My Review (5 stars out of 5) The murder of Elizabeth Short (known as the Black Dahlia) has remained unsolved for more than fifty years. Now, former LAPD detective Steve Hodel believes he has uncovered the killer. Following a death in his family, Hodel found documents that set him off on a murder hunt, unearthing…
Category: Research
‘A Fine Day for a Hanging’ by Carol Ann Lee
***** When 28-year-old Ruth Ellis shot her lover, David Blakely, in 1955, she set in motion a trial that rocked the country. Found guilty, she was sentenced to death and became the last woman to be hanged in Britain. With many theories about what really happened, this account attempts to lay out the facts, rather…
Guest Post Q and A with Tim Walker
With the launch of his latest book, I invited Tim Walker along to talk about writing, research and all things Roman… Tell me about your latest book. Hi Colin – thanks for having me on your blog. My new book is ‘Arthur Rex Brittonum’, book five in ‘A Light in the Dark Ages’ series. It…
‘The Murders at White House Farm’ by Carol Ann Lee
The Murders at White House Farm (Audiobook) The deaths of Nevill and June Bamber, their daughter Sheila and her two young sons on 7th August 1985, sparked a massive police investigation. As the murder weapon was found on her body and all windows and doors appeared to be secure, it seemed reasonable that…
‘The Invention of Murder’ by Judith Flanders
The Invention of Murder With its subtitle – ‘How the Victorians Revelled in Death and Detection and Created Modern Crime’, this book traces the British public’s interest in murder as a sort of national entertainment. Though the book’s title clearly suggests we’re talking about the Victorian period (1837-1901), Ms Flanders begins her romp through the…
‘Out of the Silence’ by Owen Mullen
Out of the Silence Former golden-boy reporter Ralph Buchanan spends too much time wallowing in whisky and self-pity, so when Doctor Simone Jasnin asks for help, it takes him a while to summon up the energy to get involved. But the personal story of an abused woman and her connection to a successful young businessman…
‘The Stranger Beside Me’ by Ann Rule
The Stranger Beside Me Former police officer Ann Rule met a charming and charismatic young psychology student at a Seattle crisis clinic, unaware that he would become one of America’s most notorious serial killers. This is the story of their friendship and how it developed and changed between 1971 and 1989, when Ted Bundy was…
Kids Who Kill: Joshua Phillips
Kids Who Kill: Joshua Phillips True-crime investigation charting the shocking child murder of Maddie Clifton. When police discovered a 14-year-old boy had hidden the body of his childhood friend under his bed for a week without anyone noticing, they had a lot of questions. How was he able to continue his everyday life as if…
‘Winter of Frozen Dreams’ by Karl Harter
Winter of Frozen Dreams (Audiobook) When a man turns up at a police station on Christmas Day saying he has buried a corpse, police are led to a naked body dumped in a frozen snowbank. Claiming that he and his fiancé, Barbara Hoffman, discovered the stranger in her apartment, Jerry Davies insists they know nothing…
‘Heist’ by Howard Sounes
Heist (Audiobook) In February 2006, an unlikely gang of would-be villains stole £53 million from a cash warehouse in Tonbridge, Kent. Rocketing the caper into the annals of British crimes such as the Great Train Robbery, the theft was audacious in its premise and, at times, positively farcical in its execution. Subtitled ‘The True Story…
Colin Garrow 