English True Crime

In 1945, Erle Stanley Gardner, noted attorney and author of the popular Perry Mason mysteries, was contacted by an overwhelmed California public defender who believed his doomed client was innocent. William Marvin Lindley had been convicted of the rape and murder of a young girl along the banks of the Yuba River, and was awaiting execution at San Quentin. After reviewing the case, Gardner agreed to help - it seemed the fate of the "Red-Headed Killer" hinged on the testimony of a colorblind witness.

Jerry Harris was a self-made California millionaire who, at age forty-four, had it all: booming businesses, yachts, a mansion, a beautiful wife, and a voice to rival Elvis. No one who knew this well-liked, generous man could make sense of his sudden disappearance one autumn night. On a final phone call to his brother from his Mercedes, Jerry breathed a muffled oath - then the line went dead.

Get an in-depth look into the probing investigations of some of history's most complicated criminals and cold cases. Learn about murders, kidnappings, unsolved disappearances, and more that took years before the culprits were finally brought to justice. Get a behind-the-scenes peek at these notorious cases and find out how they were cracked!

Before finding out about girls, Patrick MacKenna had aspired to join the priesthood...the whole good against evil thing intrigued him as a kid growing up in Central New York. Now after marrying young and going through a divorce he’s trying to make it as a cop in his home town of Camillus...but he’s treading water on whether he’ll keep his job on the force. Worse than that, Mac thought all cops were the good guys...he’s slowly finding out on his journey that this might not exactly be the case, and that some true blue brothers weren’t what they were supposed to be at all!

Police Officer Patrick MacKenna finally gets his transfer to the Neighborhood Anti-Crime Section with the City of Syracuse Police Department. Officially beginning his investigative career with a set of soon to be lifelong friends. If the young cops can survive the harrowing experience they are all soon destined to achieve their gold shields. But trouble looms along the way as the princes of the city run around the urban metropolis with their hair on fire in this high speed, low drag anti-crime unit.

Real-life thrillers, mysteries, and tales of cold-blooded murder from the Reader's Digest archives.

Skip Hollandsworth has been covering true crime since long before the podcasts, networks, and television shows discovered it. Texas born and bred, the revered journalist joined Texas Monthly in 1989, and the stories he has written over three-plus decades have helped define a locale and a culture. Curated by Hollandsworth, She Kills brings together the favorite stories he has written for the magazine.

After being summarily thrown out of the DEA Task Force, Office Patrick MacKenna finds himself once again pushing a marked police car around on street patrol in the city of Syracuse, New York. The middle-aged cop is reevaluating his law enforcement career while solely taking care of his three children when he receives a call from the captain of the new Abused Persons Unit asking him to come on board. Mac deliberately passed on a transfer request to APU—but now he has a feeling that if he doesn’t take the captain up on her offer, he may never get back to wearing a gold shield again.

Acclaimed author of The Real Lolita and editor of Women Crime Writers: Eight Suspense Novels of the 1940s & 50s (Library of America) and Troubled Daughters, Twisted Wives (Penguin), Sarah Weinman brings together an exemplary collection of recent true-crime tales. She culls together some of the most refreshing and exciting contemporary journalists and chroniclers of crime working today.

From trust to terror... from security to survival...The author of The Stranger Beside Me brings her brilliantly informed understanding of the sociopath to this riveting true crime collection. Only Ann Rule, who unknowingly worked alongside the smart and charming Ted Bundy - America's most notorious serial killer - could lend her razor-sharp insight into these cases of the spouse, lover, family member, or helpful stranger who is totally trusted but whose lethally violent nature, though masterfully disguised, can and will kill.

What triggers activate an all-out rage that leads people to commit mass murder? What is the motive behind some of the most shocking killing sprees in US history? Enter the chilling and murderous mind of a spree killer to find out. In Volume 4 of True Crime Stories, prepare for crimes like never before, as we examine what makes people snap and commit gruesome, calculated, and disturbing crimes that will have you questioning about humanity.

Real-life murder. Real-life mystery. In some murder cases, the truth behind the most tragic of crimes crystallizes with relative ease. Not so with these fascinating accounts drawn from the personal files of Ann Rule, America's #1 bestselling true-crime writer. What happens when the case itself becomes an intractable puzzle, when clues are shrouded in smoke and mirrors, and when criminals skillfully evade law enforcement in a maddening cat-and-mouse chase?

In Shadows of Death, acclaimed author Katherine Ramsland takes listeners on a tour of New Jersey, New York and Delaware. Home of the Jersey Devil, New Jersey has its share of other devils, from predatory nurses to thrill killers and sadists. The Empire State has witnessed many unique and perverse crimes. Quite a few triggered international headlines. The first documented female serial killer in the US came out of the tiny state of Delaware, as did a "signature killer" who attracted FBI profilers.

When it comes to cold-blooded murder, nobody who is a part of civilized society can stand the thought that someone out there would actually get away with such horrendous crimes. We all want these wayward criminals to be caught and held accountable for their actions. This book demonstrates the lengths that some have gone to and the depths that they have plumbed just to make sure that the long arm of the law finally reached the barbaric perpetrators of unspeakable deeds and brought them to justice.

In 1994, Amy was working as a genealogist, researching a family's history. While paging through volumes of Amish, Mennonite & Apostolic Christian relatives, she came to the story of a mother and her three young children who had all died on the same day, March 13, 1900. Was it an accident? An illness of some kind? Amy soon learned that the husband and father of this young family had murdered them after being excommunicated from the Amish church.

Are you fascinated by true crime stories? Then this riveting true crime anthology series is an essential addition to your true crime library. Discover the dark and twisted world of true crime with this incredible real-life anthology series, featuring vivid details and realistic portrayals of true crime stories. This volume features a wide range of famous and lesser-known cases and includes gripping accounts of depraved and horrifying murders perpetrated by cold, remorseless criminals.

When Jerry Heimann's son arrived at his father's home in Everett, Washington, he found his grandmother, an Alzheimer's patient, alone in the house, starving and dehydrated. His father was missing. The furniture was gone. Within hours, police realized that Jerry's live-in housekeeper, Barbara Opel, had robbed him and fled. But where was Jerry? The next morning, Barbara Opel's 11-year-old son led police to Jerry's body. Soon, stunned detectives were getting confessions from a ragtag group of teens and preteens.

After laterally transferring from the sleepy bedroom hamlet of the Town of Camillus Police Department, Officer Patrick MacKenna has a whole different learning curve to contend with.... He rarely if ever had to pull his gun at CPD, but now he has a hard time leaving it in the holster. Drug dealers, gang bangers, robberies, shootings, and stabbings just keep adding up in his daily log as he tries to assimilate to the fast pace life of a city cop in an urban setting.

Remembered as the epitome of a conman and cold-blooded killer, Dr. Henry Howard Holmes is an enigmatic figure whose shady business dealings and natural tact for deceit caught the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition by storm. Amid a swirl of sensationalist rumors and wild stories, Holmes’ crimes are shrouded in a layer of mystery that has baffled historians and journalists for over a century.

On the heels of a divorce, a mid-list mystery writer returns to his hometown in Central Connecticut and is dragged back into a decades-old unsolved case involving former missing classmates to expose the horrific secrets of a quaint, idyllic New England town. Fusing the modern domestic psychological thriller with popular unsolved mysteries (Girl on the Train meets In Cold Blood), this meta blend of true crime and fiction plays with expectations and perspective before its mind-blowing conclusion.