Crime Biographies
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The Dark Clue
The Dark Clue takes us into Victorian England in all its staggering extremes of poverty and wealth, of slums and stately homes, of public morality and private vice, in an unforgettable tale of suspense. 'This is a book begun, but not finished. I could not finish it. Many times I have come close to destroying it, thinking I should have no rest while it remained to reproach me. I could not bring myself to do it. I have therefore given instructions that it should be sealed in a box, which is to remain unopened until I, my wife Laura, our sister Marion Halcombe, and all our children are dead.' So begins James Wilson's brilliant imaginative recreation of the Victorian sensation novel as the characters from Wilkie Collins's The Woman in White - Walter Hartright and Marion Halcombe - are involved in another dramatic and dangerous conspiracy. Walter is commissioned to write a biography of the greatest of English painters, JMW Turner, whose life was shrouded in mystery. His researches take him to the dark secret at the centre of Turner's work and involve him and Marion in confronting crimes and human degradation that threaten their sanity and their lives. The Dark Clue takes us into Victorian England in all its staggering extremes; of poverty and wealth, of slums and stately homes, of public morality and private vice in an unforgettable tale of suspense.
The Dark Clue
The Dark Clue takes us into Victorian England in all its staggering extremes of poverty and wealth, of slums and stately homes, of public morality and private vice, in an unforgettable tale of suspense. 'This is a book begun, but not finished. I could not finish it. Many times I have come close to destroying it, thinking I should have no rest while it remained to reproach me. I could not bring myself to do it. I have therefore given instructions that it should be sealed in a box, which is to remain unopened until I, my wife Laura, our sister Marion Halcombe, and all our children are dead.' So begins James Wilson's brilliant imaginative recreation of the Victorian sensation novel as the characters from Wilkie Collins's The Woman in White - Walter Hartright and Marion Halcombe - are involved in another dramatic and dangerous conspiracy. Walter is commissioned to write a biography of the greatest of English painters, JMW Turner, whose life was shrouded in mystery. His researches take him to the dark secret at the centre of Turner's work and involve him and Marion in confronting crimes and human degradation that threaten their sanity and their lives. The Dark Clue takes us into Victorian England in all its staggering extremes; of poverty and wealth, of slums and stately homes, of public morality and private vice in an unforgettable tale of suspense.
Ronnie Kray by Laurie O'Leary and foreward by Barbara Windsor
This biography recalls the wild times and colourful characters of gangland life. The private side of Ronnie Kray is also revealed - how he reacted to being certified insane and coped with his homosexuality in a hard man's world. Ronnie Kray was one half of London's most notorious gangster duo. He and his brother Reggie ruled the East End of the 1950s, and the duo's crimes and vendettas, showdowns and rivalries, have become the stuff of legend. Here, natural raconteur and childhood friend, Laurie O'Leary, recalls his wild times in the Kray gang and describes the colourful characters who made up the Krays' ever-changing circle of friends and enemies. He also reveals the private side of this complex and troubled man - how he reacted to being certified insane after a nervous breakdown in 1958, and how he coped with being a homosexual in a hard man's world. Excellent condition probably just read the once.
The Krays
The Krays were a product of their age nurtured by a doting mother and created by their community the East End of London. Their name alone conjures up images of power violence and greed - and even brother Charlie counldn't steer the twins Ron and Reg clear of murder mayhem as they killed their way to the top of the criminal tree. They lived by their own rules. And died by them. The three brothers will never be forgotten. They are an indelible part of our history whether we like it or not. From media-manipulation to control-freak paranoia the Krays were masters of deception. Even at the end Reg Kray was still portraying himself as just an ordinary East Ender - mistreated by the Home Office and the police misunderstood and mistakenly labelled "Godfather of Crime" by the media. This biography traces their history from childhood and early adolescence to manhood and death. It explores the brothers' fantasy lives full as they were of mind games and false memories. Only now can the truth be revealed - without fear of intimidation retribution or revenge. The Krays are dead and buried but the myth lives on.
Escobar
Murderer philanthropist drug dealer politician devil saint: many words have been used to describe Pablo Escobar but one is irrefutable - legend. For the poor of Colombia he was their Robin Hood a man whose greatness lay not in his crimes but in his charity; for the Colombian rich he was just a bloodthirsty gangster a Bogie Man used to scare children in their beds; for the rest of the world flush with his imported cocaine he was public enemy number one. During his reign as the world's most notorious outlaw he ordered the murder of thousands - at one point even bombing a passenger jet - smuggled drugs into the US in mini-submarines inspired by Bond films was elected to parliament staged midnight escapes through the jungle from whole army battalions built his own prison consorted with presidents controlled an estimated fortune of over $20 billion and for over 3 years outwitted the secret American forces sent to kill him. His ambition was as boundless as his violence and neither was ever satisfied.This is the first major and definitive biography of this remarkable criminal life told in jaw-dropping detail by the one man who more than any other can understand just how far he came and just how low he fell: his brother Roberto Escobar.
Brief Lives: Fyodor Dostoevsky
A new short biography of the author of Crime and Punishment and The Brothers Karamazov, by pre-eminent Russian scholar Professor Anthony Briggs. A new short biography of the author of Crime and Punishment and The Brothers Karamazov, by pre...
Outlaws and highwaymen
This book is a full-length study devoted to the English robbers of history and legend. It draws on street ballads and social commentary, reportage and satire, gossip and high literature, popular anecdotes and criminal biographies. In the modern imagination, the highwayman is a figure on horseback in a three-cornered hat who holds up a mail-coach with pistols. But England has a long legendary history of robber heroes that goes back well before Dick Turpin, even before the earliest ballads of Robin Hood. 18th-century highwaymen like Turpin were absorbed into an already rich tradition of stories and ideas about robbery and robbers.;In this book, Gillian Spraggs argues for the existence of a distinctively English "cult of the robber". Englishmen took pride in the belief that there were more robbers in England than anywhere else in Europe. This was felt to be a credit to the nation, because it demonstrated English toughness and daring. Robbery possessed a potent mystique. For one thing, it was a gentleman's crime. The penniless young gentleman who took a purse on the highway was felt to be showing the courage that he had inherited from his ancestors. As for the lad of common stock who was drawn to the life of a highwayman, he often saw it as a way of rising in the world, by becoming a "knight of the road".;This book is a full-length study devoted to the English robbers of history and legend. It draws on street ballads and social commentary, reportage and satire, gossip and high literature, popular anecdotes and criminal biographies in charting the images of the highway robbers across eight centuries.
Ngaio Marsh
The Empress of Crime's life was the ultimate detective story - revealed for the first time in this forthright and perceptive biography. The Empress of Crime's life was the ultimate detective story - revealed for the first time in this forthright...
Dick Turpin
This is a biography of one of Britain's best-known criminals, Dick Turpin - but it is also an examination of the cult of the highwayman, of crime in the 18th century and the treatment of criminals. This is a masterly biography of one of Britain's best-known criminals - who was this notorious highwayman and why did he become so famous? It is also an examination of the cult of the highwayman, of crime in the 18th century and the treatment of criminals. In the absence of any police force how were crimes solved? Who did the detective work? And did the criminals get a fair trial - an important question if you were going to hang from the neck for a relatively minor misdemeanour. Was there a criminal underclass and did people really live in terror of going on the roads at night. Looking at the underbelly of society and the nastier aspects of life that many historians ignore, James Sharpe creates a vivid picture of life on the edges in eighteenth century Britain.
Complete Ghost Stories
Part of the Collector's Library series, this book's Afterword is by the well-known crime writer and eminent Sherlockian, David Stuart Davies. It features a brief biography of the author and a reading list. It contains the stories The...
The Other Mr Churchill A Lifetime of Shooting and Murder
This dark red hard covered book is in very good condition (although slightly bowed) and tells the biography Robert Churchill and his creation of ballistic research to help solve crimes
Tales of the East Riding
A collection of tales of the East Riding, containing local myths, true crimes, and several incidents and biographies of the area's famous sons. The stories cover an area from York down to Hull and include such tales as: Stand and Deliver...