True Crime Fiction

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

At first, the plan seems foolproof. Every contingency is covered, and the payoff will make them all rich for life. No one would even get hurt. But not everyone is who they seem. Even as the gang's stolen helicopter is lifting off from the cash depot with $6.5 million inside, questions remain unanswered. What secrets does each man hold?

County Kerry, Ireland, 1825. Nóra, bereft after the sudden death of her beloved husband, finds herself alone and caring for her young grandson Micheál. Micheál cannot speak and cannot walk, and Nóra is desperate to know what is wrong with him. What happened to the healthy, happy grandson she met when her daughter was still alive? Mary arrives in the valley to help Nóra just as the whispers are spreading: the stories of unexplained misfortunes, of illnesses, and the rumours that Micheál is a changeling child who is bringing bad luck to the valley.

An electrifying true story of Marco, a poor adolescent Colombian fishermen who dreams of wealth and whose ambitions result in his forced servitude to the AUC, a ruthlessly violent narco paramilitary organization that operates at the height of Colombia's drug-fueled civil war. The adventure thrusts the listener into the mind and soul of Marco, who's charged with the dangerous responsibility of moving millions of dollars in cash and thousands of kilos of cocaine through the treacherous jungles of Central and South America and the Gulf of Mexico's unforgiving waters.

The New York Times best seller. Technological advances have benefited our world in immeasurable ways, but there is an ominous flipside. Criminals are often the earliest and most innovative adopters of technology, and modern times have led to modern crimes. Today's criminals are stealing identities, draining online bank accounts, and wiping out computer servers.

25° compleanno di Anne, madre single e cardiopatica di Trevor, 9 anni. Litiga con l'Uomo che se ne va. Una telefonata della madre lontana squarcia un velo nella sua memoria: Dick, il suo patrigno e violentatore, è il padre di Trevor. Sconvolta, eccede in tranquillanti e muore nel sonno. Trevor la trova morta al rientro da un week-end con amici, ma non accetta la verità e tirerà avanti per un intero mese nascondendola al resto del mondo. A poco a poco, però, le pressioni della vita reale si fanno più forti e lui più debole, e quando l'Uomo si ripresenta Trevor decide di lasciarlo entrare, convincendosi che il Principe Azzurro sveglierà con un bacio la Bella Addormentata e che potranno vivere felici e contenti.

Outsiders call Manuel a villain. After spending his youth entangled in inner-city gang warfare, he’s lied, robbed, and murdered his way to the top. His path was set long ago, when two killers massacred his family in front of him. While Manuel was able to take down one of the murderers, his bloodlust has grown for the killer who got away. When he gets the chance to complete his vengeance, the city cowers beneath his thirst for retribution....

Der Täter, ein gebildeter und musikalisch begabter junger Mann aus gutem Hause, handelte ohne offensichtliches Motiv und passte nicht ins Täterklischee. Das machte diesen Fall kurz nach der Jahrhundertwende zu einer medialen Sensation.

A boy with a rifle walks into a middle school, intent on carrying out Western-style vigilante justice. A wife and mother of four kisses her twelve-year-old student and forever changes our definition of student-teacher conferences. The world's most famous serial killers put Washington on the map. A bathtub, a handgun, a meat grinder, and a burn barrel play a role in the murder of the captain of a freighter.

Calling upon the gripping firsthand accounts from those on both sides of the battle - the cops and the gangsters - as well as Neil Woods' experiences as an undercover drugs detective, Drug Wars will build a complex, authentic and terrifying picture of the reality of the drug war in Britain. Beginning with the Misuse of Drugs Act in 1971, we watch decades of violence, racial tension, organised crime and a monumental increase in addiction unfold. We see the birth of rave music and dance culture and yet even more tabloid hysteria.

Based on true events, PERMANENCE, is a dark, "Hitchcockian" literary tour-de-force about Mary Kismet, a woman who is holding onto a deep dark secret too painful and startling to reveal. Now, having isolated herself from the world, she attempts to break away from her demons by immersing herself, body and soul, into a passionate and erotic love affair with her psychiatrist. From NEW YORK TIMES and USA TODAY Bestselling author, Vincent Zandri, comes a story with an unforgettable climax. Called "hauntingly beautiful" by bOOk R3vi3ws, PERMANENCE is a tragic novel of obsession, dark compulsions, ...

From number one best seller Mark Billingham comes a twisting, unbearably gripping DI Tom Thorne and Nicola Tanner thriller inspired by a dramatic real-life case. How do you catch a killer who is yet to kill? We all know the signs. Cruelty, lack of empathy, the killing of animals. Now, pets on suburban London streets are being stalked by a shadow, and it could just be the start. DI Tom Thorne knows the psychological profile of such offenders all too well.

The reverberations from Fred West's crimes continue to this day. The story never dies. West was perhaps one of Britain's most evil, feared serial killers. His horrifying compulsion to kidnap, rape and torture his victims before murdering them showed a savagery and cruelty that can barely be believed. His 'House of Horrors' at 25 Cromwell Street, Gloucester, became a burial ground for the women who fell into his hands. This new publication of Geoffrey Wansell's iconic, best-selling true-crime masterpiece comes 30 years after West was arrested, in 1992.

After the screen of a run-down drive-in movie theater collapses and kills four people, the daughter of one of the victims asks private investigator Cal Weaver to look into a recent break-in at her father's house. Cal discovers a hidden basement room where it's clear that salacious activities have taken place - as well as evidence of missing DVDs. But his investigation soon becomes more complicated when he realises the DVDs may contain something even more shocking.

On 3 May 1961, after a trial conducted largely in secret, a man named George Blake was sentenced to an unprecedented 42 years in jail. By his own confession he was a Soviet spy, but the reasons for such a severe punishment were never revealed. To the public, Blake was simply the greatest traitor of the Cold War. Yet his story touches not only the depths of treachery, but also the heights of heroism.

At the end of the Second World War, some of the highest ranking Nazis escaped from justice, Aided and abetted by the Vatican, they travelled down secret 'rat lines' and were taken in by shady Argentine secret agents. Vengeful Holocaust survivors and inept politicains attempted to bring them to justice and there were daring plots to kidnap or assassinate the fugititives.

Pinkerton Detective Caleb Lincoln struggles against the worst natural disaster ever to strike the US - the 1900 Galveston hurricane - while fighting for his own life during the investigation into the murder of the Texas philanthropist whose estate founded Rice University in Houston in 1912. Chased by a mysterious assassin paid to stop him from finding the truth, Lincoln races across a continent and back before meeting his nemesis on the battlefield of a famous Texas hill even as the monumental Spindletop oil gusher explodes in the background.

In Who Killed Una Lynskey?, award-winning journalist Mick Clifford has built a compelling portrait of the case from interviews with the surviving main players, as well as exclusive access to the files of a private investigator who uncovered information the gardaí missed - or ignored. A timely, humane and compulsive listen, this is a groundbreaking account of the botched investigation and its devastating consequences for not just four devastated families, but also the reputation of the gardaí.

Julia Stein acepta el trabajo de asistente que le ofrece el agente Hans Freeman. Su nueva misión es cazar al asesino del hacha, quien ya ha decapitado a tres hombres en el bosque de Green Bank, un pueblo que, además, está justo en el medio de «la zona silenciosa», un lugar en el que los teléfonos móviles son inútiles.

Frank Rodriguez, a much-loved counselor of troubled teens, lies dead on the bedroom floor. His wife and step-daughter are in shock, and so is the medical examiner when he performs the autopsy. Aside from being dead, Frank is in perfect health.