The Hog Murders


Book Description

DIVIn the Edgar Award–winning first title of the Niccolo Benedetti series, the celebrated detective hunts a serial killer who is terrorizing a small town/divDIV In the upstate New York town of Sparta, six people die in three weeks. At first the incidents seem accidental: A highway sign drops onto a car full of teenage girls, an old man falls down a set of stairs, and a boy is struck by a sheet of ice that had been building on his garage. But after each case a note turns up. Someone called “Hog” claims responsibility for each death, and taunts the police to catch him before he strikes again. /divDIV /divDIVThe deaths have everybody talking, and the local police department is eventually forced to share the case with famous Italian detective Niccolo Benedetti and his protégé, would-be cop turned private investigator Ron Gresham. A painter, ladies’ man, and rule-bending genius, Benedetti views every case as a chance to probe the nature of evil. And with his “analyze and imagine” method, he’ll pursue the killer both to stop him and to study him. /div




Darker than Night


Book Description

A chilling account of the murders of two hunters in rural Michigan—a mystery that haunted a community and baffled the police for two decades. In the bitter cold of 1985, two buddies from Detroit embark on a hunting trip to the Michigan wilderness, unaware they will soon become the hunted. The eerie silence surrounding their sudden disappearance is broken after nearly two decades when a relentless investigator inspires a terrified witness to break her silence. The witness narrates a haunting scene that had unfolded years back, pointing fingers at the prime suspects—the Duvall brothers. With no bodies unearthed, the justice system is riveted by the startling revelations during an electrifying trial in 2003. The brothers, Raymond and Donald Duvall, had bragged about the murders, evocatively explaining how they dismembered their victims and fed them to pigs. Despite the shocking confession, the case holds its ground purely on a single witness’s account, taking the courtroom through a labyrinth of dark secrets and sinister acts. This gripping thriller presents a vivid tale of crime that reveals the devastating power of evil.




Compound Murder


Book Description

Small-town Texas sheriff Dan Rhodes is in for another puzzling mystery in this next in the entertaining, award-winning series Before classes start one morning, the body of English instructor Earl Wellington is found outside the building of the community college. Wellington was clearly involved in a struggle with someone and has died as a result. Sheriff Dan Rhodes pursues and arrests Ike Terrell, a student who was fleeing the campus. Ike's father is Able Terrell, a survivalist who has withdrawn from society and lives in a gated compound. He's not happy that his son has chosen to attend the college, and he's even less happy with the arrest. Rhodes discovers that Wellington and Ike had had a confrontation over a paper that Wellington insisted Ike plagiarized. Wellington also had had a confrontation with the dean and was generally disliked by the students. As the number of suspects increases, it's up to Rhodes to solve the murder while also dealing with an amusing but frustrating staff, a professor who wants to be a cop, and all the other normal occurrences that can wreak havoc in a small town. Bill Crider's Compound Murder is an enjoyable police procedural filled with surprises, chuckles, and a quirky cast that will captivate mystery readers.




The Hog's Back Mystery


Book Description

Mystery crime fiction written in the Golden Age of Murder 'As pretty a piece of work as Inspector French has done... On the level of Mr Crofts' very best; which is saying something.' —Daily Telegraph Dr James Earle and his wife live in comfortable seclusion near the Hog's Back, a ridge in the North Downs in the beautiful Surrey countryside. When Dr Earle disappears from his cottage, Inspector French is called in to investigate. At first he suspects a simple domestic intrigue—and begins to uncover a web of romantic entanglements beneath the couple's peaceful rural life. The case soon takes a more complex turn. Other people vanish mysteriously, one of Dr Earle's house guests among them. What is the explanation for the disappearances? If the missing people have been murdered, what can be the motive? This fiendishly complicated puzzle is one that only Inspector French can solve. Freeman Wills Crofts was a master of the intricately and ingeniously plotted detective novel, and The Hog's Back Mystery shows him at the height of his powers. This new edition of a classic mystery is introduced by the crime fiction expert Martin Edwards.




Robert Pickton


Book Description

WITH PHOTOS Robert Pickton, inherited a pig farm worth a million dollars and used his wealth to lure skid row hookers to his farm where he confessed to murdering 49 female victims; dismembering and feeding their body parts to his pigs, which he supplied to Vancouver area restaurants and local neighbors. This is the 1st book in a 24 volume series collection, edited by crime historian Dr. Peter Vronsky and true crime author and publisher RJ Parker. Each month we will publish a book of some of Canada's most notorious shocking criminals, written by various authors, and published under VP Publications. ~~~~~~~~ Chris Swinney investigated Homicide/Narcotics cases the last six years in the state of California. He also has a crime fiction trilogy called, "The Bill Dix Detective Series." Dr. Peter Vronsky is author of one of the most sold serial killer books worldwide; "Serial Killers: The Method and Madness of Monsters" RJ Parker has written 17 true crime books including; "Serial Killers Abridged: An Encyclopedia of 100 Serial Killers", and "Parents Who Killed Their Children: Filicide", and publishes for several authors.




Killed in the Ratings


Book Description

DIVAn electrifying puzzle, corporate sleuth Matt Cobb is set up in a TV-world murder/divDIV This Edgar Award–winning debut novel introduces Matt Cobb, vice president of special projects at a large television network—where “special projects” means anything sensitive, or even fatal, that the company wants to keep quiet./divDIV /divDIVCobb’s no stranger to following mysterious orders, so when he receives a telephone call asking him to visit a hotel room he obliges. The invitation, however, means a dead body, a sharp blow to the head, and suspicion from the police that he committed the crime. And while one of the detectives put on the case has known Cobb since he was a child, the other is convinced of his guilt. Can Cobb stay on point when the stakes are so high? Can he find the real killer and persuade the police of his innocence? And what do television ratings have to do with it all? /div




The Wild Hog Murders


Book Description

Like most of the rest of Texas, Blacklin County is being overrun with feral hogs that destroy farmland and crops. There's hardly any defense against these pests, but they haven't been the cause of murder. Until now. A mother and son have opened an animal shelter in the county and they welcome even feral hogs. Someone's threatened them by slaughtering one of their animals and leaving it on their doorstep. Then Sheriff Dan Rhodes and Deputy Ruth Grady stumble across a dead man while searching the woods for a convenience store robber. The investigation into the man's death is complicated by angry hog hunters, a crusading talk-show host, a bounty hunter named Hoss, conflicts with the county commissioners, and the reappearance of Rapper and Nellie, the inept two-man motorcycle gang that's caused Rhodes considerable trouble in the past. By the time he's sorted through all the clues, Rhodes discovers that quite a few people aren't who they seemed to be, including those he's known for a long time. And some of them are killers. Award-winning author Bill Crider has written an endearing and consistently entertaining series, and The Wild Hog Murders offers a fresh new chance to get in on the fun.




Murder of a Beauty Shop Queen


Book Description

Dan Rhodes, sheriff of Blacklin County, Texas, is called to the Beauty Shack, where the young and pretty Lynn Ashton has been found dead, bashed over the head with a hairdryer. The owner said Lynn had gone to the salon late to meet an unknown client. There was a lot of gossip going on about Lynn before her death, but no one seems to really know much about her, or they're not telling Rhodes. Lynn was known to flirt, and it's possible an angry wife or jilted lover had something to do with her death. The salon owner suspects two outsiders who have been staying in an abandoned building across the street. While he investigates the murder, Rhodes must also deal with the theft of copper and car batteries, not to mention a pregnant nanny goat that is terrorizing the town. Murder of a Beauty Shop Queen is a wonderful entry in this always delightful series by award-winning author Bill Crider.




Arkansas Hitchhike Killer, The: James Waybern "Red" Hall


Book Description

Faulkner County native Red Hall was a serial killer who confessed to murdering at least twenty-four people. Most of his victims were motorists who picked him up as he hitchhiked around the United States. In the closing months of World War II, he beat his wife to death and went on a killing spree across the state. His signature smile lured his victims to their doom, and even after his capture, he maintained a friendly manner, being described by one lawman as "a pleasant conversationalist." Author Janie Nesbitt Jones chronicles his life for the first time and explores reasons why he became Arkansas's Hitchhike Killer.




Winning Can be Murder


Book Description