True crime.

The telltale fingerprint. The DNA traced from a hair. Autopsies to establish cause and time of death. Ballistics to discover what gun was used. Tyre prints, dentals records, body fluids, maggots . . . It’s all the stuff of the modern police drama, of CSI, of twenty-first-century TV private eyes. But forensics is a very real and vital part of solving any crime. And with modern technologies, the science of forensics has never been more relevant. Sandra Mara delves into the fascinating world of the forensics investigator. She describes how the Garda’s Forensic Science Laboratory has cracked some of Ireland’s most notorious crimes, and she also looks at the forensics behind some of the most notorious crimes in the UK and US, such as cases like the Yorkshire Ripper and Harold “Dr Death” Shipman. She writes in – literally – forensic detail about the clues that have led to the high-profile arrests of murderers and criminals such as Gerald Barry, Sharon Collins and the Mulhall sisters. Sandra also speaks to some of the world’s top experts on forensic science to explore the next generation of technologies and techniques. From retina scanning to ballistics, toxicology to handwriting analysis, pathology to criminal profiling, the world of Dead Men Talk will draw you in and leave you breathless.

In this book, Gregoriou explores the portrayal of the serial killer identity and its related ideology across a range of contemporary crime narratives, including detective fiction, the true crime genre and media journalism. How exactly is the serial killer consciousness portrayed, how is the killing linguistically justified, and how distinguishing is the language revolving around criminal ideology and identity across these narrative genres? By employing linguistic and content-related methods of analysis, her study aims to work toward the development of a stylistic framework on the representation of serial killer ideology across factual (i.e. media texts), factional (i.e. true crime books) and fictional (i.e. novels) murder narratives. ‘Schema’ is a term commonly used to refer to organised bundles of knowledge in our brains, which are activated once we come across situations we have previously experienced, a ‘group schema’ being one such inventory shared by many. By analysing serial murder narratives across various genres, Gregoriou uncovers a widely shared ‘group schema’ for these murderers, and questions the extent to which real criminal minds are in fact linguistically fictionalised. Gregoriou’s study of the mental functioning and representation of criminal personas can help illuminate our schematic understanding of actual criminal minds.

Bestselling author Christopher Berry-Dee returns with a companion volume that delves even deeper into the evil world of psychopaths and their hideous crimes. In Talking with Psychopaths: Beyond Evil, criminologist Berry-Dee combines sections on killers whom he has known, interviewed, or corresponded with, with studies of psychopathic serial killers from the past, including Peter Kurten, the Dusseldorf Monster; John Christie, a murderer and necrophile; and Neville Heath, a ladykiller in every sense of the word. The result is a chilling narrative that sets the forensic examination of killers and their crimes within the context of murder in the 20th and 21st centuries, and the insoluble problem of identifying these psychopaths. This is not a book for the squeamish but is undeniably fascinating in its portrayal of just what one human being will do to another—while all too often moving among us unnoticed and unhindered. If their crimes seem as incomprehensible as they are horrific, it is undeniably true that the world’s most wicked killers may be much closer than we think.

Six unforgettable prisoners detail their terrifying stories. For over twenty-five years, leading crime expert Christopher Berry-Dee has gained the trust of some of the most infamous convicted killers, having corresponded with them and even entered their prison lairs to discuss their horrific crimes in detail. Beyond the headlines, once the courtroom drama has subsided and the prison gates have been locked, readers can get up close and personal with torturers, sexual psychopaths, and mass murderers to read the stories that are rarely heard, and get the last word from some of the world's most pitiless killers. In Talking with Serial Killers: Dead Men Talking, readers come face-to-face with The Ice Queen, The Happy Face Killer, The Roadside Strangler, and more. A must-read for true crime aficionados and anyone fascinated by the extremes of human behavior.

Forty folk and fairy stories from all over the world that pay tribute to mothers and their relations, for better or worse, with their daughters.

Superintendent Brahim Llob is bored. Nothing seems to need his attention in an unusually peaceful Algiers. Then suddenly, peace is shattered in ways Llob could never have imagined, putting him on a path down avenues he has never encountered and forcing him to delve into his beloved country's brutal past.

'I have interviewed, face to face, some of the world's most heinous serial killers, spree killers and mass murderers. I have sat with them on death rows throughout the United States, where the stench of cheap disinfectant, human sweat and evil permeates every brick of the human warehouses that imprison those from the legion of the damned. I have listened to their sickening tales of murder most foul and their boasts of having caused such suffering... ' - from the author's introduction

Leading crime expert Christopher Berry-Dee gained the trust of some of the most infamous convicted killers, having corresponded with them and even entered their prison lairs to discuss their horrific crimes in detail. In this book, he presents six unforgettable prisoners and allows them to tell their stories, as well as giving the details and background of their terrifying cases - making this a must-read for aficionados of the genre and anyone fascinated by the extremes of human behaviour. Beyond the headlines, once the drama of the courtroom has subsided and the prison gates have been locked behind these killers for good, Talking With Serial Killers: Dead Men Talking allows the reader to get up close and personal with torturers, sexual psychopaths and mass murderers, to read the stories that are rarely heard and get the last word from some of the world's most pitiless killers.