National Network for Equitable Library Service

The acclaimed author of American Dirt reveals the devastating effects of a shocking tragedy in this landmark true crime book. A Rip in Heaven is Jeanine Cummins's story of a night in April 1991 when her two cousins Julie and Robin Kerry, and her brother, Tom, were assaulted on the Old Chain of Rocks Bridge, which spans the Mississippi River just outside of St. Louis. When, after a harrowing ordeal, Tom managed to escape the attackers and flag down help, he thought the nightmare would soon be over. He couldn't have been more wrong.

Anna LeBaron's father was wanted by the FBI for killing anyone who tried to leave his radical polygamist cult. Anna escaped when she was thirteen, but the nightmare was not over. This true story of murder, fear, and betrayal is also the heart-cry of a fatherless girl and her search for home.

Yvette Johnson travels to Mississippi to uncover the true story of her grandfather Booker Wright and why he was murdered.

Weaving together suspenseful crime narrative, cultural and social history, and literary investigation, Sarah Weinman uncovers how much Nabokov knew of the Sally Horner case and the efforts he took to disguise that knowledge during the process of writing and publishing Lolita.

Traces the theft of Edvard Munch's "The Scream" from Oslo's National Gallery in 1994, recounting the efforts of art detective Charley Hill to recover the painting in an investigation ranging from the estates of aristocrats to the art underworld.

In 2009 Shane Bauer, Josh Fattal, and Sarah Shourd were hiking in Iraqi Kurdistan when they unknowingly crossed into Iran and were captured by a border patrol. Accused of espionage, they were sent to Tehran's infamous Evin Prison. They tell their story.

Charles Cullen, RN, was one of the most accomplished serial killers in recent history. For sixteen years, working in multiple hospitals, he had a hand in the deaths of as many as three hundred patients. Though colleagues knew--or had reason to know--what was going on, no one stopped him.

The art of the con has a long and venerable tradition, and its female practitioners are some of the best, or worst in history. But what about today? Spoiler alert: these "artists" are still conning.

As American women began to reject Victorian propriety, authorities feared that "oversexed" women could destroy civilization if allowed to reproduce and pass on their defects. In 1934, aided by a eugenics law, socialite Maryon Cooper Hewitt had her "promiscuous" daughter declared feebleminded and sterilized. This was to deprive Ann of millions of dollars from her father's estate, which contained a child-bearing stipulation. A sensational court case ensued, captivating the public and eugenicists, who saw a chance to restrict reproductive rights in America.

Journalist Julie K. Brown recounts her uncompromising and risky investigation of Jeffrey Epstein's underage sex-trafficking operation and the explosive reporting for the Miami Herald that finally brought him to justice, while exposing the powerful people and broken system that protected him.