From the bestselling author of The Search for the Green River Killer: The account of the family tragedy that became one of California’s most shocking murder cases. On a picturesque street in Sacramento County, California, three healthy saplings stand side by side. But what they symbolize are the deaths of three innocent people—two of them children. The man who took their lives, then planted trees in their honor, was their own husband and father.   Hearts went out to Jack Barron when his wife, Irene, died mysteriously in her sleep. Soon after, his two young children were also found dead in their beds. Barron claimed they suffered from the same rare genetic disorder as their mother. But when his fifty-two-year-old mother died, also of asphyxiation in her sleep, law enforcement officials finally took action: The fatal pattern was impossible to ignore.   Was this “devoted” father really a heartless murderer? Did he suffer from a bizarre syndrome known as Munchausen by proxy, whereby a parent kills a child to gain sympathy? With firsthand interviews and exclusive inside information, author Carlton Smith paints a chilling portrait of a man driven to commit the most unspeakable of acts.

The definitive insider’s account of the 2011 case of a Florida mother accused of killing her own daughter . . . and the verdict that shocked the nation.It was the trial that stunned America. On July 5, 2011, nearly three years after her initial arrest, Casey Anthony walked away, virtually scot-free, from one of the most sensational murder trials of all time. She’d been accused of killing her daughter, Caylee, but the trial only left behind more questions: Was she actually innocent? What really happened to Caylee? Was this what justice really looked like?In Imperfect Justice, prosecutor Jeff Ashton, one of the principal players in the case’s drama, sheds light on those questions and much more, telling the behind-the-scenes story of the investigation, the trial, and the now-infamous verdict. Complete with never-before-revealed information about the case and the accused, Ashton examines what the prosecution got right, what they got wrong, and why he remains completely convinced of Casey Anthony’s guilt.

The bestselling author delves into the twisted crimes of Wayne Adam Ford.“This kind of frightening and fascinating glimpse into a killer’s mind is rare.” —Ron Franscell, New York Times–bestselling author   On a chilly November afternoon in 1998, a tearful 36-year-old man walked into the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Department in Eureka, California, and confessed to something horrible. “I hurt some people,” he said. Inside his pocket was the ghastly proof of his statement. But there was more to Wayne Adam Ford than the trail of mangled victims he left behind. More, even, than the twisted predator inside, which drove him to increasingly perverse sexual appetites.   Pulitzer Prize–nominated author Caitlin Rother draws on previously sealed testimony, interviews with the key players in the case, and the killer’s shocking confession to explore the demons that drove a damaged man to his unspeakable crimes. Her book is a harrowing psychological portrait and a haunting, unforgettable true-life thriller.  Includes dramatic photos  “Page-turning excitement and blood-curdling terror . . . Riveting, fast-paced, and sure to keep you up at night.” —M. William Phelps, New York Times–bestselling author  “Shocking, chilling, fast-paced . . . A book crime aficionados will be loath to put down.” —Simon Read, author of The Iron Sea  “Rother has produced a superior study of a serial killer and his lost and lonely victims.” —Carol Anne Davis, author of Couples Who Kill  “A must-read . . . Well-written, extremely intense; a book that I could not put down.” —True Crime Book Reviews

A true crime account of a brutal 1983 Texas murder and the ten-year hunt for the killer and the woman who placed a price on the victim’s head.“One of the most remarkable true crime books I’ve ever read.” —Ann RuleOn a fall afternoon in 1983, in an upscale Dallas suburb, Rozanne Gailiunas was found stripped, bound to her bed, and shot through the skull. Her four-year-old son has been napping peacefully in the next room when she was killed. Rozanne’s husband, Dr. Peter Gailiunas—and her lover, Larry Aylor—immediately fell under suspicion. Until a surprise informant identified the mastermind behind the murder as Aylor’s own wife, Joy—a woman so driven by jealousy and greed that she put out a contract on both Rozanne and later her own husband.On the run and managing to elude investigators for eight years, the two-year search for the socialite would eventually end in the south of France. There, authorities found the elusive femme fatale, living as comfortably among the world’s elite as she was among hired killers. At last, the authorities’ questions would be answered, to reveal a shocking insight into the heart of an unlikely killer, and a small-town Texas crime that made international headlines.“A masterpiece of murder and betrayal, Texas-style.” —Faye Kellerman, author of Grievous Sin“If Truman Capote invented the genre with In Cold Blood and Tommy Thompson improved on it with Blood and Money, Carlton Stowers has perfected the true crime story with Open Secrets.” —The Dallas Morning News“A must-read. Filled with more twists, surprises, and suspicious characters than even the most fertile imaginations could concoct . . . a difficult book to put down.” —Tulsa World

The shocking, true story of Pennsylvania mass murderer Michael Ballard who received the death sentence for his crimes—includes eight pages of dramatic photos.Out of controlJune 26, 2010. A Pennsylvania State Trooper, heading home from work, witnesses a car speeding and crashing into trees. Stopping to help, he finds that the driver, Michael Ballard, is alive—and drenched in blood. When asked what happened, the man answers: “I just killed everybody.”Out of his mindNot far from the accident, police make a gruesome discovery in the home of Michael’s ex-girlfriend, Denise Mehri. Four bodies are found, stabbed repeatedly with a knife: Denise on the kitchen floor; her grandfather, in his wheelchair; her neighbor, who tried to help; and her father, in a room with a blood-smeared obscenity painted on the wall. How could anyone do something so sinister?Out of time . . .Michael had already been convicted of murder when he was only eighteen. Despite several misconducts during his time in prison, he was found suitable for parole shortly after his minimum sentence lapsed. But this time, his deadly rampage would not be so easily pardoned. From authors Colin McEvoy and Lynn Olanoff, this is the shocking true story about four innocent people who fell prey to one man’sFatal jealousy.

“Generous, expansive, alarming, fantastical, perverse, humane, beautiful and ugly, provisional and incomplete: here finally is a portrait that reflects the messy contours of 20th-century classical music.” (Literary Review)Sound Within Sound presents an alternative history of 20th-century composers—nearly all of them women or composers of color—by a leading international music critic. Profiling a dozen pioneering 20th-century composers—including American modernist Ruth Crawford Seeger (mother of Pete and Peggy Seeger), French electronic artist E?liane Radigue, Soviet visionary Galina Ustvolskaya, and Ethiopian pianist Emahoy Tsegue?-Maryam Gue?brou—acclaimed journalist and BBC broadcaster Kate Molleson reexamines the canon while bringing to life largely forgotten sonic revolutionaries whose dramatic lives and bursts of creativity played out against a backdrop of seismic geopolitical and social change.These composers, working at a remove from London, Paris, Vienna, and New York, were sidelined and ignored for systemic, structural reasons. This is a landmark alternative history of 20th-century composers; a radical, new, and truly global work of revisionist history. It is a campaigning book that challenges the status quo while introducing you to a world of groundbreaking music.The music history traditionally taught is one dominated by white men, and even then, only a select few enter the zeitgeist. This conventional history perpetuates the myth of “great works” created by “genius” artists. Men who enjoyed institutional privilege during their lifetimes and have since been enshrined by an industry of publishers and record labels.But just because we haven’t heard of spectacular female composers doesn’t mean they weren’t creating essential music.