From post–Civil War political feuds to Depression-era mass murder—explore the criminally fascinating secret history of Music City, USA. Nashville is known for its bold, progressive flair, but few are aware of its malevolent past. Now, historian Brian Allison sheds light on some of Nashville’s darkest deeds in this compulsively readable chronicle of turn-of-the-century bad behavior. Included here are tales of infamous bar brawls, escaped fugitives, and deadly duels instigated (and won) by legendary hothead Andrew Jackson; a tour of the notorious red-light district of Smokey Row, where one of the largest congregations of prostitutes in the country was at the service of 1000s of beleaguered boys in gray; a killer temptress with a penchant for poison who strolled the city streets looking for victims; a grisly—and true—local legend known as the Headless Horror; the facts behind the macabre 1938 Marrowbone Creek cabin murders; and much more. Vividly capturing the outlandish mischief, shocking crimes, and political powder kegs of an era, Murder and Mayhem in Nashville lifts the veil on a great city’s sordid secrets.

The never-before-told true account of the serial killers who terrorized Nashville's music scene for decades--and the cold-case Murder Squad determined to bring an end to their sadistic sprees. Nashville--a haven for aspiring musicians and a magnet for country-music fans. By the time Pat Postiglione arrived there in 1980, it was also the scene of an unsolved series of vicious sex slayings that served as a harbinger of worse to come. As Postiglione was promoted from street-beat Metro cop to detective sergeant heading Music City's elite cold-case Murder Squad, some of America's most bizarre, elusive, and savage serial killers were calling Nashville home. And during the next two decades, the body count climbed. From Vanderbilt University to dive bars and out-of-the-way motels, Postiglione followed the bloody tracks of these ever-escalating crimes--each enacted by a different psychopath with the same intent: to murder without motive or remorse. But of all the investigations, of all the monsters Postiglione chased, few were as chilling, or as game changing, as the Rest Stop Killer: a homicidal trucker who turned the interstates into his trolling ground. Next stop, Nashville. But Postiglione was waiting.

A journey through Memphis’ troubled past: the shocking crimes and the brutal killings that led to it being dubbed the “Murder Capital of the World.” With its alluring hospitality, legendary cuisine and transcendent music, Memphis is truly a quintessential Southern city. But lurking behind the barbeque and blue suede shoes is a dark history checkered with violence and disarray. Revisit the mass murder of 1866 that took more than fifty lives, the infamous Alice Mitchell case of the 1890s and a string of unthinkable twentieth-century sins. Author and lifelong Memphian Teresa Simpson explores some of the River City’s most menacing crimes and notorious characters in this riveting ride back through the centuries. Includes photos!

East Tennessee is gorgeous country, but the hills and hollers have a dark side. James Earl Ray, who had already assassinated Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., created mayhem at Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary when he led six other men in a short-lived escape. Several thousand Cherokee Indians from East Tennessee were forced on what would later be called the "Trail of Tears." In the "Hankins Murder" case and in the triple killings in Oliver Springs, chaos and confusion resulted from the wrongful arrest and public accusations of innocent people. Jake and C.H. Butcher brought about bedlam with their banking scandal that at the time was unsurpassed in scope in the nation's history. Author Dewaine A. Speaks details these stories and more.

In the states of the former Confederacy, Reconstruction amounted to a second Civil War, one that white southerners were determined to win. An important chapter in that undeclared conflict played out in northeast Texas, in the Corners region where Grayson, Fannin, Hunt, and Collin Counties converged. Part of that violence came to be called the Lee-Peacock Feud, a struggle in which Unionists led by Lewis Peacock and former Confederates led by Bob Lee sought to even old scores, as well as to set the terms of the new South, especially regarding the status of freed slaves. Until recently, the Lee-Peacock violence has been placed squarely within the Lost Cause mythology. This account sets the record straight. For Bob Lee, a Confederate veteran, the new phase of the war began when he refused to release his slaves. When Federal officials came to his farm in July to enforce emancipation, he fought back and finally fled as a fugitive. In the relatively short time left to his life, he claimed personally to have killed at least forty people--civilian and military, Unionists and freedmen. Peacock, a dedicated leader of the Unionist efforts, became his primary target and chief foe. Both men eventually died at the hands of each other's supporters. From previously untapped sources in the National Archives and other records, the authors have tracked down the details of the Corners violence and the larger issues it reflected, adding to the reinterpretation of Reconstruction history and rescuing from myth events that shaped the following century of Southern politics.

Following the great success of 2015's Gothic Fantasy, deluxe edition short story compilations, Ghosts, Horror and Science Fiction, this latest in the series is packed with hard-boiled detectives, monsters, psychopaths and a high body count. Tales of death and destruction from classic authors are cast with previously unpublished stories by exciting contemporary hardcore crime writers. New, contemporary and notable writers featured are: Sara Dobie Bauer, Michael Cebula, Carolyn Charron, James Dorr, Tim Foley, Steven Thor Gunnin, Kate Heartfield, David M. Hoenig, Liam Hogan, Patrick J. Hurley, Michelle Ann King, Claude Lalumière, Gerri Leen, K.A. Mielke, Alexandra Camille Renwick, Fred Senese, Donald Jacob Uitvlugt, Dean H. Wild, and Nemma Wollenfang. These appear alongside classic stories by authors such as Ambrose Bierce, Wilkie Collins, Dick Donovan, Edith Nesbit, Edgar Allan Poe and Bram Stoker.

A true tale of evil lurking beneath the surface of a sleepy Smoky Mountains town. In November of 1994, a black Jeep carrying the battered body of a young man plunged over the side of a cliff in the Smoky Mountains. The discovery of that body launched a criminal investigation that revealed a shocking tale of tawdry ambition, amoral sex and a spectacularly brutal murder. Shayne Mills Lovera was, on the surface, an all-American girl - beautiful, popular, and the step-daughter of a prominent man. Gatlinburg and its sister towns of Pigeon Forge and Sevierville were, on the surface, classic American small towns - pretty and God-fearing. Nothing could be farther from the truth. The towns dealt in hypocrisy and hid drug dealers and shady deaths. The girl hid a black heart and used manipulation and sex to persuade a young man to help her murder her husband. In Mad Notions, award-winning mystery writer John Lawrence Reynolds peels away the facades of the towns and their people to create a chilling portrait of the dark underbelly of the American dream. The story is as gripping as it is chilling - a fast-paced, suspenseful read destined to become a true crime classic.

A private citizen discovers compelling evidence that a decades-old murder in Nashville was not committed by the man who went to prison for the crime but was the result of a conspiracy involving elite members of Nashville society. Nashville 1964. Eighteen-year-old babysitter Paula Herring is murdered in her home while her six-year-old brother apparently sleeps through the grisly event. A few months later a judge's son is convicted of the crime. Decades after the slaying, Michael Bishop, a private citizen, stumbles upon a secret file related to the case and with the help of some of the world's top forensic experts--including forensic psychologist Richard Walter (aka "the living Sherlock Holmes")--he uncovers the truth. What really happened is completely different from what the public was led to believe. Now, for the very first time, Bishop reveals the true story. In this true-crime page-turner, the author lays out compelling evidence that a circle of powerful citizens were key participants in the crime and the subsequent cover-up. The ne'er-do-well judge's son, who was falsely accused and sent to prison, proved to be the perfect setup man. The perpetrators used his checkered history to conceal the real facts for over half a century. Including interviews with the original defense attorney and a murder confession elicited from a nursing-home resident, the information presented here will change Nashville history forever.

“A chilling chronicle of local true-life murders that reach back into the long-forgotten seamy history of Worcester County” (Vitality Magazine). The bucolic image of central Massachusetts belies a dark and sometimes deadly past. Grisly crimes and grim misdeeds reach back to colonial settlement in Worcester County, from an escaped slave hanged for rape in 1768 at the Worcester jail to the Sutton choir singer convicted of drowning his wife in 1935. Henry Hammond’s 1899 suicide and the others that followed shook Spencer residents to their cores. Some crimes still grip the imaginations of residents, while others have faded from collective memory. Author Rachel Faugno investigates this sinister history. Includes photos!

MetroWest is known for its rolling farmland, winding rivers and quaint white churches facing green town commons. But looks can be deceiving. Tales from these small towns captured headlines and shocked readers across the state with lurid details of betrayal, cruelty, greed and murder. Nina Danforth, spurred on by love and jealousy, made a midnight call to the home of Andrew Emery in Framingham seeking revenge. The murder of spinster Mabel Page in Weston sent a man to the electric chair, and forty years before Lizzie Borden, the grisly axe murder of a husband and wife sent shock waves through the terrified town of Natick. Authors James L. Parr and Kevin A. Swope reveal the stories behind these crimes and the motives of the desperate criminals who perpetrated them.