Crime Shorts

In the crime-ridden Chicago of the Prohibition era, gangsters like Al Capone battled for power, but few went to the extreme lengths that Capone did on Valentine's Day in 1929. The Saint Valentine's Day Massacre is one of the most notorious gang murders of all time. This short book, the first in the "Crime Shorts" series, gives you a page-turning look at one of the most notorious criminals of all time, and the massacre he masterminded to finally gain control of the bootleg liquor trade.

One of the worst cases of sex slavery happened during the most violent time in modern history...Japan during the Second World War. The Rape of Nanking is well known, but what isn't is the systematic kidnapping and murdering of young girls in Korea, Indonesia, and all over Asia. Different estimates say between 20,000 and 400,000 women from all over Asian were, forced into prostitution to "comfort" the soldiers. Some survived to tell their stories. The majority did not. This book gives the often forgotten history of how it happened, who was involved, how they were treated, and apologies that came years later.

The last meals of death row convicts fascinate us because they offer an insight into a disturbed mind shortly before its owner's death. The last meal is a way for the system to offer a last-minute nod to humanity--that although these murderers, rapists, and villains listed inside may have performed inhuman acts, they are still indeed human. The irony of feeding a criminal before killing them by electrocution or lethal injection is not missed on many of the inmates, as we shall see from some of their choices. Controversial and fascinating, the last meals of the condemned will continue to make headlines as long as the death penalty exists. This book contains both a brief history of the chefs who make the meals and the stories behind the last meals of over two dozen famous death row inmates (recipes are also included, of course).

With all of the attention placed on murderers of the male persuasion, you may be under the mistaken impression that the fairer sex has little if any blood on their hands. Sure, women have killed people over the years, but aside from a poisoning here and there, they couldn't have been that bad, right? Wrong. True, there have been fewer female serial killers than men (that we know of), but as this book shows the women who have taken part in this sickening pastime were every bit as twisted, cruel, and terrifying as their overhyped male counterparts. From bathing in blood to baby-killing, the women profiled in this book have stories shocking enough to make even the toughest, creatine-guzzling he man faint.

Love is patient. Love is kind. Love is...deadly? For the people in this book, that's certainly the case. They acted out of love and performed some of the most hideous acts of passion in the history of romance. This short book follows several cases of deadly passion, from the celebrated French woman who had enough of her husband's blatant cheating to the woman who made her husband a few inches shorter. These deadly divas and wannabe studs shocked the world and proved that love can be fatal!

It's not unusual for someone to have issues with their parents, but the 15 cases profiled in this book show that sometimes they can't be resolved with a conversation. In some cases, frequent physical and mental abuse led to murder, while other cases were just mentally deranged people taking out their frustrations on the closest person available. These short profiles show what happens when sons and daughters snap and end the lives of those who brought them into this world.