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Raised By a Serial Killer: Discovering the Truth About My Father
by April Balascio
One evening in 2009, April Balascio was searching online, as she had been every night, for unsolved murders in the towns her family had lived growing up, when she stumbled across the latest investigations into the "Sweetheart Murders" cold case. All at once, the buried memories of her father's dark history were awakened, and she knew she had to take action. She picked up the phone to call a detective and the rest is infamous true crime history. In her unflinching memoir, Balascio bravely reveals an astonishing tale of a lifetime of manipulation, unexplained upheavals, and silent fear. Some part of her had always known what her father was capable of, but the full truth of how she came to these revelations is as riveting as it is quietly terrifying. Through searing storytelling, dedicated research, and intimate insight, Raised by a Serial Killer is a gripping, courageous memoir unlike any other.
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When the Night Comes Falling: A Requiem for the Idaho Student Murders
by Howard Blum
The definitive, inside story of the Idaho murders from bestselling author Howard Blum, whose groundbreaking coverage of the story was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. Timed for a trial that will capture national attention, When the Night Comes Falling examines the mysterious murders of the four University of Idaho students. Having covered this case from its start, Edgar Award-winning investigative reporter Howard Blum takes readers behind the scenes of the police manhunt that eventually led to suspected killer, Bryan Christopher Kohberger, and uncovered larger, lurid questions within this unthinkable tragedy. Reminiscent of the panoramic portraiture of In Cold Blood and The Executioner's Song, When the Night Comes Falling offers a suspenseful, richly detailed narrative that will have readers transfixed.
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Guilty Creatures: Sex, God, and Murder in Tallahassee, Florida
by Mikita Brottman
From the critically-acclaimed author and psychoanalyst Mikita Brottman comes the murky retelling of the murder of Mike Williams committed under the haze of faith and devotion. Perfect for true-crime and literary fiction fans alike.
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The House of My Mother: A Daughter's Quest for Freedom
by Shari Franke
Exposes the hidden abuse the author endured from her mother, Ruby Franke, behind the scenes of the popular 8 Passengers YouTube channel, detailing Ruby's strict control, influence from relationship coach Jodi Hildebrandt, and Shari's path to healing after her mother's 2023 arrest for child abuse.
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Framed: Astonishing True Stories of Wrongful Convictions
by John Grisham
Exposes 10 harrowing tales of innocent Americans unjustly found guilty and convicted of crimes they didn't commit, shedding light on the flaws within the legal system that led to their imprisonment, and the relentless battles for exoneration that ensued.
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The Serial Killer's Apprentice: The True Story of How Houston's Deadliest Murderer Turned a Kid into a Killing Machine
by Katherine M. Ramsland
Elmer Wayne Henley, Jr. was only fourteen when he first became entangled with serial rapist and murderer Dean Corll in 1971. Fellow Houston, Texas teenager David Brooks had already been ensnared by the charming older man, bribed with cash to help lure boys to Corll's home. When Henley unwittingly entered the trap, Corll evidently sensed he'd be of more use as a second accomplice than another victim. He baited Henley with the same deal he'd given Brooks: $200 for each boy they could bring him. Henley didn't understand the full extent of what he had signed up for at first. But once he started, Corll convinced him that he had crossed the line of no return and had to not only procure boys but help kill them and dispose of the bodies, as well. When Henley first took a life, he lost his moral base. He felt doomed. By the time he was seventeen, he'd helped with multiple murders and believed he'd be killed, too. But on August 8, 1973, he picked up a gun and shot Corll. When he turned himself in, Henley showed police where he and Brooks had buried Corll's victims in mass graves. Twenty-eight bodies were recovered–most of them boys from Henley's neighborhood–making this the worst case of serial murder in America at the time. The case reveals gross failures in the way cops handled parents' pleas to look for their missing sons and how law enforcement possibly protected a larger conspiracy.
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The Barn: The Secret History of a Murder in Mississippi
by Wright Thompson
Recounting one of the most notorious and consequential killings in American history–the 1955 murder and torture of Emmett Till, a Black boy barely in his teens, in a barn in Money, Mississippi–this story about property, money, power, and white supremacy is still ongoing and implicates all of us.
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