True Crime Audiobooks | Mystery, Thriller & Horror

Worldwide, nearly 75% of journalists who die on assignment are murdered for their pursuit of stories of injustice. Who are these journalists who have sacrificed literally everything for the story? Where did they find their courage? Investigative reporter Terry Gould traveled to the five most dangerous countries in which to be a journalist — Iraq, the Philippines, Russia, Colombia and Bangladesh. This audiobook presents Gould's unforgettable portraits of seven murdered journalists who carried on despite death threats from terrorists, corrupt politicians, gangsters and paramilitary leaders. Their stories show how selflessly humans can love justice and their fellow citizens; how dogged and resourceful people can be in attempts to thwart injustice; how vital it is to show the defeated and the indifferent, as well as the powerful; and that there really are some things worth dying for. ** Due to Extended Track Length this title may not be able to be transferred to regular audio CD.

Terry Gould (Author), Byron Wagner (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Snakehead

A mesmerizing narrative about the rise and fall of an unlikely international crime boss In the 1980s, a wave of Chinese from Fujian province began arriving in America. Like other immigrant groups before them, they showed up with little money but with an intense work ethic and an unshakeable belief in the promise of the United States. Many of them lived in a world outside the law, working in a shadow economy overseen by the ruthless gangs that ruled the narrow streets of New York's Chinatown. The figure who came to dominate this Chinese underworld was a middle-aged grandmother known as Sister Ping. Her path to the American dream began with an unusual business run out of a tiny noodle store on Hester Street. From her perch above the shop, Sister Ping ran a full-service underground bank for illegal Chinese immigrants. But her real business-a business that earned an estimated $40 million-was smuggling people. As a "snakehead," she built a complex—and often vicious—global conglomerate, relying heavily on familial ties, and employing one of Chinatown's most violent gangs to protect her power and profits. Like an underworld CEO, Sister Ping created an intricate smuggling network that stretched from Fujian Province to Hong Kong to Burma to Thailand to Kenya to Guatemala to Mexico. Her ingenuity and drive were awe-inspiring both to the Chinatown community—where she was revered as a homegrown Don Corleone—and to the law enforcement officials who could never quite catch her. Indeed, Sister Ping's empire only came to light in 1993 when the Golden Venture, a ship loaded with 300 undocumented immigrants, ran aground off a Queens beach. It took New York's fabled "Jade Squad" and the FBI nearly ten years to untangle the criminal network and home in on its unusual mastermind. THE SNAKEHEAD is a panoramic tale of international intrigue and a dramatic portrait of the underground economy in which America's twelve million illegal immigrants live. Based on hundreds of interviews, Patrick Radden Keefe's sweeping narrative tells the story not only of Sister Ping, but of the gangland gunslingers who worked for her, the immigration and law enforcement officials who pursued her, and the generation of penniless immigrants who risked death and braved a 17,000 mile odyssey so that they could realize their own version of the American dream. The Snakehead offers an intimate tour of life on the mean streets of Chinatown, a vivid blueprint of organized crime in an age of globalization and a masterful exploration of the ways in which illegal immigration affects us all.

Patrick Radden Keefe (Author), Feodor Chin (Narrator)

Audiobook

Alphaville: 1988, Crime, Punishment, and the Battle for New York City's Lower East Side

A raw, gritty memoir-part true-life cop thriller, part unputdownable history of a storied time and place-that will grip you by the throat until the explosive end. In 1988, Alphabet City burned with heroin, radicalism, and antipolice sentiment. Working as a plainclothes narcotics cop in the most high-voltage neighborhood in Manhattan, Detective Sergeant Mike Codella earned the nickname "Rambo" from the local dealers, as well as a $50,000 bounty on his head. The son of a cop who grew up in a mob neighborhood in Brooklyn, Codella understood the unwritten laws of the shadowy businesses that ruled the streets. He knew that the further east you got from the relative safety of Fifth Avenue, Washington Square Park, and NYU, the deeper you entered the sea of human misery, greed, addiction, violence, and all the things that come with an illegal retail drug trade run wild. With his partner, Gio, Codella made it his personal mission to put away Davey Blue Eyes-a stone-cold murderer and the head of Alphabet City's heroin supply chain. Despite the hell they endured-all the beatings and gunshots, the footchases, and close calls-Codella and Gio always saw Alphabet City the same way: worth saving. Alphaville, Codella's riveting, no-holds-barred memoir, resurrects the vicious streets that Davey Blue Eyes owned and tells the story of how Codella bagged the so-called Forty Thieves that surrounded Davey, slowly working his way to the head of the snake one scale at a time. With the blistering narrative spirit of The French Connection, the insights of a seasoned insider, and a relentless voice that reads like the city's own, Alphaville is at once the story of a dedicated New York cop and of New York City itself. "A quick, nitty-gritty, page-turning read that will leave you breathless...I highly, highly recommend this read."-Philip Carlo, New York Times bestselling author of Ice Man

Bruce Bennett, Michael Codella (Author), Keith Szarabajka, Keith Szarabajka (Narrator)

Audiobook

Everything She Ever Wanted

Read by Betty Buckley A TRUE LOVE STORY OF OBSESSIVE LOVE, MURDER AND BETRAYAL Pat was a beautiful, willful child whose family belonged to the upper crust of Georgia society. Little Pat's parents adored their daughter and satisfied her every desire. But as Pat grew older, her pampered life took a twisted turn when she found that her beauty and spoiled demands were not enough. Now, to get everything she ever wanted, she would resort to lying, deception, robbery, and worse. Ann Rule uses her characteristic insight and exclusive access to the facts to create a gripping portrait of that rarity in crime -- a female sociopath.

Ann Rule (Author), Blair Brown (Narrator)

Audiobook

Every Move You Make

Con Man In December 1989, in upstate New York, Gary C. Evans, 35, a master of disguise and career criminal who had befriended David "Son of Sam" Berkowitz, began weaving a web of deadly lies. Evans told a female friend that Damien Cuomo, the father of her child, had deserted her. Of that he could be certain, since he'd killed Cuomo, and subsequently struck up a ten-year romance with the woman while tricking her into believing Cuomo was still alive. Law Man Evans first met New York State Police Senior Investigator James Horton in 1985, when Evans fingered Michael Falco, 26, as the brains behind their theft team - yet failed to mention that he'd murdered him. Then, two local jewelry dealers were killed. In 1997, Tim Rysedorph, 39, another old friend, went missing. Was Evans responsible? Horton launched a nationwide manhunt to uncover the truth. End Game For more than thirteen years, Evans and Horton maintained an odd relationship - part friendship, part manipulation - with Evans serving as a snitch while the tenacious investigator searched for the answers that would put him away. After Horton used Evans as a pawn to obtain a confession from a local killer, Evans led Horton in a final game of cat-and-mouse: a battle of wits that would culminate in the most shocking death of all...

M. William Phelps (Author), J. Charles (Narrator)

Audiobook

Hastened To the Grave

In June 1994, the Oakland Tribune cracked the story of a string of bizarre deaths in the San Francisco area. The victims were elderly, well-to-do, and, in each case, had been befriended by members of an extended Gypsy family - the Tene Bimbos. Fay Fanon, also known as Rat Dog Dick, a dynamic and unconventional private investigator in the Bay area, was hired to look into the strange accusations of an elderly widow who claimed she was being swindled out of her hilltop mansion by a young man named Danny Tene. Within days, the widow was dead and Danny Tene stood to inherit a fortune. Olsen chronicles Fanon's hunt for Danny Tene, his mother Mary Steiner, and his beautiful sister Angela - a family of suspected con artists who may have been responsible for the deaths of as many as five helpless elderly men and women, whose property - and possibly whose lives - the Gypsies allegedly stole.

Jack Olsen (Author), Susie Breck (Narrator)

Audiobook

And Never Let Her Go: Thomas Capano, the Deadly Seducer

The shattering crime story that shocked the nation: the Thomas Capano murder case On a June evening in 1996, 30-year-old Anne Marie Fahey, secretary to the governor of Delaware, vanished without a trace following a restaurant rendezvous with her secret lover of more than two years: Thomas Capano. One of Wilmington's most prominent and respected figures, a millionaire attorney and former state prosecutor, "Tommy" was a charming, softspoken family man. But in the weeks and months that followed Fahey's disappearance, investigators would gradually uncover the shocking truth: Capano was a steely manipulator driven by power and greed -- and capable of brutal murder. In a riveting narrative expertly documented by probing interviews, diary entries, and e-mail correspondence, and with superb insight into the twisted motivations of a killer, Ann Rule chronicles a real-life drama of Shakespearian proportions: ambitions fall, love turns to obsession, family names are tainted, the fade of success crumbles -- and a beautiful but vulnerable young woman pays the ultimate price in a convoluted and deadly relationship.

Ann Rule (Author), Melissa Leo (Narrator)

Audiobook

Heart Full of Lies: A True Story of Desire and Death

An idyllic Hawaiian wedding held the promise of a wonderful future for Chris Northon, an airline pilot, a confirmed bachelor-turned-devoted family man; and Liysa, a loving mother and aspiring Hollywood screenwriter. But few, including Chris, had seen Liysa's other side and no one anticipated the fatal outcome of a family camping trip in an Oregon forest. Liysa soon revealed herself as a victim of domestic abuse that culminated at the campsite, where she shot Chris in self-defense. But crime scene evidence led detectives to wonder if Liysa was a killer, not a victim.

Ann Rule (Author), Blair Brown (Narrator)

Audiobook

Takedown: The Fall of the Last Mafia Empire

Seldom has the netherworld of the mafia been revealed with such fascinating detail and sheer suspense. Like the classics of the genre-from The Godfather to The French Connection to Wise Guy-Takedown leads us to the inner ring of a conspiracy of corruption and terror that held the city in its grip for nearly fifty years. Rick Cowan was a young NYPD detective in 1992 when he dropped by a Brooklyn waterfront warehouse to investigate a recent fire bombing-only one in a string of interviews he considered routine. But what he found there was far from routine, for it would take him on a five-year odyssey and nearly cost him his life. In fact, he had stumbled upon the lead of a lifetime-the suspicion that he might unearth the hard evidence police and federal agencies alike had been chasing for decades: the proof of collusion among the mob families to extort billions from the nation's most influential corporations that call New York their home. Featuring eccentric, larger-than-life New York characters and an undercover cop on the brink of being discovered-and murdered-at every step, Takedown is a riveting real-life procedural and one of the most important investigative books of the season.

Douglas Century, Rick Cowan (Author), Chris Meloni, Christopher Meloni (Narrator)

Audiobook

American Gunfight: The Plot to Kill Harry Truman and the Shoot-Out That Stopped It

AMERICAN GUNFIGHT is the fast-paced, definitive, and breathtakingly suspenseful account of an extraordinary historical event, the attempted assassination of President Harry Truman in November of 1950 by two Puerto Rican Nationalists and the bloody shoot-out in the streets of Washington, D.C., that saved the president's life. Written by Pulitzer Prize-winner Stephen Hunter and John Bainbridge, Jr., an experienced journalist and lawyer, AMERICAN GUNFIGHT is at once a groundbreaking work of meticulous historical research and the vivid and dramatically told story of an act of terrorism that almost succeeded. They have pieced together, at last, the story of the conspiracy that nearly doomed the president and how a few good mean, ordinary guys who were willing to risk their lives in the line of duty, stopped it. Hunter and Bainbridge are the first to report on the inner workings of this conspiracy; they examine the forces that led the perpetrators to conceive the plot. The authors also tell the story of men themselves, from their youth and the worlds in which they grew up to the women they loved and who loved them to the moment the gunfire erupted. Their telling commemorates heroism, the quiet commitment to duty that in some moments of crisis sees some people through an ordeal, even at the expense of their lives.

John Bainbridge, Stephen Hunter (Author), John H. Mayer (Narrator)

Audiobook

Reasonable Doubts: The O.J. Simpson Case and the Criminal Justice System

Alan Dershowitz, one of the foremost legal thinkers of our time, explores a series of questions raised by the most-watched criminal trial in American history. Through this brilliant, eye-opening account of the O.J. Simpson case, he exposes the realities of the criminal justice system of this country. Here, Professor Dershowitz examines the issues and social forces -- media, money, gender, and race -- that shape the criminal justice system in America today. Among the fascinating questions raised: Was this really a case of circumstantial evidence? Did Simpson's wealth "buy" the acquittal? How could one of the longest trials in the history of America's judicial system produce a verdict after less than four hours of jury deliberation? Reasonable Doubts is a work of lasting importance; it will force us to rethink our assumptions, not only about the case itself but about the strengths -- and weaknesses -- of the criminal justice system in America today. This book is for the many thoughtful observers who sincerely and understandably believe that O.J. Simpson murdered Nicole Brown and Ronald Goldman, and that the jury's verdict of Not Guilty was therefore a miscarriage of justice...

Alan M. Dershowitz (Author), Alan M. Dershowitz (Narrator)

Audiobook

Farewell

1981: Ronald Reagan's inauguration marks a new escalation in the United States' Cold War with the USSR. Months later, FranÃ§ois Mitterrand is elected president of France with the support of the French Communist Party. The predicted tension between these two men, however, is immediately defused when Mitterrand gives Reagan the Farewell dossier, a file he would later call "one of the greatest spy cases of the twentieth century." Vladimir Ippolitovich Vetrov, a promising technical student, joins the KGB to work as a spy. Following a couple of murky incidents, however, Vetrov is removed from the field and placed at a desk as an analyst. Soon, burdened by a troubled marriage and frustrated at a failing career, Vetrov turns to alcohol. Desperate and in need of redemption, in 1980 he offers his services to the DST, the French counterintelligence service. Thus Agent Farewell is born. Soon he is sneaking files and photographing sensitive documents, keeping the West informed of the USSR's plans - right in the heart of KGB headquarters. The most complete account of these dramatic events ever recorded, Kostin and Raynaud's thorough investigation is a fascinating tour de force. Probing further into Vetrov's psychological profile than ever before, they provide groundbreaking insight into the man whose life helped hasten the end of the Cold War.

Eric Raynaud, Sergei Kostin (Author), Arthur Morey (Narrator)

Audiobook

True Crime Audiobooks in Mystery, Thriller & Horror