History and geography

  • The man from the train : the solving of a century-old serial killer mystery

    Creator

    James, Bill

    Abstract

    An Edgar Award finalist for Best Fact Crime, this impressive open-eyed investigative inquiry wrapped within a cultural history of rural America shows legendary statistician and baseball writer Bill James applying his analytical acumen to crack an unsolved century-old mystery surrounding one of the deadliest serial killers in American history. Between 1898 and 1912, families across the country were bludgeoned in their sleep with the blunt side of an axe. Jewelry and valuables were left in plain sight, bodies were piled together, faces covered with cloth.

    Audience
    Adult**
    Publisher (Source)

    New York

    Scribner

    New York

    Scribner

    Not specified
  • The Massey murder : a maid, her master and the trial that shocked a country

    Creator

    Gray, Charlotte

    Abstract

    A Globe and Mail Top 100 Book of the Year – An Amazon Top 100 Book of the Year – Shortlisted for the RBC Taylor Prize – Longlisted for the BC National Award for Canadian Non-Fiction – A scandalous crime, a sensational trial, a surprise verdict—the true story of Carrie Davies, the maid who shot a Massey In February 1915, a member of one of Canada's wealthiest families was shot and killed on the front porch of his home in Toronto as he was returning from work. Carrie Davies, an 18-year-old domestic servant, quickly confessed. But who was the victim here?

    Audience
    Adult**
    Publisher (Source)

    New York

    HarperCollins Publishers Ltd

    [Toronto, Ontario]

    HarperCollins Canada

    Not specified
  • Unexpected : the backstory of finding Elizabeth Smart and growing up in the culture of an American religion

    Creator

    Thomas, Chris

    Abstract

    The backstory of finding Elizabeth Smart and how growing up in the Mormon culture pushed the author to develop the exact kind of intuition that was needed to help manage Elizabeth's kidnapping and rescue while the world watched. Chris Thomas is not yet thirty years old when he finds himself managing the immense pressure, eccentric personalities, and extenuating circumstances of an international story, where one small misstep could adversely impact the search for a missing teenager and the reputation of her family.

    Audience
    Adult**
    Publisher (Source)

    New York

    Post Hill Press

    Not specified
  • Master slave husband wife : an epic journey from slavery to freedom

    Creator

    Woo, Ilyon

    Abstract

    Winner of the 2024 Pulitzer Prize in Biography. "A rich narrative of the Crafts, an enslaved couple who escaped from Georgia in 1848, with light-skinned Ellen disguised as a disabled white gentleman and William as her manservant, exploiting assumptions about race, class, and disability to hide in public on their journey to the North, where they became famous abolitionists while evading bounty hunters." —The Pulitzer Prizes. Named one of the best books of the year by The New York Times, The New Yorker, Time, NPR, Smithsonian Magazine, and Oprah Daily.

    Audience
    Adult**
    Publisher (Source)

    New York

    37 Ink

    New York

    Simon & Schuster

    Not specified
  • Midnight in Mexico : a reporter's journey through a country's descent into darkness

    Creator

    Corchado, Alfredo

    Abstract

    Named one of the best true crime books of all time by Time. In the last six years, more than eighty thousand people have been killed in the Mexican drug war, and drug trafficking there is a multibillion-dollar business. In a country where the powerful are rarely scrutinized, noted Mexican American journalist Alfredo Corchado refuses to shrink from reporting on government corruption, murders in Juarez, or the ruthless drug cartels of Mexico. A paramilitary group spun off from the Gulf cartel—the Zetas—controls key drug routes in the north of the country.

    Audience
    Adult**
    Publisher (Source)

    New York

    Penguin Books

    New York

    The Penguin Press

    Not specified
  • Mrs. Sherlock Holmes : the true story of New York city's greatest female detective and the 1917 missing girl case that captivated a nation

    Creator

    Ricca, Brad

    Abstract

    Nominated for the Edgar Award for Best Fact Crime. This is the shocking and amazing true story of the first female U.S. District Attorney and traveling detective who found missing 18-year-old Ruth Cruger when the entire NYPD had given up. Mrs. Sherlock Holmes—tells the true story of Grace Humiston, the lawyer, detective, and first woman U.S. District Attorney who turned her back on New York society life to become one of the nation's greatest crime-fighters during an era when women were still not allowed to vote.

    Audience
    Adult**
    Publisher (Source)

    New York

    St. Martin's Press

    New York

    St. Martin's Press

    Not specified
  • Prairie fires : the American dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder

    Creator

    Fraser, Caroline

    Abstract

    Winner of the Pulitzer Prize - Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award - One of The New York Times Book Review's 10 Best Books of the Year - The first comprehensive historical biography of Laura Ingalls Wilder, the beloved author of the Little House on the Prairie books. Millions of readers of Little House on the Prairie believe they know Laura Ingalls—the pioneer girl who survived blizzards and near-starvation on the Great Plains, and the woman who wrote the famous autobiographical books. But the true saga of her life has never been fully told.

    Audience
    Adult**
    Publisher (Source)

    New York

    Metropolitan Books

    New York

    Metropolitan Books, Henry Holt and Company

    Not specified
  • Searching for Savanna : the murder of one Native American woman and the violence against the many

    Creator

    Gable, Mona

    Abstract

    A gripping and illuminating investigation "that is far overdue" (Rachel Louise Snyder, author of No Visible Bruises) into the disappearance of Savanna LaFontaine-Greywind when she was eight months pregnant, highlighting the shocking epidemic of violence against Native American women in America and the societal ramifications of government inaction. In the summer of 2017, twenty-two-year-old Savanna LaFontaine-Greywind vanished. A week after she disappeared, police arrested the white couple who lived upstairs from Savanna and emerged from their apartment carrying an infant girl.

    Audience
    Adult**
    Publisher (Source)

    New York

    Atria Books

    New York

    Atria Books

    Not specified
  • Someone you know : an unforgettable collection of Canadian true crime stories

    Creator

    Fogarty, Catherine

    Abstract

    National bestseller – Someone You Know takes you into dangerous territory – behind closed doors where family, friendship and love can ultimately turn fatal. Someone You Know is an anthology of twelve unforgettable Canadian true-crime stories by Story Hunter podcast producer, host and writer Catherine Fogarty. Each story reveals the haunting truth and statistical reality that a person is more likely to be murdered by someone they know than by a stranger.

    Audience
    Adult**
    Publisher (Source)

    New York

    HarperCollins Canada

    Not specified
  • Sons of cain : a history of serial killers from the stone age to the present

    Creator

    Vronsky, Peter

    Abstract

    From the author of Serial Killers: The Method and Madness of Monsters comes an in-depth examination of sexual serial killers throughout human history, how they evolved, and why we are drawn to their horrifying crimes. Before the term was coined in 1981, there were no "serial killers." There were only "monsters"—killers society first understood as werewolves, vampires, ghouls and witches or, later, Hitchcockian psychos.

    Audience
    Adult**
    Publisher (Source)

    New York

    Berkley

    New York

    Berkley

    Not specified