Underwood's interest and experience in the law, he has resurrected these stories and shares them with the reader through his old lawyer trifocals. He presents his case studies, documented through contemporary news accounts and court records, as a series of dramas filled with jump-off-the-page real and memorable characters. These stories are sometimes harrowing, but they are always completely readable.CrimeSong includes 90 illustrations, including a map relevant to stories and the original art of a North Carolina artist and a Kentucky artist.




The Executioner's Song


Book Description

In what is arguably his greatest book--written in 1979 and reissued here in trade paperback--America's most heroically ambitious writer follows the short, blighted career of Gary Gilmore, an intractably violent product of America's prisons who---after robbing two men and killing them in cold blood--insisted on dying for his crime.




Rhyme Crime


Book Description

From the creator of Splat! comes more playful, irreverent, kid-empowering fun--with a rhyming twist. In this buoyant rhyming romp, words have gone mysteriously missing: Who stole Marlow's happy smile, and replaced it with a crocodile? Who swiped Dingle's sneeze--aaaaachooo!--and left a stinky cheese? The thief took Tumble's orange, and switched it with a . . . with a . . . Hey, does anything rhyme with orange? No? Aha! Could this be the rhyming robber's undoing? Guided by bright, clever artwork, kids are empowered to put the final clues together for themselves to solve this silly rhyme crime, then guess at the name-nabber's next sneaky move. Splendid, satisfying, inspiring. "Rhyming wordplay. . . [and] even more hysterical laughter." --Kirkus "The creator of Splat! offers more page-turn-based tomfoolery" --Booklist




Who Killed Cock Robin?


Book Description

Now in paperback, an entertaining and enlightening compendium at the intersection of two great British folk traditions: song and encounters with the law. At the heart of traditional songs rest the concerns of ordinary people. And folk throughout the centuries have found themselves entangled with the law: abiding by it, breaking it, and being caught and punished by it. Who Killed Cock Robin? is an anthology of just such songs compiled by one of Britain’s most senior judges, Stephen Sedley, and best-loved folk singers, Martin Carthy. The songs collected here are drawn from manuscripts, broadsides, and oral tradition. They are grouped according to the various categories of crime and punishment, from Poaching to the Gallows. Each section contains a historical introduction, and every song is presented with a melody, lyrics, and an illuminating commentary that explores its origins and sources. Together, they present unique, sometimes comic, often tragic, and always colorful insight into the past, while preserving an important body of song for future generations.




Unprepared To Die


Book Description

The Gory Stories Behind The Murder Ballads Cheerfully vulgar, revelling in gore, and always with an eye on the main chance, murder ballads are tabloid newspapers set to music, carrying word of the latest ‘orrible murders to an insatiable public. Victims are bludgeoned, stabbed or shot in every verse and killers often hanged, but the songs themselves never die. Instead, they mutate – morphing to suit local place names as they criss cross the Atlantic and continue to fascinate each generation’s biggest musical stars. Paul Slade traces this fascinating genre’s history through eight of its greatest songs. Stagger Lee’s “biographers” alone include Duke Ellington, James Brown, Bob Dylan, Dr John, The Clash and Nick Cave. No two tell his story in quite the same way. Covering eight classic murder ballads, including “Knoxville Girl”, “Tom Dooley” and “Frankie & Johnny”, Slade investigates the real-life murder which inspired each song and traces its musical development down the decades. Billy Bragg, The Bad Seeds’ Mick Harvey, Laura Cantrell, Rennie Sparks of The Handsome Family and a host of other leading musicians add their own insights.







The Killing Song


Book Description

"I've been reviewing the Leo Fielding murder case," Jo said. "It was one of my old cases," DCI Callum Ferguson replied. "That's why I wanted to see you. Because you got it wrong." Two years ago, Leo Fielding was found dead in his Yorkshire home. The police never found the killer, and the case remains unsolved. When Fielding's desperate parents ask Forensic Psychologist Jo McCready to help find their son's murderer, she discovers a piece of evidence that changes everything. As she investigates, Jo gets a call from DCI Callum Ferguson about an alarming development. At a busy train station, a man has randomly and viciously attacked another passenger before fleeing the crime scene. But Jo is convinced this is no random attack. She believes the two crimes are tangled up in the same web of deadly local secrets. Secrets that some will kill to protect . . . *** 'I devoured it in one sitting' - PETER JAMES, No.1 Sunday Times bestseller *** Author Lesley McEvoy uses her insider knowledge to create unbelievably gripping, unputdownable crime novels - perfect for fans of Rachel McLean, J.R. Ellis and Elly Griffiths.




Songs of Innocence


Book Description

LITTLE GIRL…FOUND. Three years ago, detective John Blake solved a mystery that changed his life forever – and left a woman he loved dead. Now Blake is back, to investigate the apparent suicide of Dorothy Louise Burke, a beautiful college student with a double life. The secrets Blake uncovers could blow the lid off New York City’s sex trade…if they don’t kill him first. Richard Aleas’ first novel, LITTLE GIRL LOST, was among the most celebrated crime novels of the year, receiving nominations for both the Edgar Allan Poe Award and the Shamus Award. But nothing in John Blake’s first case could prepare you for the shocking conclusion of his second…