Devil's Grip by Neal Drinnan

$32.99 AUD

Category: True Crime

'An unforgettable, courageous and deeply tragic local story which manages to become a universal tale. No mean feat.' Gregory Day Seven shots ring out in the silence of Victoria's rolling Barrabool Hills. As the final recoil echoes through the paddocks, a revered sheep-breeding dynasty comes to a bloody and inglorious end.   No one could have anticipated the orgy of violence that wiped out three generations of the Wettenhall family, much less the lurid scandals about Darcy Wettenhall, the man behind the world famous Stanbury sheep stud, that would emerge from the aftermath.   Almost three decades later, the web of secrets and lies that led to this bizarre and seemingly motiveless murder spree are unravelled with the help of Bob Perry, Darcy Wettenhall's secret lover for a decade prior to his murder.   From the bucolic majesty, privilege and snobbery of the Western District's prized pastoral lands and dynasties to the bleak, loveless underworld of orphanages, rodeo stables and homeless shelters, The Devil's Grip is a courageous and thought-provoking meditation on the fragility of reputation, the folly of deception and the power of shame. Praise for The Devil's Grip 'A remarkable piece of work. It is a strange, unusual and beautiful book with an incredibly unique setting. I don't think I've read anything quite like it. It is compulsive reading. True crime. Memoir. History. How do you live a life honestly and with dignity? It's difficult to categorise because it traverses so many genres. But it WORKS.'  Matthew Condon, author of the Three Crooked Kings trilogy 'On its face this is the story of a family steeped in the pursuit of the perfect ram, but beneath the surface lies a riveting and ribald tale of lust, loss, manipulation, unbridled ambition and ultimately murder.'  Mark Tedeschi AM QC and author of Eugenia, Kidnapped and Murder at Myall Creek   'An unforgettable, courageous and deeply tragic local story which manages to become a universal tale'  Gregory Day, author of Archipelago of Souls and A Sand Archive   'It's got it all: sex, domestic violence, 'the land' - such an important concept resonating in the Australian mind - land-holders and property, privilege, prejudice, skulduggery and murder!'  David Bradford, author of The Gunners' Doctor and Tell Me I'm Okay ...Show more

WHO KILLED BETTY SHANKS by BLANCH

$24.95 AUD

Category: True Crime

History of Boggo Road Gaol (Jail) - Escape Volume 2 by Jack Sim

$34.95 AUD

Category: True Crime

A look into the history of the notorious Boggo Road.

Bowraville by Dan Box

$34.99 AUD

Category: True Crime | Reading Level: 2 Crime

A true crime story cannot often be believed, at least at the beginning. In Bowraville, all three of the victims were Aboriginal. All three were killed within five months, between 1990 and 1991. The same white man was linked to each, but nobody was convicted. More than two decades later, homicide detecti ve Gary Jubelin contacted Dan Box, asking him to pursue this serial killing. At that time, few others in the justice system seemed to know – or care – about the murders in Bowraville. Dan spoke to the families of the victims, Colleen Walker-Craig, Evelyn Greenup and Clinton Speedy-Duroux, as well as the lawyers, police officers and even the suspect involved in what had happened. His investigation, as well as the families’ own determined campaigning, forced the authorities to reconsider the killings. This account asks painful questions about what ‘justice’ means and how it is delivered, as well as describing Dan’s own shifting, uncomfortable realisation that he was a reporter who crossed the line. Praise for the Bowraville podcast- 'It is a gripping true crime tale and an essay on racism; a challenge to the lies Australia tells itself about its treatment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people told through the voices of three Aboriginal families who have been indisputably let down ... The podcast has galvanised the public in a way that two decades of print and television reporting on the Bowraville murders have not.' The Guardian 'A masterful example of crime reporting which forensically details the worst of human nature, inexplicably compounded by the gross negligence of the only people who could provide justice. It's stirred thousands, including the prime suspect, to re-engage with the case after trusting the journalist to take them to dark places.' Walkley judges' comments 'Outstanding.' Leigh Sales 'Moving, brilliant.' Annabel Crabb 'If you haven't listened to Bowraville by Dan Box, then you should.' David Campbell ...Show more

Horse Tracks and Stirrup Irons - Death Comes to Ebenezer by Caroline Stevenson; Jack Sim (Editor-In-Chief)

$24.95 AUD

Category: True Crime | Series: Murder Trails Ser.

Mandatory Murder by Steven Schubert

$32.99 AUD

Category: True Crime

A compelling true story of homicide and injustice in an outback town At first it looked like a swag, said the grader driver who found the body just off the road outside the outback town of Katherine. Police identify the dead man as Ray Nicefero, who'd recently appeared in court for aggravated assault a nd breaching a domestic violence order. Three days later, the constabulary rounds up three young local suspects: Christopher Malyschko, 24, Darren 'Spider' Halfpenny, 22, and 19-year-old Zak Grieve, who happens to be Indigenous. A month later, Bronwyn Buttery, Ray's former partner and Christopher's mother, is arrested. Eventually Darren Halfpenny agrees to testify against his co-accused. But when the accused face court in the rough justice system of the Northern Territory, it soon becomes apparent there are few certain, provable facts to be had. Depending on who's talking, a loving friend can become an abusive monster, a battered wife a conniving temptress. And a joke between mates about the best way to dispose of a body becomes a conspiracy to murder. The outcome of the case is no less murky, thanks to the NT's mandatory sentencing laws, which, the judge says himself, 'brings about injustice'. What is indisputable is that the only man that the judge believed to have not been at the scene of the crime receives the longest sentence. Mandatory Murder is the compelling true story of a murder in an outback town in 21st century Australia and the extraordinary aftermath. Author Steven Schubert was living in Katherine when the murder took place, and his account is rich with the kind of detail only an eye-witness can provide. The book raises important questions, including how a man who didn't attend a murder can go to jail for 20 years. ...Show more

The Central Park Five by Sarah Burns

$22.99 AUD

Category: True Crime

On April 20th, 1989, two passersby discovered the body of the "Central Park jogger" crumpled in a ravine. She'd been raped and severely beaten. Within days five black and Latino teenagers were apprehended, all five confessing to the crime. The staggering torrent of media coverage that ensued, coupled w ith fierce public outcry, exposed the deep-seated race and class divisions in New York City at the time. The minors were tried and convicted as adults despite no evidence linking them to the victim. Over a decade later, when DNA tests connected serial rapist Matias Reyes to the crime, the government, law enforcement, social institutions and media of New York were exposed as having undermined the individuals they were designed to protect. Here, Sarah Burns recounts this historic case for the first time since the young men's convictions were overturned, telling, at last, the full story of one of New York's most legendary crimes. The events surrounding the Central Park Five are soon to be dramatised in When They See Us - a Netflix series directed by Ava Duvernay. ...Show more

Angel of Death : Dulcie Markham, Femme Fatale of the Australian Underworld by Leigh Straw; Leigh Straw

$32.99 AUD

Category: True Crime

This is the story of 'Pretty' Dulcie Markham, a key figure of the underworld of Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, who, according to one crime reporter, 'saw more violence and death than any other woman in Australia's history'. Nicknamed the 'Black Widow' and 'Angel of Death' by the crooks, reporters and p olice who knew her best, Dulcie's lovers were stabbed and gunned down in the most violent years of Australian crime, the 1920s to the 1950s. Not always by her ...Show more

Death before Dishonour - The Crime that Broke Brisbane's Heart by Alicia Bennett; Jack Sim (Editor-In-Chief)

$24.95 AUD

Category: True Crime

Life Sentence by Roberta Williams (Compiled by); Carl Williams

$32.99 AUD

Category: True Crime

The extraordinary letters detailing Carl Williams last eighteen months in jail, discovered after his death.

Manson in His Own Words by Nuel Emmons

$19.99 AUD

Category: True Crime

"The myth of Charles Manson is not likely to survive the impact of his own words," Nuel Emmons writes in the introduction to Manson In His Own Words, the shocking true confessions that lay bare the life and mind of the cult leader and notorious criminal. His story provides an enormous amount of new info rmation about his life and how it led to the Tate-LaBianca murders, and reminds us of the complexity of the human condition. Born in the middle of the Great Depression to an unmarried fifteen-year-old, Manson lived through a succession of changing homes and substitute parents, until his mother finally asked the state authorities to assume his care when he was twelve. Regimented and often brutalized in juvenile homes, Manson became immersed in a life of petty theft, pimping, jail terms, and court appearances that culminated in seven years of prison. Released in 1967, he suddenly found himself in the world of hippies and flower children, a world that not only accepted him, but even glorified his anti-establishment values. It was a combination that led, for reasons only Charles Manson can fully explain, to tragedy. Manson's story, distilled from seven years of interviews and examinations of his correspondence, provides sobering insight into the making of a criminal mind, and a fascinating picture of the last years of the sixties. No one who wants to understand that time, and the man who helped to bring it to a horrifying conclusion, can miss reading this book. ...Show more

Mayne Inheritance by ROSAMOND Siemon

$24.95 AUD

Category: True Crime

Opening with a macabre mid-nineteenth century murder, The Mayne Inheritance unfolds like a gothic thriller. Was it the murder victim's money that founded patriarch Patrick Mayne's Queen Street business empire? And were the whispered accusations of murder and genetic madness true? For 150 years scandal a nd mystery have surrounded the Maynes, a wealthy family who donated the magnificent site on which the University of Queensland now stands. ...Show more