Can a self-confessed murderer become a priest? What would the church - or the bible - say about that? And what if his crime was a most unusual crime indeed...

Factual account, based in part on new evidence, of the still unsolved murder case of Rev. Edward Hall and Mrs. Eleanor Mills which occurred in New Jersey in 1922.

New York Times bestselling author Gregg Olsen investigates the sensational story of a minister who seduced four of his female congregants, and hatched a cold-blooded plot to murder his wife. On December 26, 1997, near the affluent community of Bainbridge Island off the coast of Seattle, a house went up in flames. In it was the shy, beloved minister's wife Dawn Hacheney. When the fire was extinguished, investigators found only her charred remains. Her husband Nick was visibly devastated by the loss. What investigators failed to note, however, was that Dawn's lungs didn't contain smoke. Was she dead before the fire began? So begins this true crime story that's unlike any other. It investigates Nick Hacheney, a philandering minister who had been carrying on with several women in the months before and just after his wife's death. He would be convicted for the murder five years to the day after the crime. From one of the foremost names in true crime, Twisted Faith is a gripping and truly unforgettable story of a man whose charisma and desire rocked an entire community.

A highly praised author ("The Smoke of Satan, American Exorcism") returns with the true story of a minister's bodyguard, his beautiful mistresses, and a brutal triple homicide. photos. Original.

England entered the nineteenth century having lost the American states and was at war with France. The slave trade had been halted and the country was in torment, with industrialisation throwing men and women out of work as poverty haunted their lives. As the merchants of England and America saw their businesses stagnate and profits plummet, everyone blamed the government and its policies. Those in charge were alarmed and businessmen, who were believed to be exploiting the poor, were murdered. Assassination indeed stalked the streets. The man at the centre of the storm was Prime Minister Spencer Perceval. From the higher reaches of society to the beggar looking for bread, many wanted him dead, due to policies brought about by his inflexible religious convictions and his belief that he was appointed by God. In May 1812 he entered the Lobby of the Houses of Parliament when a man stepped forward and fired a pistol at him. The lead ball entered into his heart. Within minutes he was dead. Using freshly-discovered archive material, this book explores the assassin's thoughts and actions through his own writings. Using his background in psychology, the author explores the question of the killer's sanity and the fairness of his subsequent trial. Within its pages the reader will find an account of the murder of Spencer Perceval and a well-developed portrait of his assassin.

Meet the unconventional Aggie Sloan-Wilcox, a minister's wife with her own calling: helping troubled souls in need of justice. When the naked body of a murdered woman turns up on Aggie's front porch--and suspicion falls on Aggie's husband--she doesn't have a prayer of clearing his name unless she can uncover the truth in a town not known for confessing its sins.

Publisher description

This “superbly written true-crime story” (Michael Lewis, The New York Times Book Review) masterfully brings together the tales of a serial killer in 1970s Alabama and of Harper Lee, the beloved author of To Kill a Mockingbird, who tried to write his story. Reverend Willie Maxwell was a rural preacher accused of murdering five of his family members, but with the help of a savvy lawyer, he escaped justice for years until a relative assassinated him at the funeral of his last victim. Despite hundreds of witnesses, Maxwell’s murderer was acquitted—thanks to the same attorney who had previously defended the reverend himself. Sitting in the audience during the vigilante’s trial was Harper Lee, who spent a year in town reporting on the Maxwell case and many more trying to finish the book she called The Reverend. Cep brings this remarkable story to life, from the horrifying murders to the courtroom drama to the racial politics of the Deep South, while offering a deeply moving portrait of one of our most revered writers.

Church pandemonium, as congregants begin to drop like flies, after drinking arsenic-laced coffee just after the liberal Unitarian church Sunday morning service. Four later die, including Alicia Holmes, a visiting minister. Riverton, Alabama's new Police Chief and church member, Donald Ginsburg, has just witnessed the whole ugly scene. He's already deemed suspicious to many in the Bible belt town, as the bi-racial grandson of Riverton's black activist Eulah Jefferson, and the son of a New York Jewish university philosophy professor, Ginsberg has barely beaten out police Lieutenant Rudy Woolard, the acting white Chief (whose loyalty may be questionable) for the job. A sarcastic local newspaperman doesn't make Ginsberg's job easier. Widower Ginsberg is being hotly pursued by local amorous gospel singer Amanda Jackson, while secretly harboring a yen for an exotic Eurasian nurse who attends the church. Fourteen-year old son Alonso is the victim of the school bully, further complicating the cop's life. Searching for a motive, and after wading through various church longtime grudge holders, Ginsberg winds up with a prime suspect, a disgruntled Lesbian who's fearful that her minister partner might find a new love in this new church setting; money may play a motivating role, too.

When Pastor Matthew Winkler was found dead at his Fourth Street Church of Christ parsonage in Selmer, Tennessee, both police investigators and parishioners were shaken and mystified: How could evil strike this cradle of faith? Meanwhile, Mrs. Winkler and her three daughters were still missing... A frantic search for Mary Winkler and the girls ensued. Once they were found, on a beach in Alabama, Mary was charged with murdering her husband in cold blood. But why did Mary pull the trigger? What sexual and psychological abuses did she allege she had suffered? In the months that followed, the crime—and the Winkler's marriage—would be exposed by the national media; Mary herself even appeared on Oprah. Set in a world of domineering men, obedient wives, and unshakable faith, this is the true story about what happened to Matthew Winkler and THE PASTOR'S WIFE