Books, Movies, & More
All Time Faves: Novels Based on Real Crimes
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The Song Is You 2007 - Simon & Schuster. 9780743291712 Check our catalog
The author uses a less-celebrated real-life crime—the disappearance of actress Jean Spangler from Los Angeles in 1949—as her hook to spin a downbeat tale about a journalist-turned-studio-flack, Gil "Hop" Hopkins.Hop's efforts at amateur sleuthing unearth a blackmail ring and a possible mob connection to Spangler's disappearance.. |
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Devil's Garden Atkins, Ace 2010-03 - Berkley Publishing Group 9780425232668 Check our catalog
From the critically-acclaimed, award-nominated author comes a new noir crime classic about one of the most notorious trials in American history--the 1921 manslaughter case against silent-screen comedy star Roscoe Fatty Arbuckle. …More |
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White Shadow Atkins, Ace 2009-12 - Berkley Publishing Group 9780425230541 Check our catalog
Inspired by true events, this thriller tells the story of the murder of criminal kingpin Charlie Wall in Tampa, Florida, and those who benefited from his death. RA tour de force from one of the best crime writers at work today.S--Michael Connelly. …More |
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Crippen Boyne, John 2007-01 - St. Martin's Griffin 9780312343590 Check our catalog
July 1910: A gruesome discovery has been made at 39 Hilldrop Crescent, Camden. Chief Inspector Walter Dew of Scotland Yard did not expect the house to be empty. Nor did he expect to find a body in the cellar. Buried under the flagstones are the remains of Cora Crippen, former music-hall singer and wife of Dr. Hawley Crippen. No one would have thought the quiet, unassuming Dr. Crippen capable of murder, yet the doctor and his mistress have disappeared from London, and now a full-scale hunt for them has begun.…More |
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True History of the Kelly Gang Carey, Peter 2001-11 - Vintage Books USA 9780375724671 Check our catalog
In True History of the Kelly Gang," the legendary Ned Kelly speaks for himself, scribbling his narrative on errant scraps of paper in semiliterate but magically descriptive prose as he flees from the police. To his pursuers, Kelly is nothing but a monstrous criminal, a thief and a murderer. To his own people, the lowly class of ordinary Australians, the bushranger is a hero, defying the authority of the English to direct their lives. Indentured by his bootlegger mother to a famous horse thief (who was also her lover), Here is a classic outlaw tale, made alive by the skill of a great novelist."…More |
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Kings of the Earth Clinch, Jon 2010-07 - Random House 9781400069019 Check our catalog
Told in a chorus of voices that spans a generation, "Kings of the Earth" examines the bonds of family and blood, faith and suspicion, that link not just three brothers but their entire community. …More |
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Stolen Away Collins, Max Allan 2001-02 - Signet Book 9780451202413 Check our catalog
First published in 1991, "Stolen Away" is the most requested title in Max Allan Collins's Nathan Heller series by fans. In this story, Detective Nathan Heller tackles the kidnapping of the Lindbergh baby. Handpicked by Colonel Lindbergh, Heller's search for the truth takes him from a Chicago train station to a secluded farmhouse in Michigan. Winner of the Shamus Award for Best Novel. …More |
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The Black Dahlia Ellroy, James 1987-09 - Mysterious Press 9780892962068 Check our catalog
The Black Dahlia is a roman noir on an epic scale: a classic period piece that provides a startling conclusion to America's most infamous unsolved murder mystery--the murder of the beautiful young woman known as The Black Dahlia. …More |
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The Executioner's Song Mailer, Norman 1998-04 - Vintage Books USA 9780375700811 Check our catalog
Winner of the 1980 Pulitzer Prize. In what is arguably his greatest book, America's most heroically ambitious writer follows the short, blighted career of Gary Gilmore, an intractably violent product of America's prisons who became notorious for two reasons: first, for robbing two men in 1976, then killing them in cold blood; and, second, after being tried and convicted, for insisting on dying for his crime. To do so, he had to fight a system that seemed paradoxically intent on keeping him alive long after it had sentenced him to death. …More |
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To Die for Maynard, Joyce 2003-02 - Backinprint.com 9780595269396 Check our catalog
When her husband is shot dead by her teenage boyfriend, would-be television journalist Suzanne Maretto steps into the role of grieving widow with a brilliant performance. But few suspect her dark side. This chilling novel of ambition and sexual obsession goes behind the mask of an apple-pie beauty to probe the sinister manipulations of a mesmerizing femme fatale. …More |
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The Wives of Henry Oades Moran, Johanna 2010-02 - Ballantine Books 9780345510952 Check our catalog
An English accountant and his two wives are the subject of this intriguing and evocative debut novel based on a real-life 19th-century California bigamy case. …More |
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Tokyo Year Zero Peace, David 2007 - Alfred A. Knopf 9781441756091 Check our catalog
In this rousing literary thriller, a Japanese serial killer prowls the streets of American-occupied Tokyo in the aftermath of World War II. As Detective Minami tracks down the killer, he is haunted by his own memories of atrocities that he can no longer explain or forgive. …More |











