From dognappings to Munchausen by proxy to early forensics and hot felons, these unbelievable true crime stories will blow your mind. 2019 IBPA Benjamin Franklin Award Silver Winner in Humor Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Awards Winner—2018 BRONZE Winner for Humor (Adult Nonfiction) Loaded with dozens of entertaining and amusing articles about actual crimes, this latest book from Portable Press will definitely leave you scratching your head. Dumb crooks, celebrities gone bad, unsolved mysteries, odd laws, and more, Strange Crime has plenty of stories that will make you ask yourself, “What could they possibly have been thinking?” This easily portable ebook is ideal for readers on the go. Take it to school, to work, to jury duty! Strange Crime delves into such weirdness as . . . · The Dexter influence · Eerie similarities in the trials of Lizzie Bordon and O. J. Simpson · Bird testimony—parrots as witnesses · Cases of instant justice · Celebrities’ days in court · Mediocre masterminds · Terrible twins · Night Stalker strangeness And more

A collection of bizarre true stories about crimes, criminals, prisoners, and police.

Sometimes intensely moving, and often inspiring, these memoirs show that in some cases, individual conscientious objectors - many well-educated and politically aware - sought to reform the penal system from within either by publicizing its dysfunction or through further resistance to authority.

The colossus of crime leaned over to the little rustic priest with a sort of sudden interest. 'You have heard of it?' he asked. 'Where have you heard of it?' 'Well, I mustn't tell you his name, of course,' said the little man simply. 'He was a penitent, you know. He had lived prosperously for about twenty years entirely on duplicate brown-paper parcels. And so, you see, when I began to suspect you, I thought of this poor chap's way of doing it at once.' 'Began to suspect me?' repeated the outlaw with increased intensity. 'Did you really have the gumption to suspect me just because I brought you up to this bare part of the heath?' 'No, no,' said Brown with an air of apology. 'You see, I suspected you when we first met. It's that little bulge up the sleeve where you people have the spiked bracelet.' 'How in Tartarus,' cried Flambeau, 'did you ever hear of the spiked bracelet?' 'Oh, one's little flock, you know!' said Father Brown, arching his eyebrows rather blankly. One of detective fiction's most idiosyncratic and best-loved characters, G. K. Chesterton's Father Brown is both a diminutive, genial clergyman and a master sleuth. In these two stories involving the ingenious, unobtrusive priest, a murdered man denounces his killer with his dying breaths, and a brilliant French inspector follows a trail of gentil carnage across London. This book includes The Strange Crime of John Boulnois and The Blue Cross.

Detective Gould has yet to meet the crime he can't solve, but lately there has been a rash of crimes so eccentric and random that even Gould is stumped. The compulsive chair thief, the novelist who uses purloined street signs to write her magnum opuis, and the photgrapher who secretly documents peoples' most anguished personal moments -- what can they possibly have in common? Can Detective Gould untangle the strange crimes of Red Wheelbarrow or will he finally meet his match in a shadowy criminal conspiracy aimed at discrediting the very idea of criminal justice?

You're probably breaking the law right now-and don't even know it. Did you know... ? Naples, Italy, enforces laws for what constitutes real pizza, and "pizza police" visit restaurants to crack down on unlawful pies? ? In West Virginia it is a crime to display or possess a red or black flag? ? It is illegal to sell stuffed articles depicting female breasts within a thousand feet of any county highway in California? ? Spherical fishbowls have been banned in Rome since 2004? There are hundreds of bizarre laws that we could be breaking at any moment. What exactly are we doing that we shouldn't be doing, and what happens if we get caught? In this engaging and insightful collection, Nathan Belofsky takes us on a journey of eclectic, unexpected, and bizarre laws from around the world. Written by a practicing lawyer with an eye for his profession's most unusual quirks, The Book of Strange and Curious Legal Oddities offers a delightful look at the legal system's peculiarities through the ages. From laws that crack down on how we eat, look, and have sex, to real legal battles involving litigious chimpanzees, you'll start wondering whether you're really the law-abiding citizen you claim to be.

Crime and punishment can be a complicated subject, but sometimes it gets downright strange. Robberies gone wrong and attempts to cash billion-dollar checks are just some of the wacky crimes covered in this book. With colorful photographs and graphics bring these crimes to life, readers learn that criminals often have strange motivations for the odd things they do. Some even commit crimes you might never think would be punishable by law—like laughing too loud—or crimes from history that rarely happen today like train robbing.

Did you hear the one about the crook who broke into a vending machine and then left a trail of cheese curls all the way to his hideout? Or the burglar who left his wallet in an apartment he robbed, and actually went back to get it? Based on the Stupid criminals busted! column in National Geographic kids magazine, this collection of stories about stupid criminals and the ridiculous ways they give themselves away is illustrated with collage art and sprinkled with more than 150 weird-but-true facts about crime.

The history of true crime in Britain is a long and, as we shall see, often stranger than fiction tale. The book that follows offers an eclectic stew of strange and perplexing British true crime cases. These cases are all disconcertingly odd and in many instances downright bizarre. We have the murder of an elderly famer brutally killed with a pitchfork in what may or may not have been a case involving witchcraft. Then there is a shocking train murder which took place in a closed carriage in broad daylight during an afternoon commuter run to London. We also have the baffling case of a retired spinster who was gruesomely killed for no apparent reason in her own home on Halloween night. We shall also be examining the modern legend of the alleged maniac said to randomly push his victims into Manchester's murky canals. Then we'll take a look at the monstrous Victorian terror known as Spring-Heeled Jack. We shall stop too to consider the unsolved murder of a young man in Sussex who was found dissected inside two abandoned suitcases. We shall also explore the high profile killing of Jill Dando - a case which surely ranks as one of the most shocking and baffling celebrity deaths ever to occur in Britain. As if that wasn't enough we also have grave robbers, cannibals, the Brighton trunk murders, a woman who staged a crackpot hoax abduction of her own daughter, a gruesome murderer who operated at the same time as Jack the Ripper and had the macabre signature of leaving torsos and body parts scattered around London, and a suave post-war con artist who in reality was a depraved sexual serial killer. So, draw the curtains, turn off the lights, make sure the doors are locked, and settle down to explore some of the strangest true crime cases Blighty has to offer...

You couldn't make it up: incredible real-life criminal cases A fascinating A-Z of murderous crimes which spans the globe and the centuries in uncovering the extremes of human criminality in all its strangeness. This collection of unusual, if not sensational, murder cases recalls strange crimes of the past and offers insights into particularly macabre and shocking modern murders. Many of the cases also shed light on advances in crime detection, law enforcement and forensic science. Cases include: Krystian Bala, the Polish writer who killed a rival, and then used the murder as the plot for a novel; Alexander Pichuskin, who was stopped one short of killing the 64 victims he needed to 'fill a chess board'; John Lee, 'the man they could not hang' who survived three attempts to execute him; and Adelaide Bartlett, who was accused of killing her husband with chloroform, but was acquitted because no one could work out how she had done it - and she wouldn't say.