Wind through the criminal history of the cities along northeast Wisconsin’s Fox River with the author of Milwaukee Mafia as your guide. The safe and sedate Fox Cities have seen their share of horrible crimes. Coldblooded murder, kidnapping, prostitution, organized crime and other misdeeds shocked and appalled not just the community but the entire state. Murderer Porter Ross tried to commit suicide by eating bedsprings. Wenzel Kabat mutilated and burned a man in order to take over his farm. The Appleton Butcher left dismembered human remains on a playground for children to find. In this volume, crime writer and leading expert on the Milwaukee Mafia Gavin Schmitt turns his magnifying glass on small-town America. Includes photos!

Entrepreneur Emma Westlake discovers that friendship can be murder in this exciting new mystery series from USA Today bestselling author Laura Bradford. Emma Westlake has always wanted to be her own boss. But after sinking all her cash into a business that went belly-up, Emma finds herself in a penniless pickle. Dottie Adler, Emma’s elderly teatime companion, suggests she try to get paid for doing something she’s really good at—being a friend. Emma thinks it’s a crazy idea until requests start pouring in. Big Max, an eccentric local, wants her to act as his wingwoman at the local senior center’s upcoming dance, nurse practitioner Stephanie needs a workout partner, and writer Brian Hill asks Emma to be his cheering section at an open mic night. Brian will be reading from his latest work and wants to know someone will clap for him when he’s done. He tells Emma that the room will be filled with people he’s invited—four of whom would like to kill him. Emma is confident he’s joking, but when Brian steps up to the mic and promptly drops dead, she’s not so sure anymore. As one of the last people to see him alive, Emma finds herself on a handsome cop’s radar. Now she’ll have to cozy up to a killer to save her skin and her brand-new career.

The riveting true story of decadence, deception, and murder among British aristocrats in colonial Kenya In 1941, with London burning in the Blitz, a group of hedonistic English nobles partied shamelessly in Kenya. Far removed from falling bombs, the wealthy elites of “Happy Valley” indulged in morphine, alcohol, and unrestricted sex, often with their friends’ spouses. But the party turned sinister in the early hours of a January morning for Josslyn Hay, Lord Erroll, who had been enjoying the favors of the beautiful young wife of a middle-aged neighbor. Hay was found dead, a bullet in his brain. The murder shocked the close-knit community of wealthy expatriates in Nairobi and shined a harsh light on their louche lifestyle. Three decades later, author James Fox researched the slaying of Lord Erroll, an unsolved crime still sheathed in a thick cloud of rumor and innuendo. What he discovered was both unsettling and luridly compelling. White Mischief is a spellbinding true-crime classic, a tale of privileged excess and the wages of sin, and an account of one writer’s determined effort to crack a cold and craven killing.

In the era of Watergate and Vietnam, a teenage boy finds his courage and unlikely allies as he seeks his father's killer. His small town's neighborliness has a dark edge of bullying, racism, and corruption, but Minnow Finwick has friends he can rely on.

The western suburbs of Chicago were terrorized by a serial rapist and murderer in the 1970s and early 1980s. Bruce Lindahl preyed on girls and young women for almost a decade. He managed to escape detection because he did not leave his rape victims alive. But in 1980, he kidnapped and raped Debra Colliander in Aurora. She managed to escape, and Lindahl was arrested. Three months later, just before he was to go on trial on charges of kidnapping, rape and deviate sexual assault, Lindahl kidnapped and murdered Miss Colliander. Lindahl disposed of her body and no one could find her. The following year, because the victim did not show up in court, the kidnapping and rape charges had to be dropped -- and Lindahl could not be charged with murder without a body. Reporter Jim Ridings wrote dozens of stories for The Beacon-News over several months, determined to shine a light to try to stop Lindahl from getting away with another murder. Suddenly, the public knew the truth about this monster who had been able to evade justice and public attention. Aurora police said Lindahl planned to kill Ridings once the judge finally dismissed the charges. But fortunately, four days after the charges were dropped, Lindahl accidentally killed himself while murdering another person. Police believe Lindahl murdered as many as 12 people. The story took another turn nearly 40 years after Lindahl's death when DNA tests tied him to the 1976 unsolved murder of Pamela Maurer. Murder in the Fox Valley tells the story of Bruce Lindahl's crime spree and how he became a victim of his own murderous acts. The story is also a TV documentary.

Governor Len Small in the 1920s, When Al Capone Owned the Top Officials In Illinois. This book tells the whole story of the most corrupt governor in Illinois history.