Here are a selection of fascinating, bestselling true crime books that touch on some cases you may never have heard of, and previously unexplored aspects of cases you probably have. Right now all of these books are being offered at a discount, but since prices on Amazon are subject to change at any time be sure to act quickly to take advantage of these deals!
Starvation Heights (4.5/5 stars, currently priced at $1.99)
In 1911 two wealthy British heiresses, Claire and Dora Williamson, came to a sanitorium in the forests of the Pacific Northwest to undergo the revolutionary “fasting treatment” of Dr. Linda Burfield Hazzard. It was supposed to be a holiday for the two sisters. But within a month of arriving at what the locals called Starvation Heights, the women were emaciated shadows of their former selves, waiting for death. They were not the first victims of Linda Hazzard, a quack doctor of extraordinary evil and greed who would stop at nothing short of murder to achieve her ambitions. As their jewelry disappeared and forged bank drafts began transferring their wealth to Hazzard’s accounts, Dora Williamson sent a last desperate plea to a friend in Australia, begging her to save them from the brutal treatments and lonely isolation of Starvation Heights.
In this true story—a haunting saga of medical murder set in an era of steamships and gaslights—Gregg Olsen reveals one of the most unusual and disturbing criminal cases in American history.
Double Cross: The Explosive, Inside Story of the Mobster Who Controlled America (4/5 stars, currently priced at $1.99)
This New York Times bestseller presents Sam Giancana—talented businessman, Las Vegas entrepreneur, ruthless killer, and outside player for the CIA’s dirtiest deeds.
Giancana clawed his way to the top of the Mafia hierarchy, partied with major stars such as Frank Sinatra and Marilyn Monroe, and did business with agents from the CIA to the Shah of Iran.
When Joe Kennedy gave Giancana the chance to use mob muscle to get his son John elected, he jumped at it.
But the Kennedy brothers double-crossed him, waging full-scale war on organized crime in the United States.
His story changed the course of American history.
The Vampire Next Door: The True Story of the Vampire Rapist (4.5/5 stars, currently priced at $5.99)
John Crutchley seemed to be living the American Dream. Good-looking and blessed with a genius level IQ, he had a prestigious, white-collar job at a prominent government defense contractor, where he held top secret security clearance and handled projects for NASA and the Pentagon. To all outward appearances, he was a hard-working, successful family man with a lavish new house, a devoted wife, and a healthy young son.
But, he concealed a hidden side of his personality, a dark secret tied to a hunger for blood and the overriding need to kill. As one of the most prolific serial killers in American history, Crutchley committed at least twelve murders, and possibly nearly three dozen. His IQ elipsed that of Ted Bundy, and his body count may have as well. While he stalked the streets hunting his unsuspecting victims, the residents of a quiet Florida town slept soundly, oblivious to the dark creature in their midst, unaware of the vampire next door.
“Compelling and well-written” — True Crime Book Reviews
“The disintegration of a seemingly normal, brilliant man into a psychopath so evil, so methodical in his killings, that makes one wonder if he was at all human” — Crime Magazine
“Every Detective looks for that one case, this was my case. It became my mission. This book documents exactly what transpired in the John Crutchley case.” — Robert Leatherow, Chief of Detectives, Brevard County Sheriff’s Office, (Retired)
Social Media Monsters: Internet Killers (4.5/5 stars, currently priced at $3.99)
Who is really on the other end of that Facebook friend request, or behind that dating profile, or posting that item for sale on Craigslist? How can you be safe if you plan to meet up with a stranger you met online? What precautions should you take?
Stalkers, rapists, and murderers…. These criminals have all discovered uncharted territory through the open door of the internet, and the victims are piling up in their deadly playground. Murder. Kidnapping. Cannibalism. Suicide. All of these themes can be found in this collection of true stories about killers who have used the internet to locate, lure, stalk, or exploit their victims.
These monsters are identified as people who are motivated by a psychological factor: some murderers are triggered by anger or jealousy, others kill as a way to seek attention, and some are merely in it for the thrill of the kill.
In this book, we have detailed more than thirty chilling true stories of killers that have used the internet to locate, stalk, lure, or exploit their victims. Facebook, Craigslist, MySpace, chat rooms, dating sites-it does not matter where you are online; killers are lurking in the shadows. They lurk in suicide chat rooms, search for escorts on Craigslist, and create fake social media profiles to fool and gain the trust of their victims. Someone you have been talking to for months or even years could be a completely different person from what you envisioned.
House of Secrets (4.5/5 stars, currently priced at $5.38)
“Horrific, totally engrossing… A compelling look at insane brilliance.” –Ann Rule
A psychopathic mastermind whose reign of terror had no limits–even murder. . .
For years, Eddie Lee Sexton ruled his family with perverse domination. He enforced every cruelty imaginable, from vicious beatings to raping his daughters and fathering their children. Yet the sadistic father nearly escaped death row on a legal technicality.
Lowell Cauffiel’s unsparing non-fiction thriller reveals a house of horrors Eddie Lee Sexton thought no one would ever see. Now updated, it shows how Sexton’s sick genius ultimately dodged justice, and investigates the tragic aftermath of his victimized family.
“An odyssey into American pathology. Deeply disturbing.” –Detroit Free Press
“A balanced and grimly engaging true-crime account.” –Publishers Weekly
“Cauffiel knows how to dramatize true crime.” –Elmore Leonard
Warning! Contains 16 pages of graphic photos.
The Road Out of Hell: Sanford Clark and the True Story of the Wineville Murders (4.5/5 stars, currently priced at $4.99)
“And you wonder: How the hell did this guy go on to be a loving father and grandfather? How did he bury all that crap? That’s a story in itself.” —Clint Eastwood, director of THE CHANGELING
The film story of young Sanford Clark and his forced participation in the Wineville Murders was covered in Clint Eastwood’s movie, THE CHANGELING, but for answers to the questions Eastwood posed after completing the project, turn to the true story of the Wineville murders: Anthony Flacco’s THE ROAD OUT OF HELL. The hell part isn’t what makes the story important; it’s the road out that does.
From 1926 to 1928, Gordon Stewart Northcott committed at least 20 murders on a chicken ranch outside of Los Angeles. His nephew, Sanford Clark, was held captive there from the age of 13 to 15, and was the sole surviving victim of the killing spree. Here, acclaimed crime writer Anthony Flacco—using never-before-heard information from Sanford’s son, Jerry Clark—tells the real story behind the case that riveted the nation.
Forced by Northcott to take part in the murders, Sanford carried tremendous guilt all his life. Yet despite his youth and the trauma, he helped gain some justice for the dead and their families by testifying at Northcott’s trial—which led to his conviction and execution. It was a shocking story, but perhaps the most shocking part of all is the extraordinarily ordinary life Clark went on to live as a decorated WWII vet, a devoted husband of 55 years, a loving father, and a productive citizen.
In dramatizing one of the darkest cases in American crime, Flacco constructs a riveting psychological drama about how Sanford was able to detoxify himself from the evil he’d encountered, offering the ultimately redemptive story of one man’s remarkable ability to survive a nightmare and emerge intact.
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