At Any Cost unravels the twisted story of Rod Covlin, whose unrepentant greed drove him to an unspeakable act of murder and betrayal that rocked New York City.Wealthy, beautiful, and brilliant, Shele Danishefsky had fulfillment at her fingertips. Having conquered Wall Street, she was eager to build a family with her much younger husband, promising Ivy League graduate Rod Covlin. But when his hidden vices surfaced, marital harmony gave way to a merciless divorce. Rod had long depended on Shele's income to fund his tastes for high stakes backgammon and infidelity--and she finally vowed to sever him from her will. In late December 2009, Shele made an appointment with her lawyer to block him from her millions. She would never make it to that meeting.Two days later, on New Year's Eve, Shele was found dead in the bathtub of her Upper West Side apartment. Police ruled it an accident, and Shele's deeply Orthodox Jewish family quickly buried her without an autopsy on religious grounds. Rod had a clear path to his ex-wife's fortune, but suspicions about her death lingered. As the two families warred over custody of Shele's children—and their inheritance— Rod concocted a series of increasingly demented schemes, even plotting to kill his own parents, to secure the treasure. And as investigators closed in, Rod committed a final, desperate act to frame his own daughter for her mother's death.Journalists Rebecca Rosenberg and Selim Algar reconstruct the ten years that passed between the day Shele was found dead and the day her killer faced justice in this riveting account of how one man's irrepressible greed devolved into obsession, manipulation, and murder.

They were the perfect couple—until one of them disappeared. A true crime account of greed and betrayal from the New York Times–bestselling author.In August 2001, forty-one-year-old Jana Carpenter Koklich, the only child of a former California state senator, went to an Eric Clapton concert with friends.She was never heard from again.Bruce Koklich painted himself as the grieving husband. He turned up on news broadcasts, tearfully pleading for his wife’s safe return. But something wasn’t right.First of all, there were inexplicable money problems that police traced back to some of Bruce Koklich’s shadier business dealings. Then there was the shadowy business partner who came out of the woodwork and the million-dollar insurance policy on Jana Carpenter Koklich’s life. Topping it all off were the supposedly grieving husband’s sleazy secret attempts to bed his eighteen-year-old niece while his wife was secretly missing!Eventually, those who had been close to Jana grew suspicious of the man she had married. And no one was more suspicious than her father, former State Senator Paul Carpenter. He was dying of cancer in Texas, but still found in his decaying body the strength for one last fight. It would be the fight of his life: Justice for Jana Carpenter Koklich.Finally, in late 2003, after Jana’s blood-stained car had been found, a California jury convicted Bruce Koklich for her murder and sentenced him to fifteen years to life in prison. Paul Carpenter did not live to see justice done.Please note: This ebook edition does not contain the photos found in the print edition.

A troubled Los Angeles socialite is both terrorized and tempted by a killer in this "brilliantly written" true story by the author of A Death in Canaan (Ann Rule).Hope Masters lived in one of the most exclusive neighborhoods in Beverly Hills—but was entitled to food stamps. Pretty, petite, and privileged, she was recovering from two failed marriages and a string of poor decisions. But when Hope met and fell in love with a handsome advertising executive, she believed her life was finally back on track—until the morning she woke up to find the barrel of a gun in her mouth. Hope's fiancé lay dead in the next room. His killer was a new acquaintance who'd been visiting the couple in a remote ranch in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains. He claimed to be a journalist, but his real identity was as mysterious as his motivations. Even more bizarre, however, was what happened at the end of the long, nightmarish weekend in which Hope saw everything she cared about destroyed: She began to fall in love with her tormenter. A fascinating and frightening portrait of the power of evil to lead the most innocent of victims down the darkest of paths, A Death in California is "a first-rate piece of reporting" (Kirkus Reviews) on "one of the strangest cases in the annals of American crime" (The New York Times).

From a New York Times–bestselling author, the true crime story of a Rhode Island family murdered by a Sunday school teacher.When prosperous lawyer Ernest Brendel mysteriously disappeared, along with his wife Alice, and their eight-year-old daughter Emily, friends in the close-knit Rhode Island neighborhood worried that family had been kidnapped. It would be agonizing months in a massive FBI search before they would know the heartbreaking truth.The shaken community began to lose hope that the family would ever be found alive. Their worst fears were confirmed when heavy rains from a tropical storm uncovered Alice and Ernest Brendel's badly decomposed bodies—shot with a giant crossbow, strangled, and buried in the quiet woods of the town. Lying under her mother's corpse was little Emily's lifeless body, now a silent witness to her killer's shocking identity.Like a hand pointing from the grave, the evidence led authorities to one of Ernest Brendel's closest and most trusted friends. What Ernest couldn't have known was that Christopher Hightower—a Sunday school teacher and respected member of the community—was a psychotic liar obsessed with greed, jealousy, and murderous revenge.

12 Disturbing True Crime Stories of Murder and MayhemVolume 19 of the True Crime Case Histories Series ***This series can be read in any order***In quiet suburbs and familiar neighborhoods, evil often wears the most ordinary face. This collection of twelve meticulously researched cases exposes the chilling reality that the most dangerous predators aren't strangers lurking in shadows—they're the people we trust, the neighbors we greet, and the faces we see every day.From small-town America to international headlines, these stories reveal how carefully constructed lives can conceal unthinkable darkness, and how trust becomes the most dangerous weapon of all.A sampling of the stories includes:The Pink Princess – A seven-year-old girl's excitement about Christmas gifts delivered to her door became the beginning of a nightmare that would haunt a small community. When the delivery driver who brought her packages decided she was a threat to his career, his solution defied all comprehension.The Wrong Car – A college senior celebrating her final weeks before law school made the same decision millions make every weekend--she opened an app and requested a ride home. But the car that pulled up wasn't the rideshare she thought it was.The Forbidden Closet – A nineteen-year-old's curiosity about her mother's locked closet uncovered an unthinkable secret that had been hidden for over a decade.The Long Walk Home – A high school senior walked home from a party, unaware that one of her classmates was lurking in the shadows. For the next thirty years, he sat in the same classrooms where her friends grieved, attended the same reunions, and lived in the same town where her family searched for answers.The Blue Earth Jane Doe – For thirty-five years, she lay in an unmarked grave, her identity stolen along with her life. It took the determination of a stranger who couldn't bear seeing "Unknown" on a headstone, and advances in DNA to bring her back to her family.Plus, seven more shocking true crime stories that demonstrate how evil hides behind familiar faces and ordinary routines.From teenage killers who turned jealousy into an eight-hour torture session to a businessman who used his sprawling estate as a burial ground for over twenty victims, these cases expose the monsters who lived among us, undetected and unsuspected, until their masks finally slipped.Each story has been reconstructed through extensive research of court documents, police files, forensic reports, and firsthand testimony, offering readers an unflinching look at crimes that shattered communities and challenged everything they thought they knew about the people in their lives.Readers love the True Crime Case Histories series:“If you’re a fan of Mindhunter or Forensic Files, you’ll love this series. Real cases, no fluff—just gripping, well-researched storytelling.”“These aren’t the usual overdone true crime stories. Jason Neal digs up cases I’ve never heard of—and tells them in a way that sticks with you.”“I thought I’d just read one chapter before bed. Three hours later, I was still turning pages. Totally addictive.”“What I appreciate most is the balance—factual, respectful, and still completely chilling.”“You can tell how much research goes into each story. It reads like investigative journalism with the pacing of a thriller.”“Some true crime books feel sensationalized. Not these. They’re raw, honest, and sometimes hard to read—but impossible to put down.”Scroll up to get your copy.

Most money advice fails for one simple reason: people aren’t spreadsheets.We make financial decisions through emotion, habit, stress, marketing, and incomplete information. Yet most personal finance books either oversimplify the answers or bury readers in jargon and theory.This book takes a different approach.Drawing on research from economics, finance, and psychology—and shaped by more than a decade of university-level teaching—Zhumadilov and Choi translate complex academic insights into practical lessons you can actually use.Inside, you’ll learn:How investing really works and the mistakes that quietly destroy long-term returnsWhy people overspend, misjudge debt, and fall for financial scamsWhat research says about retirement, risk, and building wealth over timeWhy housing, healthcare, and college costs have risen so dramaticallyHow taxes, inequality, and public debt shape everyday economic lifeWhich financial habits are driven more by psychology than mathThis isn’t a collection of hot takes or recycled "money hacks." It’s an evidence-based guide to understanding both your finances and the economic systems surrounding them.