In 1911 two British heiresses, Claire and Dora Williamson, read a brochure about a revolutionary fasting treatment that promised a lifetime of good health. The sanatorium in the village of Olalla, west of Seattle, was surrounded by a beautiful forest, sparkling waters and fresh air. The sisters agreed it sounded perfect and exactly the restorative holiday they needed. But within a month of arriving, under the supervision of Doctor Linda Burfield Hazzard, Claire and Dora began to realise the frightening truth – they were not patients but prisoners at the isolated sanitorium.

Colorado, 1976. When Reverend Mike Fuller and his beautiful wife, Sharon, arrive in the sleepy town of Rocky Ford, local residents think something’s off about the new couple. The God-fearing minister is gruff and cold, while charismatic Sharon has her husband wrapped around her finger.

On the morning of July 18, 2014, 41-year-old Florida State law professor Dan Markel dropped his boys off at preschool, hit the gym, and headed home to his quiet, tree-canopied neighborhood. Within seconds of pulling into his garage, two .38-caliber bullets fired from point-blank range were lodged in his brain. His brutal slaying defied explanation.

On the beautiful island of Jersey, the wealthy Newall family were the epitome of success: Roderick, the eldest son, was a handsome Royal Green Jackets lieutenant, and his younger brother, Mark, was a financier. On the night of 10 October 1987 Nicholas and Elizabeth Newall went out to dinner with their sons to celebrate her 48th birthday. It was the last time that the parents were seen alive. Sometime during that evening, they were bludgeoned to death at their home, their bodies removed, leaving only bloodstains behind.

Dorothy Davis and Kerry Whelan were both happy, healthy, affluent, middle-class women from conservative, loving families. Such women are hardly ever among the ranks of the missing. They were not hitchhikers, or associates of drug dealers, or unhappy with their family relationships, or suffering from mental health issues. Dorothy Davis and Kerry Whelan came from different parts of Sydney, mixed in quite different circles, and led completely different lives.

In 2015, Mary Yoder returned home from the chiropractic center that she operated with her husband, Bill, complaining that she felt unwell. Mary, health-conscious and vibrant, was suddenly vomiting, sweating, and weak. Doctors in the ER and ICU were baffled as to the cause of her rapidly progressing illness. Her loved ones - including Bill and their children, Adam, Tamryn, and Liana - gathered in shock to say good-bye. In the weeks that followed Mary's death, the grief-stricken family received startling news from the medical examiner: Mary had been deliberately poisoned with colchicine.

Georgia Williams’ murder at the hands of college pal Jamie Reynolds was a crime that shocked the nation: chillingly executed and horrific in its sexual depravity. But when Georgia’s devastated mother, Lynnette, and father, Steve, questioned the events leading to their daughter’s death, they discovered it was also entirely preventable. Now, in her powerful and moving memoir, Lynnette tries to get beyond the platitudes of ‘mistakes made and lessons learned’ to effect real change, and also details the heartbreaking aftermath of a crime that should never have happened.

Richard Trenton Chase started life without a hitch. Popular and well-liked, his future looked bright as the Cali sun...but those around knew nothing of the dark truths that he fostered. His parents’ marriage was rapidly falling apart, and soon he began to suffer from strange health problems. Rapidly declining, he decided there was only one solution….

In 1861, the police of a rural French village tore their way into the woodside home of Martin Dumollard. Inside, they found chaos. Paths had been carved through mounds of bloodstained clothing, reaching as high as the ceiling in some places.

Worshippers stream out of an Midwestern synagogue after sabbath services, unaware that only a hundred yards away, an expert marksman and avowed racist, antisemite and member of the Ku Klux Klan, patiently awaits, his hunting rifle at the ready. A riveting, cautionary tale rooted in history that continues to echo today, The Killer's Shadow is a terrifying and essential exploration of the criminal personality in the vile grip of extremism and what happens when rage-filled speech evolves into deadly action and hatred of the “other" is allowed full reign.

You are about to hear several more stories in this volume that are shocking and disturbing, but they’re also true. These things really do happen in the world. The stories paint a picture of human depravity that many would prefer to remain hidden. However, it is only by dragging evil into the light that we can begin to understand its terrible allure.

Brian Stidham fell in love with Tucson, Arizona, the minute he came to town. A young and talented eye surgeon, he accepted a job with an established eye surgeon to take over his pediatric patients. Brad Schwartz, the doctor who hired Brian, was ambitious and possessed surgical skills few others had. But he was a troubled man. Within a year of Stidham’s arrival in Tucson, the medical relationship would be severed by Schwartz’s personal troubles.

Between 1993 and 1998, eight women went missing from an area around Dublin that became known as the ‘Vanishing Triangle’. Was there a link? Speculation abounded. There were whispers of a serial killer, responsible for some, if not all, of these cases. But nobody was ever brought to justice. Twenty years later, the brutal murder of Jastine Valdez disturbs crime novelist Claire McGowan into action.

Frank Rodriguez, a much-loved counselor of troubled teens, lies dead on the bedroom floor. His wife and step-daughter are in shock, and so is the medical examiner when he performs the autopsy. Aside from being dead, Frank is in perfect health.

The moment he found out his brother was missing and presumed dead, Ted Kergan launched a relentless effort to bring two suspected killers - a teenage prostitute and her much older grifter boyfriend - to justice and find Gary Kergan's body. Little did he know his quest would consume a fortune and take 30 years to reach its dramatic conclusion. Then nearly 30 years later, science, detective work, and especially a brother's love and tenacity would combine for a resolution that would end in a dramatic trial.