Supper With The Crippens: A new investigation into one of the most notorious cases of the 20th century.

By David James Smith

It was at a time when Edwardian Britain seemed a golden place, basking in its imperial glory. Dr Hawley Harvey Crippen set himself up in the then fasionable business of homeopathy. His wife, a music-hall variety performer called Belle Elmore, did her best with her limited stage talents. They lived among the suburban villas of North London, renting a house at 39 Hilldrop Crescent. They were a couple, much happier in company than they were with each other.

After supper on 31 January 1910, their friends went home and Crippen killed Belle with poison and dismembered her body and buried some of her remains beneath the brick floor of the coal cellar. Crippen never admitted killing his wife and took the secrets of the crime with him when he was hanged, following his conviction for murder.

It is assumed that Crippen killed for the love of his mistress, his secretary Ethel le Neve. They began living together as man and wife, but under intense suspicion they ran off to Europe disguised as father and son and boarded an ocean liner, the SS Montrose, to Canada. The story was now a national scandal and the liner's captain saw through their disguise, recognising Crippen and Ethel from their published photographs. Using the newly installed Marconi wireless telegraph he sent messages back to Scotland Yard. The chase - indeed everything about the murder and its cast of characters - was reported in fine detail, in Britain, in America and the rest of the western world. Crippen was arrested on deck and with Ethel was brought back to England for trial. Ethel was accused of being an accessory to murder, but was acquitted.

David James Smith has investigated afresh this celebrated murder case, and his researches have uncovered unexpected and startling information about 'Chamber of Horrors' stalwart Dr Crippen, Belle and Ethel.
[review from OrionBooks]

Chainsaw's Justice

By Allen Roth

Allen “Skip” Roth, an accomplished chainsaw artist, was wrongfully incarcerated for the murder of his son’s abuser in 1996. After spending three years in a maximum-security prison Roth wrote his autobiographical tale, which exposed the holes in his defense and eventually set him free. Chainsaw’s Justice is a chilling true story about those who fall through the holes in our justice system, trying desperately to protect their families.

Chainsaw’s Justice is the story of the Roth family, originally from Florida, who moved to the mountains of North Carolina to lead a simpler life. After a few years a neighbor, Sam Williams, molested Skip’s oldest son. When the parents step in to try and end the abuse, Williams, his family, friends and most of the community start a campaign of open warfare on the Roth family. Roth tells his tale with refreshing simplicity, citing examples and the illegal proceedings that contributed to his unfair trial and sentence.

Written in a highly conversational tone with character oozing out of the chapters, Chainsaw’s Justice will draw you into the unsavory face of community and inspire hope to fight back.

The Pied Piper of South Shore, Toys and Tragedy in Chicago

By Caryn Lazar Amster

When Manny Lazar was murdered by a gang member in 1970, he died in the place he loved best: the Wee Folks toy store that he and his wife, Belle, had run for 25 years in the South Shore neighborhood of Chicago. "The Pied Piper of South Shore, Toys and Tragedy in Chicago" is the true crime story of the tragic death of this beloved retailer, told in gritty detail by his elder daughter.

It is the story of Manny and Belle, two children of immigrants, their American dream, and their richly diverse neighborhood-each falling prey to the brutality of gangs. Enhanced by her own recollections of working in her parents' store and the fond reminiscences of hundreds of customers, Caryn Lazar Amster's true tale is a heady ride from persecution in Russia to freedom in America, from Hula Hoops to gang members, from murder to trial. It is the story of loss but also of survival, even forgiveness. The story interweaves outside forces like racism, guns, drugs, gangs and the Nation of Islam that impacted this little store, the couple, and the neighborhood. It includes over 100 quotes from former customers who remember those years fondly.

This true family, true crime story of Chicago toy storeowner, Manny Lazar, known as the Pied Piper of South Shore, is set primarily in Chicago’s South Shore neighborhood in the 50’s and 60’s. It is the story of the life and death of this beloved retailer told in gritty detail by his elder daughter. The author takes readers from Russian persecution to American freedom, from Hula Hoops to hit men, from murder to trial. It's the story of two children of immigrants, their American dream, and their richly diverse neighborhood in which each fell prey to the brutality of gangs.

Gangland Today

By James Morton

With organised gangs making increasing use of technology to expand their empires, crime is more international than it has ever been. GANGLAND TODAY charts the effects of a changing world on everything from prostitution to people smuggling, identity theft to old-fashioned robbery. Morton covers both the current activities of well-known gangs from the Mafia to the South American drug cartels, as well as several less familiar operations: the kings of crime in Israel; the Middle East, from where much crime in India is controlled; the Canadian bikers' war to control the drug trade, which has cost scores of lives of players and innocent bystanders alike.