True Crime
Homegrown : Timothy McVeigh and the rise of right-wing extremism
Jeffrey Toobin
363.325 /Toobin
History, True Crime
"Timothy McVeigh wanted to start a movement. After the Oklahoma City bombing, the Gulf War veteran expressed no regrets. Jeffrey Toobin details how McVeigh's principles and tactics have flourished in the decades since his death in 2001, reaching an apotheosis on January 6 when hundreds of rioters stormed the Capitol. Based on nearly a million previously unreleased tapes, photographs, and documents, including detailed communications between McVeigh and his lawyers, as well as interviews with such key figures as Bill Clinton, Toobin reveals how the story of Timothy McVeigh and the Oklahoma City bombing is not only a powerful retelling of one of the great outrages of our time, but a warning for our future"--
When the moon turns to blood : Lori Vallow, Chad Daybell, and a story of murder, wild faith, and end times
Leah Sottile
364.1523 /Sottile
True Crime
"WHEN THE MOON TURNS TO BLOOD examines the culture of end times paranoia and a trail of mysterious deaths surrounding former beauty queen Lori Vallow and her husband, grave digger turned doomsday novelist, Chad Daybell. When police in Rexburg, Idaho perform a wellness check on seven-year-old J.J. Vallow and his sister, sixteen-year-old Tylee Ryan, both children are nowhere to be found. Their mother, Lori Vallow, gives a phony explanation, and when officers return the following day with a search warrant, she, too, is gone. As the police begin to close in, a larger web of mystery, murder, fanaticism and deceit begins to unravel. Vallow's case is sinuously complex. As investigators prod further, they find the accused Black Widow has an unusual number of bodies piling up around her. WHEN THE MOON TURNS TO BLOOD tells a gripping story of extreme beliefs, snake oil prophets, and explores the question: if it feels like the world is ending, how are people supposed to act?--
With this case in the headlines, this gives a thorough rundown of how the crimes happened and under what circumstances. It's a tough read, but is good background for those interested in true crime. -Amanda
The devil and Sherlock Holmes : tales of murder, madness, and obsession
David Grann
364.1 /Grann
Nonfiction, True Crime
Collection of the journalist's articles previously published in varous periodicals.
I love David Grann's long-form writing (Lost City of Z, Killers of the Flower Moon), and the short pieces in this collection are like delicious little snacks to tide me over while waiting for my hold on his newest work (The Wager: A tale of shipwreck, mutiny and murder) to come up. I think a lot of folks who find themselves in the business of libraries are really just interested in a little bit of everything, and Grann shows himself to be of a similar ilk here, chasing down random, elusive, interesting stories that he'd heard about and taken note of. His writing is both detailed and effusive, and of course, well-researched. Reading this book is like being told the best stories from a super-smart, congenial friend! -Candice
Slenderman : online obsession, mental illness, and the violent crime of two Midwestern girls
Kathleen Hale
364.1523 /Hale
Nonfiction, True Crime
"The first full account of the Slenderman stabbing, a true crime narrative of mental illness, the American judicial system, the trials of adolescence, and the power of the internet. On May 31, 2014, in the Milwaukee suburb of Waukesha, Wisconsin, two twelve-year-old girls attempted to stab their classmate to death. Morgan Geyser and Anissa Weier's violence was extreme, but what seemed even more frightening was that they committed their crime under the influence of a figure born by the internet: the so-called "Slenderman." Yet the even more urgent aspect of the story, that the children involved suffered from undiagnosed mental illnesses, often went overlooked in coverage of the case. Slenderman: Online Obsession, Mental Illness, and the Violent Crime of Two Midwestern Girls tells that full story for the first time in deeply researched detail, using court transcripts, police reports, individual reporting, and exclusive interviews. Morgan and Anissa were bound together by their shared love of geeky television shows and animals, and their discovery of the user-uploaded scary stories on the Creepypasta website could have been nothing more than a brief phase. But Morgan was suffering from early-onset childhood schizophrenia. She believed that she had been seeing Slenderman for many years, and the only way to stop him from killing her family was to bring him a sacrifice: Morgan's best friend Payton "Bella" Leutner, whom Morgan and Anissa planned to stab to death on the night of Morgan's twelfth birthday. Bella survived the attack, but was deeply traumatized, while Morgan and Anissa were immediately remanded into jail, and the severity of their crime meant that they would be prosecuted as adults. There, as Morgan continued to suffer from worsening mental illness after being denied antipsychotics, her life became more and more surreal. Slenderman is both a page-turning true crime story and a search for justice"--
This is a thorough, very readable account of the Slenderman-related crime that happened in Wisconsin, in 2014. The author has done their research, and is able to add a lot of great detail due to the interviews they had with involved persons. The gentle focus on mental illness is welcomed, as it brings so much to light here. Also especially interesting is the background on the whole Creepypasta/Slenderman thing, which, to be honest, was a bit of a mystery to me. Adults will like this, but some higher-reading young adults with a judicious interest might as well. -Candice
American demon : Eliot Ness and the hunt for America's Jack the Ripper
Stashower, Daniel, author.
364.1523/Stashower (NEW)
True Crime, Biographies, History
Stashower (Teller of Tales) traces Eliot Ness's career with a focus on the media-named Torso Murders, which shook the city of Cleveland. Over a course of three years, citizens discovered bundles of dismembered body parts. Twelve killings in all were ascribed to the unknown assailant, dubbed the Mad Butcher, and only two victims were positively identified. Ness was famous for his work in Al Capone's downfall. After some less prestigious work shutting down moonshine stills in the mountains, Ness landed a job that played to his strengths: Cleveland's safety director. Here he could modernize the police force, use his gang busting skills against the city's organized crime, and ferret out corruption within the ranks. Cleveland needed this, but what the city wanted was a hero who could stop the Mad Butcher. Stashower's Ness is a flawed do-gooder, frustrated by city politics, sullied by personal indiscretions, and taunted by postcards from the man he suspected was the Mad Butcher but couldn't prove. VERDICT Stashower was born in Cleveland, and his personal connection to the city breathes life into this well-researched and chilling account.—Terry Bosky Copyright 2022 Library Journal.
Just what did Eliot Ness get up to after taking down Al Capone? -Candice
The Godmother : murder, vengeance, and the bloody struggle of Mafia women
Nadeau, Barbie Latza, author.
364.106/Nadeau
True Crime, Biographies
In this engrossing account, Nadeau (Roadmap to Hell: Sex, Drugs and Guns on the Mafia Coast) combines diligent research, hours of personal interviews, and vivid prose to immerse the reader in the world of Italian Mafia women. Nadeau tells the stories of those who defected and turned evidence against the mob, such as wives who betrayed their husbands, but she focuses on the unrepentant women, Assanta "Pupetta" Maresca chief among them. Born into a crime family in 1935, she married a mobster who was assassinated when she was 18 and pregnant. To retaliate, Maresca pumped 29 bullets into the man who ordered the hit and spent the next 10 years in prison, where she gave birth to her son, before being pardoned for the murder in 1965. She went on to remarry a mob underboss, but was sent back to prison in 1978 for another murder, which was overturned on appeal four years later. Maresca spent the 1980s wielding enormous influence in the crime organization, revered as the godmother and the Lady of Camorra. Even in her old age, she was celebrated as a self-made woman and was the first Mafia woman to be banned from having a public funeral due to her bloodthirsty life, when she died on New Year's Eve 2021. This look at the "feminine" side of the Mafia is a must for true crime fans. (Sept.) Copyright 2022 Publishers Weekly.
This doesn't really need an explanation, it's just one of those slice-of-life books where that slice is so storied, all mystery and danger, and so different from our own. -Candice
Hell's half-acre : the untold story of the Benders, a serial killer family on the American frontier
Susan Jonusas
364.1523 /Jonusas
Nonfiction, True Crime, History, Literary Nonfiction
"In 1873 the people of Labette County in Kansas made a grisly discovery. Buried on a homestead seven miles south of the town of Cherryvale, in a bloodied cellar and under frost-covered soil, were countless bodies in varying states of decay. The discovery sent the local community and national newspapers into a frenzy that continued for over two decades, and the land on which the crimes took place became known as 'Hells Half-Acre.' When it emerged that a family of four known as the Benders had been accused of the slayings, the case was catapulted to infamy."
Sometimes, when summer comes, you just want a good, historical true crime book to get lost in. This book does the trick. The author does a good job of telling the eerie story of the Benders and their crimes, while giving context through the descriptions of burgeoning frontier towns, the hardworking people who populated them, the political schemes of the day, and the lawlessness that pervaded an environment that was created by taking the land from one people and giving it to another. A great mix of crime and solid history. -Candice
The colony : faith and blood in a promised land
Sally Denton
364.1523/Denton
True Crime, History
"A shocking massacre in 2019 sparks a probing investigation into the strange, violent history of a polygamist Mormon outpost in Mexico. A harmless, unassuming caravan of women and children was ambushed by masked gunmen in northern Mexico on November 4, 2019. In a massacre that produced international headlines, nine people were killed and five others gravely injured. The victims were members of the La Mora and LeBaron communities-fundamentalist Mormons whose forebears broke from the LDS Church and settled in Mexico when polygamy was outlawed. In The Colony, the best-selling investigative journalist Sally Denton picks up where initial reporting on the killings left off, and in the process tells the violent history of the LeBaron clan and their homestead, from the first polygamist emigration to Mexico in the 1880s to the LeBarons' internal blood feud in the 1970s to the family's recent alliance with the NXIVM sex cult. Drawing on sources within Colonia LeBaron itself, Denton creates a mesmerizing work of investigative journalism in the tradition of Under the Banner of Heaven and Going Clear"--
This was fast read, engaging and shocking in its subject matter. It will enlighten the reader on a community they may not be aware of but will still seem relatable. -Amanda
Hell's half-acre : the untold story of the Benders, a serial killer family on the American frontier
Susan Jonusas
364.1523 /Jonusas
Nonfiction, True Crime, History
"In 1873 the people of Labette County in Kansas made a grisly discovery. Buried on a homestead seven miles south of the town of Cherryvale, in a bloodied cellar and under frost-covered soil, were countless bodies in varying states of decay. The discovery sent the local community and national newspapers into a frenzy that continued for over two decades, and the land on which the crimes took place became known as 'Hells Half-Acre.' When it emerged that a family of four known as the Benders had been accused of the slayings, the case was catapulted to infamy. The idea that a family of seemingly respectable homesteaders--one among thousands who were relocating further west looking for land and opportunity after the Civil War--were capable of operating 'a human slaughter pen' appalled and fascinated the nation. But who the Benders really were, why they committed such a vicious killing spree, and what became of them when they fled from the law is a mystery that has remains unsolved to this day--not that there aren't some convincing theories. Part gothic western, part literary whodunnit, and part immersive study of postbellum America, Hell's Half-Acre sheds new light on one of the most notorious cases in our nation's history while holding a torch to a society under the strain of rapid change and moral disarray. Susan Jonasus draws on extensive original archival material, and introduces us to a fascinating cast of characters, including the despairing families of the victims as well as the fugitives that helped the murderers escape. Hell's Half-Acre is not simply a book about a mass murder. It is a journey into the turbulent heart of nineteenth century America, a place where modernity stalks across the landscape, violently displacing existing populations and wearily building new ones. It is a world where folklore can quickly become fact, and an entire family of criminals can slip right through a community's fingers, only to reappear at the most unexpected of times"--
I love true crime and I love history, so this book hits a sweet spot. The writing is so good--super informative and interesting, and vividly descriptive of not just the crimes, but also the time and setting. A good book to kick the summer off with! -Candice
Jailbreak at Alcatraz : Frank Morris & the Anglin Brothers' great escape
Tom (Writer of children's books) Sullivan
jGRAPHIC NOVEL Sullivan
Mystery, Graphic Novels, Kids, True Crime
CASE NO. 002: THE ROCK. June 12, 1962. SAN FRANCISCO BAY, CALIFORNIA. 7:18 A.M. A corrections officer at Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary tries to awaken inmate AZ-1441, Frank Morris. But when he shakes the unresponsive man, his head rolls off the pillow and crashes to the floor! Soon the guards realize that Morris and two other inmates, brothers John and Clarence Anglin, had done the seemingly impossible: escaped from the notorious island prison. This is the incredible true story of the daring and inventive escape and a decades-long manhunt in a case that remains unsolved to this day. Comics panels, reproductions of documents from real FBI files, and photos from the investigation combine for a thrilling read for sleuths of all ages.
I loved Tom Sullivan's first graphic novel, Escape at 10,000 feet: D.B. Cooper and the missing money, so much that I knew I was going to enjoy his latest historical graphic retelling of a true event! These books are a great read for those reluctant readers in your life or for anyone looking for a good unsolved mystery. -Angie
Toobin does an excellent job of giving an easy-to-follow true crime narrative, giving plenty of background information that lead to the event and some of the aftermath. An engaging read, and I could easily see Ryan Murphy wanting to turn it into a mini-series. -Amanda