THE CRIMES. THE STORIES. THE LAW 'Fascinating' - Sunday Times 'Masterful' - Judith Flanders 'A page-turning read' - Prof. David Wilson Totally gripping and brilliantly told, Murder: The Biography is a gruesome and utterly captivating portrait of the legal history of murder. The stories and the people involved in the history of murder are stranger, darker and more compulsive than any crime fiction. There's Richard Parker, the cannibalized cabin boy whose death at the hands of his hungry crewmates led the Victorian courts to decisively outlaw a defence of necessity to murder. Dr Percy Bateman, the incompetent GP whose violent disregard for his patient changed the law on manslaughter. Ruth Ellis, the last woman hanged in England in the 1950s, played a crucial role in changes to the law around provocation in murder cases. And Archibald Kinloch, the deranged Scottish aristocrat whose fratricidal frenzy paved the way for the defence of diminished responsibility. These, and many more, are the people - victims, killers, lawyers and judges, who unwittingly shaped the history of that most grisly and storied of laws. Join lawyer and writer Kate Morgan on a dark and macabre journey as she explores the strange stories and mysterious cases that have contributed to UK murder law. The big corporate killers; the vengeful spouses; the sloppy doctors; the abused partners; the shoddy employers; each story a crime and each crime a precedent that has contributed to the law's dark, murky and, at times, shocking standing.

Five college housemates-brainy Rachel, sporty Jessie, angry Darlene, quiet Gwen, and mysterious Annamaria. One ordinary evening at home, engaged in their various pursuits-studying, showering, watching a program about serious killers. Eight little words... "I bet we could get away with it." It was just an offhand remark. The next thing they know... there they are a body at their feet, and the pressure's on to prove those eight little words. After all, why wouldn't they get away with it? Who'd suspect a bunch of coeds? They don't fit the usual profile, or go for the usual kind of victims. They're as smart, as strong, as cruel, and as capable as any serial killer out there. It's time for a little payback and a little revenge. It's time for the local guys to learn about living in fear. It's time for the Murder Girls.

"In her hands, Gil Harrington held both the abomination of her daughter's gap-toothed skull, and the mother of her daughter's killer, blessing them both. The phone rang that bright October morning: "Hello, this is the Charlottesville Police Department calling. We've found your daughter's purse on the ground..." For exactly 100 nights, Gil Harrington and her family stumbled, agonized, and learned to function in the uncharted hell of the Missing. Twenty-year old beautiful college co-ed Morgan Harrington, chock-a-block full of potential and promise, had gone to a concert and vanished. This is the story of a devastated mother crawling out of blind grief to become America's most skilled huntress. With love, eloquence, and social media as her only weapons, Gil Harrington pursued her daughter's murderer for five years until he was unmasked as the marauding serial murderer, the Back to School Killer who had hidden in plain sight as a genial, lumbering Charlottesville, Virginia cabbie. Morgan's mother was so crucial in the pursuit of the Back-to-School Rapist and Killer, Jesse Matthew, that Crime Stoppers recognized Gil and her non-profit foundation, Help Save the Next Girl, in solving what prosecutors called "the Super Bowl of Crime Cases." But Gil Harrington, this mother of a murdered precious daughter, is something very different from an investigator. Hers is one of the rare, intimate voices needed in our world right now, when fear and hatred are rampant. Her voice marries the pragmatism of an incisive oncology nurse and the originality of an authentic, raw prose-poet to give the world the tool kit we all need to forge hope. Harrington's voice is joined by artist, Jane Lillian Vance, who attended Matthew's trials. Vance's essays witness Gil's grace, and the stunning alchemy of darkness into freedom." --

Private Investigator Daniel Morgan was killed in cold blood with an axe to the head in the pub car park of The Golden Lion, Sydenham, south London, on 10th March 1987. It was the most brutal of murders under the murkiest of circumstances. Who had wanted Daniel dead? What were they trying to hide? And, why were the police seemingly so reluctant to help? This book is the culmination of a life's work for Daniel's brother Alastair who for the last 30 years has done everything within his power to try to solve the riddle of his brother's death. His devotion has prompted five separate police inquiries, making it the most investigated murder in Britain's history, and has unearthed one of the most notorious episodes of police corruption and media cover-ups of our time. More recently, Alastair teamed up with journalist Peter Jukes who has investigated the case for the last four years, to produce hit podcast Untold, exploring every shocking twist and dark turn of the story of the Daniel Morgan murder and now they've brought all of their findings together in a richly-crafted and engrossing read. More than just a companion to the hit show, this book shares every tiny detail of the cold case, including the latest findings from a major public inquiry, and information from fresh sources who have come forward since the show. For fans of Making a Murderer and Serial, this engrossing story paints a picture of a murder most horrid and a cover-up even more so with a cast made up of bent cops, senior members of the underworld, and powerful media figures. Could you be the person to finally unlock the mystery of Daniel Morgan's murder? The facts are all here so the truth must be somewhere too...

Ellen McGinn's friend and colleague, Lucy Stockman, has disappeared. Led by a series of disturbing visions, Ellen begins to search for Lucy and soon finds herself in over her head and in fear for her own life.

First published in Australia by Shining Bright Publishing.