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A Poisoned Season (Lady Emily Mysteries, Book 2) by Tasha Alexander from HarperCollins is $1.99 (US Kindle)

Book Description

London's social season is in full swing, and Victorian aristocracy is atwitter over a certain gentleman who claims to be the direct descendant of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. Adding to their fascination with all things French, an audacious cat burglar is systematically stealing valuable items that once belonged to the ill–fated queen.

But things take a dark turn. The owner of one of the pilfered treasures is found murdered after the theft is reported in the newspapers, and the mysterious thief develops a twisted obsession with Lady Emily Ashton. It takes all of Lady Emily's wit and perseverance to unmask her stalker and ferret out the murderer, while faced with a brewing scandal that threatens both her reputation and her romance with the dashing Colin Hargreaves.

Twisted Tree by Kent Meyers from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt is $3.85 (US Kindle)

Book Description

Hayley Jo Zimmerman is gone. Taken. And the people of small-town Twisted Tree must come to terms with this terrible event—their loss, their place in it, and the secrets they all carry.

In this brilliantly written novel, one girl’s story unfolds through the stories of those who knew her. Among them, a supermarket clerk recalls an encounter with a disturbingly thin Hayley Jo. An ex-priest remembers baptizing Hayley Jo and seeing her with her best friend, Laura, whose mother the priest once loved. And Laura berates herself for all the running they did, how it fed her friend’s addiction, and how there were so many secrets she didn’t see. And so, Hayley Jo’s absence recasts the lives of others and connects them, her death rooting itself into the community in astonishingly violent and tender ways.

Solidly in the company of Aryn Kyle, Kent Haruf, and Peter Matthiessen, Kent Meyers is one of the best contemporary writers on the American West. Here he also takes us into the complexity of community regardless of landscape, and offers a tribute to the powerful effect one person's life can have on everyone she knew.

Esperanza Rising by Hope Munoz Ryan from Scholastic is $2.99 (US Kindle)

Book Description

Esperanza thought she'd always live with her family on their ranch in Mexico--she'd always have fancy dresses, a beautiful home, and servants. But a sudden tragedy forces Esperanza and Mama to flee to California during the Great Depression, and to settle in a camp for Mexican farm workers. Esperanza isn't ready for the hard labor, financial struggles, or lack of acceptance she now faces. When their new life is threatened, Esperanza must find a way to rise above her difficult circumstances--Mama's life, and her own, depend on it.

Bringing Adam Home: The Abduction That Changed America by Les Standiford and Joe Matthews from HarperCollins is $3.99 (US Kindle)

Book Description

There are two periods of history that pertain to missing and endangered children in the United States: before Adam Walsh and after Adam Walsh. In the aftermath of that six-year old's abduction and slaying in 1981, everything about the nation's regard and response to missing children changed. The shock of the crime and the inability of law enforcement to find Adam's killer put an end to innocence and altered our very perception of childhood itself-gone forever are the days when young children burst out the doors of American homes with a casual promise to be home by dark. And, due in large part to the efforts of Adam's parents, John and Reve Walsh, the entire mechanism of law enforcement has transformed itself in an effort to protect our children. Before Adam went missing, there were no children's faces on milk cartons and billboards, no Amber Alerts, no national Center for Missing and Abused Children, no national databases for crimes against children, no registration of pedophiles-in fact, it was easier to mobilize the FBI to search for a stolen car or missing horse than for a kidnapped child. Such facts may be sad testimony to the weariness of a modern world, but there is also an uplifting aspect to Adam's story - the 27 years of undaunted effort by decorated Miami Beach Homicide Detective Joe Matthews to track down Adam's killer and bring justice to bear at long last. "Bringing Adam Home" tells the story-the good, the bad, and the ugly-of what it took for one cop to accomplish what an entire system of law enforcement could not. Matthew's achievement is a stirring one, reminding us that such concepts as hard work, dedication, and love survive, and that goodness can prevail.

Bind, Torture, Kill by Roy Wenzl, Tim Potter, Hurst Laviana and L. Kelly from HarperCollins is $3.99 (US Kindle)

Book Description

For thirty-one years, an unremarkable family man stalked, killed, and terrorized the people of Wichita, Kansas. He was a devoted husband. A helpful Boy Scout dad. A reliable, conscientious employee. A dependable church president. And behind it all, the notorious serial killer BTK—a self-anointed acronym for "bind, torture, kill."

Now that he's in prison serving ten consecutive life sentences, the whole world knows that Dennis Rader is BTK. But the intricate twists and shocking turns of this story have never before been told by the people who were intimately acquainted with the BTK killer and Rader the family man, or by the dedicated cops who finally caught him. Bind, Torture, Kill: The Inside Story of the Serial Killer Next Door takes readers behind closed doors, revealing the full and horrific tale as seen through the eyes of the killer, his victims, the investigators, and the reporters who covered it all.

Bind, Torture, Kill is written by four award-winning crime reporters for The Wichita Eagle with the enthusiastic help of Wichita police lieutenant Ken Landwehr and his BTK Task Force. With hours of exclusive interviews with key Task Force members; in-depth interviews with the families of victims; an interview with Jeff Rader, the notorious killer's brother; and over thirty years' worth of original reporters' notes, archival news stories, photos, documents, and material previously suppressed at the request of the police, Bind, Torture, Kill lays bare the secret story behind the BTK psychopath and the people who brought him down.

Restless Souls: The Sharon Tate Family's Account of Stardom, the Manson Murders, and a Crusade for Justice by Brie Tate and Alisa Statman from It Books/HarperCollins is $3.99 (US Kindle)

Book Description

The gruesome murders of the beautiful and talented actress Sharon Tate, her unborn child and four others that same night at the hands of the notorious “Manson family” rocked the nation. As one of the most horrific crimes in modern history, these atrocities, the trial and the subsequent conviction of Charles Manson and his followers caused a media sensation, spawning movies, documentaries and bestselling books, including the classic Helter Skelter. A defining moment in an era otherwise associated with radical peace, love and understanding, this incident is one that still resonates with millions today.

Yet while this crime left an indelible mark on society’s consciousness, it was, first and foremost, a shattering personal tragedy for those closest to Sharon—the loving family left to cope with the emotional devastation of her loss. Now, after nearly forty years, their story is finally revealed.

Compiled by close family friend Alisa Statman and Sharon’s niece Brie Tate, Restless Souls draws on a wealth of material including interviews with the Tates, personal letters, tape recordings, home movies, public interviews, private journals, and official documents to provide a powerful, poignant, and affecting four-decade, three-generation memoir of crime and punishment, anguish and hope, rage and love, that is both a chronicle of death and a celebration of life.

Extending beyond all previous accounts, Restless Souls is the most revealing, riveting, and emotionally raw account not just of these heinous murders, the hunt and capture of the killers and the behind-the-scenes drama of their trials, but of the torment victims families’ endure for years in the wake of such senseless violence.