Secondhand Crime Fiction & Thriller Bargain Book Box SP2879

Secondhand True Crime Bargain Book Box SP2879

Eighteen true crime titles weighted towards Australian and American cases — Roger Maynard's account of the Backpacker Murders, Richard Rashke's Karen Silkwood investigation, Harold Schechter's early American serial killer study — alongside Jonathan Goodman's excellent Classic True Crime anthology series.

1. The Killing of Karen Silkwood — Richard Rashke — The definitive account of the nuclear safety whistleblower who died in a suspicious car accident in 1974 — the case that became a major film and remains officially unexplained.
2. An Evil Love: The Life of Frederick West — Geoffrey Wansell — A thorough biography of one of Britain's most notorious serial killers, tracing the roots of West's violence across decades.
3. Means to a Kill — Jon E. Lewis — True crime cases in which the method of murder was as revealing as the motive — Lewis is a reliable guide through forensically interesting territory.
4. Deadly Deviates — John Dunning — Killers whose crimes reflected extreme psychological disturbance — cases at the intersection of true crime and forensic psychology.
5. Ill Met by Gaslight — Allan Massie — Five Edinburgh murders spanning the Victorian and Edwardian eras, reconstructed with scholarly care and a novelist's eye for atmosphere.
6. Darkness in Eden: The Murder of Julie Ward — Jeremy Gavron — The investigation into the death of Julie Ward in the Masai Mara in 1988, and her father's extraordinary one-man campaign for justice.
7. A Rose for Her Grave and Other True Cases — Ann Rule — One of Rule's most celebrated collections — Randy Roth murdered two wives for insurance money and nearly got away with it both times.
8. Everything She Ever Wanted — Ann Rule — The true story of Patricia Allanson, a Georgia woman who poisoned and manipulated her way through two decades before justice finally intervened.
9. If You Really Loved Me — Ann Rule — David Brown persuaded his teenage daughter to kill his wife — Rule's account of manipulation, complicity, and consequence is chilling.
10. The Supernatural Murders — ed. Jonathan Goodman — Classic true crime cases with an occult or supernatural dimension, gathered and introduced by one of the genre's most respected editors.
11. The Encyclopedia of Women Killers — Brian Lane — A comprehensive A-Z reference work on female killers across history and geography, combining reference utility with genuine narrative interest.
12. Milat: The True Horror of the Backpacker Murders — Roger Maynard — The definitive account of Ivan Milat, who murdered seven young backpackers in the Belanglo State Forest — the case that shook Australia in the early 1990s.
13. The Medical Murders — ed. Jonathan Goodman — Classic true crime cases involving medical professionals who killed, drawn from Goodman's extensive historical archive.
14. The Country House Murders — ed. Jonathan Goodman — Classic true crime stories set in Britain's great houses — the country house murder as real phenomenon rather than fictional conceit.
15. Who Killed Sir Harry Oakes? — James Leasor — The 1943 murder of the richest man in the Bahamas, with the Duke of Windsor as governor and the investigation controversially mishandled — still officially unsolved.
16. The Seaside Murders — ed. Jonathan Goodman — Classic true crime cases at the British seaside, where the innocent holiday backdrop made the violence even more shocking.
17. Bestial — Harold Schechter — The savage trail of Earle Nelson, the Gorilla Murderer, who killed more than twenty landladies across North America in the 1920s — Schechter at his most forensically detailed.
18. An Hour to Kill — Dale Hudson and Billy Hills — A true story of love, murder, and justice in a small South Carolina town — a case that divided a community and tested the limits of the legal system.