Other books that might interest you

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  The Most Extraordinary Trial of...

  Anonymous

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  John Parsons Cook was a 28-year-old bachelor from a good family but not in robust health. He studied to become a lawyer, but instead of following that career, turned to raising race horses. In November 1855, during a visit to the Shrewsbury races, he was taken violently ill. He was attended by the 80-year-old local doctor, Dr. Bamford, and Cook's friend and sometimes partner, Dr. Palmer. William Palmer was a physician and surgeon, a widower and father. His appearance instilled confidence and invited trust. But were appearances deceptive? Was he, in fact, a cool, calculating, and vicious serial murderer, who used his knowledge and skill for evil ends, to escape the effects of an addiction that was destroying his life? 
   
  There are numerous references to this case in fiction, by Dickens, Sayers, Hitchcock, and others; and the familiar salutation "What's your poison?" is believed to date from the events of this case. This is true courtroom drama, more gripping than fiction and it will have you guessing until the end.

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  What happened to the Hippy Man?

  Mike Thexton

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  On 5 September 1986, a gang of terrorists took over a Pan Am jumbo jet at Karachi Airport, Pakistan. The flight crew escaped, leading to a siege. The leader of the gang shot a passenger and threw his body out to show they meant business. He ordered a flight attendant to collect the passengers' passports. She was sure he would kill an American, so she bravely concealed any American passports with western names and faces. Frustrated and angry, he picked a British passport, and the flight attendant announced "Will Michael John Thexton please come to the front of the plane?" A haggard man with straggly hair and a long beard went forward. A three-year old Indian girl asked her parents, "What happened to the hippy man?"Mike Thexton was held at the front of the plane for twelve hours, waiting to be shot. When the ground power unit failed and the plane became dark, the terrorists put him back with the others, before opening fire indiscriminately. At least 20 people died and over a hundred were injured, but Mike escaped by jumping off the wing of the plane and running away, sure that he would wake up and find himself still kneeling by the front door.This book tells the story of Mike's journey to Pakistan to say goodbye to his brother, who died in the Karakoram mountains in 1983 - his extraordinary bad and good luck on flight PA073 - the heroism of the flight attendants - and the long aftermath of one of the bloodiest terrrorist atrocities of the 1980s. After the leader of the gang was sentenced to 160 years in an American jail in 2004, Mike wrote a print book to tell the story up to that point. Since then the story has been retold in two documentaries - on Discovery and Sky - and in the Indian thriller "Neerja". Mike's part in the Sky documentary has finally given him the answer to a question that has puzzled him for thirty-five years: "Why didn't they shoot me?" The print book has been updated to complete the story, which comes full circle back to Mike's brother.

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  Double Life - The Shattering...

  Linda Wolfe

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  He was the top justice of New York’s highest court. She was a stunning socialite and his wife’s step-cousin. In 1993, Sol Wachtler was convicted of blackmail and extortion against Joy Silverman, his former mistress. How did a respected jurist and one of the most prominent men in America end up serving time in prison? Linda Wolfe starts at the beginning—from Wachtler’s modest Brooklyn upbringing through his courtship and marriage to Joan Wolosoff, the only child of a wealthy real-estate developer. Joy Fererh was three and a half when her father walked out. When she and Sol met, he was fifty-five and nearing the pinnacle of his legal career. She was a thirty-something stay-at-home mother who, with Sol’s help, made a career for herself as a Republican Party fundraiser. They kept their affair a secret—until an explosive mix of sex, power, betrayal, and prescription-drug abuse set the stage for the tabloid headlines of the decade.

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  The Shrigley Abduction - A Tale...

  Audrey Jones, Abby Ashby

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  This is the story of the notorious abduction in 1826 of Ellen Turner, a wealthy 15-year-old heiress, by Edward Gibbon Wakefield, a 30-year-old British diplomat.The Shrigley Abduction is a compelling narrative, a story of deception and the lure of 'high society', with a strong Byronic character at its heart. Wakefield was sentenced to three years in Newgate, an experience which profoundly affected him.Upon his release he founded the New Zealand Company and became principally responsible for the colonisation of that country, where he is now a prominent figure.Ellen, on the other hand, died in childbirth at the age of 19. Audrey Jones and Abby Ashby have researched all the extant records and have recreated the scandal and outrage surrounding this audacious and cruel act for the first time.

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  Sins of the Mother - The...

  Maria Eftimiades

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  On October 25, 1994, a hysterical Susan Smith told police a tale that would strike terror in the hearts of mothers everywhere: An unidentified gunman had sped off with her two little boys, leaving her screaming on the side of the road.For more than a week, the people in the tiny town of Union, South Carolina, rallied around the young mother. They combed the woods and neighborhood parks for the missing children and prayed for their safe return, while FBI teams launched a massive manhunt.No one ever suspected that the pretty twenty-three-year-old who tearfully pleaded for her children in front of millions of TV viewers could be capable of such a heartless act . . . until she led police to the watery graves of her young sons. Now, as a shaken community confronts its outrage and sorrow, a stunned nation asks how is could have happened.

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  No One Got Cracked Over the Head...

  Martin Brunt

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  "A cracking tale" – Duncan Campbell, investigative journalist and author of Underworld
  "A revelation" – Professor Sue Black, author of All That Remains and Written in Bone
  "Required reading for professional and amateur criminologists" – Gerald Seymour, bestselling author of Harry's Game
  "Highly recommended" – Howard Sounes, author of Fred & Rose
  "A gripping read" – Patricia Wiltshire, author of Traces: The memoir of a forensic scientist and criminal investigator
  "This book is a must-read" – David Wilson, Professor Emeritus of Criminology
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  What is it about crime that we find so fascinating, even if at the same time the details are repugnant? Why exactly do we immerse ourselves in true crime podcasts and TV shows? Has this appetite for gore shifted over the years? And what role does the crime reporter play in all of this?
  In this compelling book, Martin Brunt draws on the most shocking and harrowing stories he's covered over the past thirty years to document the life of a crime reporter and assess the public obsession with crime that his reporting caters for. He also considers the wider relationship between the press and the police, the impact of social media and the question of why some crimes are ignored while others grip the nation.
  Featuring many undisclosed details on some of the biggest cases Brunt has covered, from the 'Diamond Wheezers' to Fred and Rose West, this blend of storytelling and analysis is not only a riveting overview of the nature of crime reporting but a reflection on the purpose of the profession in the first place.

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