Kimberly Star Crime Books

The Killer Book of True Crime: Incredible Stories, Facts and Trivia... Hours of Nail-Biting True Crime You?ve read all the stories?but can you match the mobster with the way he met his end? Do you know how they caught the Boston Strangler? Can you define chickens, a Shotaro complex or Colombian neckties? The Killer Book of True Crime is the ultimate collection of in-depth stories, trivia, quizzes, quotes and photos gruesome and interesting enough to make any crime buff shudde...r in horrified delight. Discover all the odd and intriguing facts and tidbits you?ve never heard, such as: *??John Wayne Gacy's favorite movies*??How America's most prolific burglar was captured*??Which city houses the world's largest red light district*??How a roach led to the capture of Albert Fish*??An eyewitness account of the murder of eight nurses*??Where Al Capone really got the scar on his face These and many more shocking tales and tidbits will have you double-checking your locks at night! See more

Killing Love This powerful, unforgettable and uplifting story is one part wrenching family memoir, and one part inspirational journey towards healing and forgiveness but most of all, it’s an unputdownable journey through one family’s tragedy and how they refused to let it define them. On the day of Rebecca Poulson’s 33rd birthday, her father, niece and nephew were murdered. The murderer had been part of her family; her brother-in-law, Neung, the father of the children. Kill...ing Love is Rebecca’s journey through homicide; grief, the police investigations, the media interest, the court cases, the moments of great despair and the healing. It is a story of individual tragedy and a family’s strength, but it is also a story of a community’s attitude to family violence. As a reluctant warrior for those who cannot speak for themselves, Rebecca talked to the NSW State Premier and politicians, on multiple TV shows and to print journalists in the hope that the mistakes made by the police force, DOCS, the legal system and solicitors will never be made again. Rebecca’s contact with policy makers has been nothing short of history-making, and her story has directly influenced domestic violence laws in the state. Neung left a note for Rebecca’s family; he hoped that he would destroy them. This is the story of how he didn’t.

In a Dark, Dark Wood by Ruth Ware The rights for this debut novel by a British writer have already sold across Europe and in the US and the publishers have high hopes for huge seller. And it is easy to see what has got them excited. This slick chiller about a group of girls on a hen night is the sort of confection that sells well at the moment: half chick-lit and half thriller. ... It all starts when Nora gets an email with the subject line CLARE’S HEN!!!. The problem is that she doesn’t know anyone called Clare.... except for the girl from university that she last saw 10 years before. But why would she want Nora at her hen night? Despite misgivings, Nora and her good friend Nina decide to go along for the hell of it. Which is exactly how it turns out. It is clear from the outset that things are not going to go smoothly: the hen is at a remote house in the middle of a woods (where, naturally, there is no mobile phone signal). The weather is grim. And there’s a very bossy girl running the event. From a reader’s point of view, so far, so good. Nora is an engaging character and narrator, who tells the story in a chatty style. Author Ruth Ware lays out the story well, creates a very believable group of girls and really captures the spirit of a weekend away, before turning it into a breathless race for survival. So, it’s a shame, with a good set-up and an author who can clearly write, that the plotting becomes predictable, the denouement is lumberingly obvious and the book simply goes on for too long. If the excited publishers had imposed a bit more stringent editing, they might have got the best-seller they were hoping for. But this is more of a near miss than a hit.

Smoke and Mirrors by Elly Griffiths In the bitter winter of 1951 Brighton, two young children have gone missing and it is down to Detective Inspector Edgar Stephens to lead the hunt for them, in this atmospheric period mystery. When their bodies are found in the frozen ground, surrounded by sweets, the mystery takes on a grim (as well as Grimm) fairy-tale aspect, with the papers dubbing them ‘Hansel and Gretel’. Stephens is stumped, but determined to find the killer - a task ...which may involve enlisting the help of his old pal Max Mephisto, magician and flamboyant star of the Theatre Royal panto, who is also a master of misdirection (a technique the killer may be using). Author Elly Griffiths has deservedly built up a band of followers for her series of mysteries featuring forensic archaeologist Dr Ruth Galloway. ButSmoke and Mirrors is the second novel in her other series, featuring Stephens and Mephisto and evocatively chronicling the shabby gentility and shadowy theatrical world of post-war seaside Britain. The disappearance of little Annie and Mark, and the shock it brings to the town, are eloquently captured by Griffiths as she transports the reader back to the spartan, uncomfortable world of rationing, gas fires and frozen pipes. The contrasting duo of the workmanlike Stephens and theatrical Mephisto are likeable central characters, while the inspector’s sidekick, Emma Holmes feels like she could spin off into a series of her own. But, unfortunately, the underlying plot is not as gripping as the descriptions of an icy Brighton, and at times the story plods rather than flies. Coupled with an unremarkable resolution of the mystery, Smoke and Mirrors is one of Griffiths’s less compelling plots, but the book is memorable for its chilling atmosphere.

In Cold Blood by Truman Capote: Capote's classic is about the murders of four members of the Clutter family. In 1959, two men broke into the Clutter house, tied them up and shot them, one by one. Not only was the method of the murders brutal, but the criminals remained pretty much remorseless the whole time. The murders also ended up being motiveless. Though the break-in began as a robbery, there was very little money to be found (under 50 dollars), but they killed everyone any way. There have been some discrepancies between fact and Capote's outline of what happened, but the facts of the murders remain true. The two men were executed for their crimes.

Moriarty thony Horowitz Sherlock Holmes is dead. Days after Holmes and his arch-enemy Moriarty fall to their doom at the Reichenbach Falls, Pinkerton agent Frederick Chase arrives from New York. The death of Moriarty has created a poisonous vacuum which has been swiftly filled by a fiendish new criminal mastermind. Ably assisted by Inspector Athelney Jones, a devoted student of Holmes's methods of investigation and deduction, Chase must hunt down this shadowy figure, a man much feared but seldom seen, a man determined to engulf London in a tide of murder and menace. The game is afoot ..

The Santa Klaus Murder - British Library Crime Classics Aunt Mildred declared that no good could come of the Melbury family Christmas gatherings at their country residence Flaxmere. So when Sir Osmond Melbury, the family patriarch, is discovered - by a guest dressed as Santa Klaus - with a bullet in his head on Christmas Day, the festivities are plunged into chaos. Nearly every member of the party stands to reap some sort of benefit from Sir Osmond's death, but Santa Klaus, ...the one person who seems to have every opportunity to fire the shot, has no apparent motive. Various members of the family have their private suspicions about the identity of the murderer, and the Chief Constable of Haulmshire, who begins his investigations by saying that he knows the family too well and that is his difficulty, wishes before long that he understood them better. In the midst of mistrust, suspicion and hatred, it emerges that there was not one Santa Klaus, but two. The Santa Klaus Murder is a classic country-house mystery that is now being made available to readers for the first time since its original publication in 1936. See more

Death Comes First If you can't trust your family, where do you turn . . . Joyce Mildmay's life is torn apart when her husband Charlie is killed in a tragic yachting accident. Though financially secure, Joyce is left to raise their three children by herself within Tarrant Park, a secluded gated development set in the rural countryside outside of Bristol. Six months later a mysterious letter arrives on her doorstep which turns her shattered world upside down. The letter is from... Charlie, delivered belatedly in the event of his death, and contains a sinister warning that Joyce's father, Henry Tanner, and the family business is not as it seems. For their children to be safe, her husband pleas, she must leave their home and never look back. Confused and alarmed by this message from beyond the grave, Joyce decides instead to stay and unearth the truth. But what she learns reveals a trail of intrigue and deception that stretches back through the years. It seems that death is just the beginning. . . See more

Perfect Victim: The True Story of "The Girl in the Box Recounts the ordeal of Colleen Stan during her seven-year captivity and sexual slavery in the hands of Cameron and Janice Hooker and details the court case that followed.

Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets by David Simon The scene is Baltimore. Twice every three days another citizen is shot, stabbed, or bludgeoned to death. At the center of this hurricane of crime is the city's homicide unit, a small brotherhood of hard men who fight for whatever justice is possible in a deadly world. David Simon was the first reporter ever to gain unlimited access to a homicide unit, and this electrifying book tells the true story of a year on the violen...t streets of an American city. The narrative follows Donald Worden, a veteran investigator; Harry Edgerton, a black detective in a mostly white unit; and Tom Pellegrini, an earnest rookie who takes on the year's most difficult case, the brutal rape and murder of an eleven-year-old girl. Originally published fifteen years ago, Homicide became the basis for the acclaimed television show of the same name. This new edition--which includes a new introduction, an afterword, and photographs--revives this classic, riveting tale about the men who work on the dark side of the American experience.

Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, David McDuff (Translator) Through the story of the brilliant but conflicted young Raskolnikov and the murder he commits, Fyodor Dostoevsky explores the theme of redemption through suffering. Crime and Punishment put Dostoevsky at the forefront of Russian writers when it appeared in 1866 and is now one of the most famous and influential novels in world literature. The poverty-stricken Raskolnikov, a talented student, devises a theory... about extraordinary men being above the law, since in their brilliance they think new thoughts and so contribute to society. He then sets out to prove his theory by murdering a vile, cynical old pawnbroker and her sister. The act brings Raskolnikov into contact with his own buried conscience and with two characters the deeply religious Sonia, who has endured great suffering, and Porfiry, the intelligent and discerning official who is charged with investigating the murder both of whom compel Raskolnikov to feel the split in his nature. Dostoevsky provides readers with a suspenseful, penetrating psychological analysis that goes beyond the crime which in the course of the novel demands drastic punishment to reveal something about the human condition: The more we intellectualize, the more imprisoned we become See more

Smoke, Mirrors, and Murder and Other True Cases by Ann Rule In some murder cases, the truth behind the most tragic of crimes crystallizes with relative ease. Not so with these fascinating accounts drawn from the personal files of Ann Rule, America's #1 bestselling true-crime writer. What happens when the case itself becomes an intractable puzzle, when clues are shrouded in smoke and mirrors, and when criminals skillfully evade law enforcement in a maddening cat-and-mouse cha...se? Even the most devoted true-crime reader won't predict the outcome of these truly baffling cases until the conclusions revealed in Ann Rule's marvelously insightful narrative: An ideal family is targeted for death by the least likely enemy, who plotted their demise from behind bars.... A sexual predator hides behind multiple fake identities, eluding police for years while his past victims live in fear that he will hunt them down.... A modest preacher's wife confesses to shooting her husband after an argument -- but there's more to her shattering story than meets the eye. These and other true cases are analyzed with stunning clarity in a page-turning collection you won't be able to put down. See more

Portrait of a Killer: Jack the Ripper - Case Closed In the fall of 1888, all of London was held in the grip of unspeakable terror. An elusive madman calling himself Jack the Ripper was brutally butchering women in the slums of London’s East End. Police seemed powerless to stop the killer, who delighted in taunting them and whose crimes were clearly escalating in violence from victim to victim. And then the Ripper’s violent spree seemingly ended as abruptly as it had begun.... He had struck out of nowhere and then vanished from the scene. Decades passed, then fifty years, then a hundred, and the Ripper’s bloody sexual crimes became anemic and impotent fodder for puzzles, mystery weekends, crime conventions, and so-called Ripper Walks that end with pints of ale in the pubs of Whitechapel. But to number-one New York Times bestselling novelist Patricia Cornwell, the Ripper murders are not cute little mysteries to be transformed into parlor games or movies but rather a series of terrible crimes that no one should get away with, even after death. Now Cornwell applies her trademark skills for meticulous research and scientific expertise to dig deeper into the Ripper case than any detective before herand reveal the true identity of this fabled Victorian killer. See more