Peter Manuel was an icy-eyed psychopath and sexual predator, a petty thief and a relentless liar given to violent and uncontrollable rages. His unprecedented crimes presented the Scottish police and public with a new sort of criminal: the ruthless serial killer. Manuel was hanged at the age of thirty-one and convicted of seven murders, but suspected of many more. He slew many of his victims as they lay sleeping in bed, while others were picked up in lonely places and strangled or savagely beaten to death. Right up to his final arrest, he played a taunting game with the police, mocking their bungling attempts to trap him and continuing to kill with impunity - that is until he was trapped by his own vanity and arrogance. This definitive definitive biography recounts Manuel's chilling story from his birth in the USA to the moment the hangman's rope snapped his spine in Glasgow's notorious Barlinnie Prison.

Peter Manuel killed repeatedly, both random and targeted victims, including men, women, and children, because he enjoyed the rush. His cockiness had no end, and he went as far as giving a police inspector a ride while the inspector was searching for one of the teenage girls Peter had murdered. Peter toyed with the detective and advised him he thought the police were looking in the wrong spot for the girl. Ultimately, Peter's arrogance and insatiable need for attention led to his demise ... one that made him meet his own executioner as he hung from a noose on prison gallows.

The true story behind the notorious serial killer Peter Manuel, and Detective William Muncie's quest to bring him to justice, recently dramatised in the major ITV drama In Plain Sight. In a two-year killing spree, Peter Manuel terrorised a city. As the people of Glasgow held their breath and anxiously awaited news, Peter Manuel killed Anne Kneilands, Marion Watt, her daughter Vivienne and her sister Margaret, Isabelle Cooke and the Smart family - all in cold blood. But what drove him to commit such barbaric crimes? And could the police have caught him sooner? MANUEL: Portrait of a Serial Killer tells the full story from his birth in the USA and his love of gangster movies to his life of crime that would ultimately end on the gallows after one of the most sensational trials in legal history. Revealing new facts about the case and the myths that surround it, this is the definitive account of one of the most notorious criminals in history - Peter Manuel, serial killer.

'A masterpiece by the woman who may be Britain's finest living crime novelist' Daily Telegraph 'Absorbing... this is a bravura performance, a true original' Ian Rankin Glasgow, 1957. It is a December night and William Watt is desperate. His family has been murdered and he needs to find out who killed them. He arrives at a bar to meet Peter Manuel, who claims he can get hold of the gun that was used. But Watt soon realises that this infamous criminal will not give up information easily. Inspired by true events, The Long Drop follows Watt and Manuel along back streets and into smoky pubs, and on to the courtroom where the murder trial takes place. Can Manuel really be trusted to tell the truth? And how far will Watt go to get what he wants? **A TIMES TOP 10 CRIME NOVEL OF THE DECADE** __________________ Praise for THE LONG DROP: 'Extraordinary' Guardian 'This book is so, so good. Forensic, beautiful and gripping' Graham Norton 'Revisits a dark episode in Glasgow's past... Mina navigates the uneasy territory between fact and fiction with consummate grace' Val McDermid *Don't miss Denise Mina's most recent thriller, the Costa 2020 shortlisted, THE LESS DEAD*

Detective Alex Morrow discovers that the darkest secrets never stay buried as she investigates the criminal underbelly of a seemingly tranquil seaside town. For reasons she can't quite explain, Alex Morrow is addicted to watching surveillance footage of Roxanna Fuentecilla -- a gorgeous Spanish mother of two, in a tempestuous relationship with her boyfriend, who recently relocated to Glasgow under mysterious circumstances. She is also Morrow's prime suspect in an investigation that resembles a soap opera, filled with glamorous jetsetters and enough money to interest the highest levels of law enforcement. Until Roxanna vanishes. Morrow traces Roxanna's steps to Helensburgh, a sleepy, picturesque seaside community. But behind the idyllic Victorian homes and quaint storefronts, darkness lurks. Home to a man with blood on his hands who is haunted by guilt, a mysterious woman with ulterior motives back in town for the first time in decades, a sexually frustrated restaurateur looking to blow off steam, and a crew of vicious small-time gangsters blindly following orders, it's a town ruled by base instincts where no one is quite what they seem. And it's the perfect place to get rid of someone. When she uncovers an unsettling connection to Roxanna's job back in Glasgow, Morrow suspects that her missing person is more than a white-collar criminal on the lam -- she may also be a victim caught up in a sophisticated conspiracy that stretches far beyond Helensburgh and is more personal than Morrow ever imagined. As the truth rises to the surface and the conflicts that lie beneath Helensburgh's calm waters threaten to explode, Morrow must find Roxanna before any hope of solving the case disappears with her. A gripping tale of greed, power, and vengeance, Blood, Salt, Water is a masterful crime novel from Denise Mina that confirms her reputation as "one of the genre's brights stars" (George Pelecanos).

From the UK's leading criminologist comes the true story of Margaret McLaughlin, and the man he believes was fitted up for her murder 'Enthralling ... will leave true crime readers with more to ponder than they bargained for' - The Herald Before David Wilson became the UK's pre-eminent criminologist, he was just a young boy growing up in the Scottish town of Carluke. When he was a child, the brutal murder of a young woman rocked this small community, but very quickly a man was arrested for the crime, convicted and put behind bars. For most, life slowly carried on - case closed. But there were whispers in the town that the wrong man was imprisoned. Over the years, these whispers grew louder, to the point that any time David would visit, he'd be asked in hushed tones, 'What are you going to do about the Carluke Case?' Carluke believed the real killer had evaded justice. A murderer was still on the loose. Forty years later, it's time for David to return home, and find out the truth.

Archibald Hall was one of Scotland's most enigmatic criminals. A man of multiple personae, Hall was more widely known as Roy Fontaine, the Monster Butler who murdered five people, including his own brother. After his convictions for murder in both Scotland and England in 1978, and with talk of a film of his life story, Hall took the opportunity to glamourise his past in books and magazines. What can be unravelled from his web of lies, though, is that he began the sinister transformation into Roy Fontaine, the gentleman butler - ready to seduce, steal and deceive - after effecting a more refined accent and studying etiquette and the aristocracy whilst serving his many jail terms. But how does a man go from thief to killer? Was he always destined to be an unfeeling, cold-blooded murderer? Or was he simply a desperate man obsessed with making a fortune by any means? And what could have influenced his bizarre outlook on life? These are the questions Allan Nicol examines in this illuminating new account of 'The Monster Butler'.

Find out about one of the most heinous serial killers in the USA's history, his way of operating, murders and what happened to him afterward. Randy Steven Kraft, a Southern California man who appeared to be a normal computer programmer, spent his evenings seeking hitchhikers and unsuspecting bar hoppers for sadistic thrills that only he enjoyed. He is Southern California's most prolific serial killer, and possibly the most prolific serial killer in the modern United States. His 'kill list' a.k.a. as the scorecard has a total of sixty-five murders on it, but some claim he may have murdered as many as one hundred people - or even more. Randy Kraft killed many innocent men, and he's currently paying for his heinous crimes on death row in California's San Quentin State Prison. The authorities may never know how many people Kraft actually killed. Scroll back up and grab your copy today!

Publisher Description

A true crime podcast sets a trophy wife's present life on a collision course with her secret past in this "blazingly intense" Reese Witherspoon book club pick and New York Times Best Crime Novel of the Year (A. J. Finn). The day Anna McDonald's quiet, respectable life exploded started off like all the days before: Packing up the kids for school, making breakfast, listening to yet another true crime podcast. Then her husband comes downstairs with an announcement, and Anna is suddenly, shockingly alone. Reeling, desperate for distraction, Anna returns to the podcast. Other people's problems are much better than one's own -- a sunken yacht, a murdered family, a hint of international conspiracy. But this case actually is Anna's problem. She knows one of the victims from an earlier life, a life she's taken great pains to leave behind. And she is convinced that she knows what really happened. Then an unexpected visitor arrives on her front stoop, a meddling neighbor intervenes, and life as Anna knows it is well and truly over. The devils of her past are awakened -- and they're in hot pursuit. Convinced she has no other options, Anna goes on the run, and in pursuit of the truth, with a washed-up musician at her side and the podcast as her guide. Conviction is "daredevil storytelling at its finest" (NPR's Fresh Air), a breathtaking thriller from one of the most "superbly talented" writers of our time (Hank Phillippi Ryan, bestselling author of Trust Me).