True Crime Fiction

What do you really know about the people around you? To the residents of leafy Acacia Avenue, Mr. and Mrs. Smith were like any other couple. Living a very ordinary life, in a very ordinary suburb, on the outskirts of a very ordinary city. But behind closed doors, Mr. and Mrs. Smith were at the heart of a world filled with deception and organized crime—and they were the good guys. Inspired by true events and detailing Mr. and Mrs. Smith’s covert deployments, this is first in a series of gripping tales.

Rochelle Hawthorne is good at gardening. She is good at everything. As she lifts a pointed shovel from the rack in the secluded garden center, she wonders if she’ll also be good at disposing of her husband’s dead body. All this time, Rochelle believed she was the one who was broken, her barren womb unable to hold a child, the only thing she’s ever wanted in life. Until she accidentally finds the crumpled and faded paperwork in her husband’s briefcase — the one that tells of a secret, a secret he’s hidden from her for eight years.

Miriam Giles ran away to Colorado to bury her violent past - but this seductive, charismatic widow has a dark side that could never stay buried. After finding the "sugar daddy" she was looking for in Alan Helmick, her new marriage seemed happy. Then, two years later, Alan meets a gruesome fate. Returning home from errands, Miriam finds him lying in a pool of blood. Miriam shows police a cryptic note warning her to "run, run, run". But Miriam is no distraught housewife.

Lolly has always known her mum was different. Sometimes Angela Bruce was ill in a quiet sort of way, but other times she roamed the Mansfield estate shouting about whatever had wormed its way into her head that day. Either way, Lolly was on her own, so she learned how to look after herself pretty quickly. Mal Fury has never got over the disappearance of his daughter all those years ago, but there's still hope because the police never found Kay's body.

Jon unsnapped his gun from its holster but didn’t remove it. Clair reached toward the Colt Official Police Pistol strapped at small of her back and nodded at her partner to let him know she was ready and prepared for anything. Jon rapped hard on the door, “Sheriff's Department responding to your call. Please open the door.”

"Stay away" - Those are the two words written on the forehead of every pedophile murdered in the San Francisco Bay Area. Joshua Theaker is tasked with finding the killer whose killing methods involve strange weapons. Theaker and local law enforcement find it hard to agree on where the trail goes, while the local FBI is distracted by child kidnappings. For Theaker, there is a pattern among the victims. But just when Theaker thinks he is getting closer to the killer, he strikes again. And again.

'Murder Beyond the Grave': Stephen Small has it all - a Ferrari, a fancy house, a loving wife and three sons. But the only thing he needs right now is air to breathe. Kidnapped, buried in a box and held for ransom, Stephen has 48 hours of oxygen. 'Murder in Paradise': High in the Sierra Nevada mountains, developers Jim and Bonnie Hood excitedly tour Camp Nelson Lodge. They intend to buy and modernise this beautiful rustic property, but the locals don't like rich outsiders changing their way of life. After a grisly shooting, everybody will discover how you can make a killing in real estate....

Sharon Simpson spent 15 of her younger years in Morgan City, Louisiana, a small, blue-collar town along the Atchafalaya River Delta. Morgan City was living large during the big oil days in the 1970s, yet no one expected what was about to happen to the town. The booming oil industry was desperate for workers to fill positions and used a “trawling net approach” to hire any warm body - as long as the work was getting done on schedule. The heart of the issue - money and greed - led to the hiring of a damaged man who went on a spree, raping and murdering several local teens...

Sommer 1924. Die beiden Freunde Ludwig und Theo sind gerade auf einer Fahrradtour unterwegs, als Theo plötzlich verschwindet. Hat etwa der Serienmörder, der gerade in Hannover sein Unwesen treibt, etwas damit zu tun? Der Verdacht erhärtet sich, als ein menschlicher Schädel am Ufer der Leine gefunden wird... Wer wird dem Werwolf von Hannover als nächstes zum Opfer fallen?

Drawing on the infamous Lord Lucan affair, this compelling novel explores the roots of a shocking murder from a fresh perspective and brings to vivid life an era when women's voices all too often went unheard. In the summer of 1974, Mandy River arrives in London to make a fresh start and begins working as nanny to the children of one Lady Morven. She quickly finds herself in the midst of a bitter custody battle and the house under siege: Lord Morven is having his wife watched.

Die Ermittlungsbehörden haben ihre Arbeit getan, aus Beschuldigten sind Angeklagte geworden: In den zehn Fällen dieses Buches sind sie des Mordes oder des versuchten Mordes angeklagt, des Totschlags, der Brandstiftung, des Menschenhandels, des Betruges, der Cyberkriminalität ... Sie haben das Recht auf ein faires Verfahren und einen Strafverteidiger an der Seite. Bernd Hesse, als Strafverteidiger tätig, erzählt über "Fälle vor Gericht", authentische Fälle aus seiner Berufspraxis.

Первое официально задокументированное дело российского серийного убийцы относится к началу XX века. В Петербурге была найдена мертвая девушка-проститутка, убитая особо изощренным способом. Судя по всему, убийство ритуальное, и следующая жертва тому подтверждение. Константин Маршал, помощник начальника столичного сыска, ищет преступника, но тот мастерски путает следы. А между тем убийца совсем рядом, и жизнь любимой женщины сыщика висит на волоске. Роман основан на реальных событиях.

Viele Kinder lasen Enid Blyton oder Beatrix Potter - Carla Valentine war von klein auf verrückt nach Agatha Christie und rätselte mit, wer wohl der Mörder war. Diese frühe Faszination ließ Carla Valentine Forensik studieren, in Leichenhallen und in pathologischen Instituten arbeiten, doch von Agatha Christie ließ sie nie ab. Agatha Christie benutzte den Begriff "Forensik" noch nicht wie wir, doch auch sie beschreibt in ihren Krimis mit ihrer fachkundigen Beobachtung und viel Einfallsreichtum die Wendungen und Verwicklungen der einzelnen Fälle und überführt geschickt jeden einzelnen Mörder.

Two decades ago, Amber Glass's life changed forever. No-one had even known she was pregnant - including Joe, her date. Afterwards, she left town for good - and hasn't seen Joe since. But she knows he hasn't left, that he's working for his father's real estate company, married to a cosmetic surgeon. Child free. Now Amber is back, and as the two of them tentatively start to renew their once unlikely relationship, will their secrets and motivations finally destroy everyone around them?

An ancient shaman and his granddaughter travel to Harvard to pick up 2,047 skeletons stolen from the ruins of their family pueblo. She wants their time together to heal their broken hearts. He hopes the road trip will make her appreciate family. He fashions a dreamcatcher which sometimes hurls Hollow-Woman into the past to experience her ancestors.

Every Icelander knows about the Gudmundur and Geirfinnur disappearances. 1974. In two separate incidents, two men vanished into thin air. Then, out of it came six murder confessions and six convictions. Yet in the decades that followed, these too evaporated. Anthony Adeane explores the stranger-than-fiction story that has unravelled in Iceland across 45 years. He provides the first full account of the case, paints a fascinating picture of the country, and places each development in the contexts that shaped them: from the Cod Wars to the Cold War, the 2008 economic crash and beyond.

1979. Sixteen-year-old Carolyn Russell grows increasingly infatuated with her school mathematics teacher who is also giving her private lessons. Then she disappears. 2014. Struggling journalist Stephanie Brett creates a true-crime podcast focused on the disappearance of Carolyn Russell. By digging deep into this mysterious cold case, her confidence and flagging career are boosted. But after she confronts the suspects—and talks to a potential witness—the leads dry up. Nevertheless, she refuses to let the story rest.

When Amy Blahn died on a London rooftop, Layla Mahoney was there. Layla was holding her. But all she can say when she’s arrested is that ‘It was Michael. Find Michael and you’ll find out everything you need to know'. The problem is, the police can’t find him—they aren’t even sure he exists. Layla knows she only has forty-eight hours to convince the police that bringing in the man she knows only as ‘Michael’ will clear her name and reveal a dangerous game affecting not just Amy and Layla, but her husband Russell and countless others.

A thousand unwanted children live in The Homes, a village of orphans in the Scottish Lowlands on the outskirts of Glasgow. Lesley was six before she learned that most children live with their parents. Now Lesley is 12, and she and her best friend Jonesy live in Cottage 5; Jonesy the irrepressible spirit to Lesley's quiet thoughtfulness. Life is often cruel at The Homes, and suddenly it becomes much crueller.

Everyone eventually loses their childhood dreams. It's a fact of life, an indelible element of growing up. You get wiser, older, more jaded, and realize that all the things you wanted when you were young are impractical. Difficult. Impossible, maybe. This is the story of a man who never gave up on his childhood dream: to become an actor. But when the television and film markets proved a tough nut to crack, he took his acting skills to the streets and used them as a con man.