True stories: general

Death in a Texas Desert is a fast-paced collection of 17 compelling true crime stories from the pages of the award-winning The Dallas Observer.

In 1932, the city of Natchez, Mississippi, reckoned with an unexpected influx of journalists and tourists as the lurid story of a local murder was splashed across headlines nationwide.

InJanuary 2007, two boys were found in the home of Michael J.

A classic about real-life WWII espionage, as conducted by its modern master*A Man Called Intrepid is the classic true story of Sir William Stephenson (codenamed Intrepid) and the spy network he founded that would ultimately stall the Nazi war machine and help win World War II.

Over 13 months in 1976--1977, four children were abducted in the Detroit suburbs, each of them held for days before their still-warm bodies were dumped in the snow near public roadsides.

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Robert Lovett grew up in Texas, went to Yale, and earned his wings as a naval air force hero in World War I.

Contrary to the common notion that news regarding the unfolding Holocaust was unavailable or unreliable, news from Europe was often communicated to North American Poles through the Polish-language press.

Some criminals become household names, while others--even those who seek recognition through their crimes--are forgotten.

In November 1969, what Time Magazine called the "e;largest battle of the year"e; took place less than two miles from the Vietnamese Demilitarized Zone.

The 1970s were turbulent times and the films made then reflected the fact.

Rock music today is universal and its popular history is well known.

"e;As a 15-year-old boy I fought briefly in a war.

American military advisors in South Vietnam came to know their allies personally--as few American soldiers could.

In the midst of gangland activities during the Roaring Twenties, a thief plagued the New York City area by breaking into people's homes and stealing radios, possibly the costliest thing a family could own.

Indiana State Police Captain Matt Leach led the hunt for John Dillinger during the violent early 1930s.

Imagining the figure of the fictional detective as an archetype in the study of modern culture, the author argues that contemporary detective fiction can help us better comprehend fundamental shifts of the Digital Age--in communication, family, entertainment, society, even the way we think as individuals.

For six decades, Pittsburgh-based forensic scientist Cyril Wecht has been an outspoken authority when horrible things happen to everyday people--murders, childhood deaths, tragic accidents and police brutality.

Dan Showalter was Speaker Pro Tem of the California State Assembly at the outbreak of the Civil War and the exemplar of treason in the Far West among the pro-Union press.

A trunk dripping blood, discovered at a railway station in Stockton in 1906, launched one of the most famous murder investigations in California history--still debated by crime historians.

This chronicle of ten controversial mid-Victorian trials features brother versus brother, aristocrats fighting commoners, an imposter to a family's fortune, and an ex-priest suing his ex-wife, a nun.

George Barnett transformed the United States Marine Corps from an antiquated afterthought to a modern force with an international reputation.

The German invasion of Poland in September 1939 abruptly ended author Jan Rosinski's student life, and propelled him into an activist role in the Polish resistance organization Armia Krajowa.

Frank and Jesse James, the infamous brothers from Missouri, rode with marauding Confederate guerrillas during the Civil War.

The 4th century BC Greek painter Parrhasius murdered his model--an old man who was his slave--to achieve, so the story goes, a more lifelike depiction of nature.

Born in the mid-nineteenth century, Sophie Lyons was a master thief, con artist, blackmailer and smuggler.

Outsold only by the Bible and Shakespeare, the works of Agatha Christie stand as some of the most celebrated crime fiction of our era.

In January 1889, as London constables hunted for Jack the Ripper and theaters around the world presented theatrical renditions of the Jekyll and Hyde story, Jackson, Michigan, Police Captain Jack Boyle searched for the murderer of Mary Latimer.

Public mass killings are becoming more common.

Some critics rank biographers just above serial murderers.

This thrilling story memorializes one of the most dangerous--and successful--series of undercover operations conducted by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

At the turn of the twentieth century, thousands of Italian immigrants left their home country for the United States and, particularly, New York City.

The self-proclaimed "e;Hottest Band in the World,"e; KISS is one of the most popular groups in the history of rock, having sold more than 100 million albums during their more than 40-year reign.

When rumors about Geraldine Ferraro--the first woman vice-presidential nominee by a major party in U.

Lieutenant John Huddleston Taber was a New Yorker assigned to the 168th "e;Third Iowa"e; Infantry Regiment of the American Expeditionary Force's 42nd "e;Rainbow"e; Division during World War I.

With the 1965 publication of In Cold Blood, Truman Capote declared he broke new literary ground.

Already part of a genre known for generating controversy, some true crime and scandal books have wielded a particular power to unsettle readers, provoke authorities and renew interest in a case.

As a first lieutenant in Bravo Company of the Third Battalion, 187th Infantry, Frank Boccia led a platoon in two intense battles in the Vietnamese mountains in April and May 1969: Dong Ngai and the grinding, 11-day battle of Dong Ap Bia--the Mountain of the Crouching Beast, in Vietnamese, or Hamburger Hill as it is popularly known.

On a summer day in 1898, a family in Dover, Delaware, shared a box of chocolates they received in the mail from an anonymous sender.

From the files of Scotland Yard's "e;Black Museum"e; (open only to police officers) come true crime stories of some of the most infamous murder cases of the 19th and 20th centuries--the Lambeth Poisoner, "e;baby farmer"e; Amelia Elizabeth Dyer, the Gentleman Vampire of Bournemouth, the Brides in the Bath Murders, the Rillington Place murders and many others.

James Claude Beasley was a typical American teenager in the 1940s--a child of the Great Depression with an abiding commitment to family and country.

Having flunked out of college in the fall of 1965, the author enlisted in the U.

What is behind Outlander fever--the hit television drama's popularity?

Largely forgotten now, Frankie Yale was an influential New York mobster of the early 20th century whose proteges included future leaders of New York's five Mafia families and Chicago's outfit.

Notorious, numerous and varied, serial murderers from Australia have an eclectic record of crimes, methods and trademarks.

A young U.

In 1975, Dr.

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Takeo Yoshikawa (1912-1993) was an ensign in the Imperial Japanese Navy and a naval intelligence officer assigned the task of spying on the U.

On a September night in 1958, three New Orleans college students went looking for a gay man to assault.