John Fleury

The last meals of death row convicts fascinate us because they offer an insight into a disturbed mind shortly before its owner's death. The last meal is a way for the system to offer a last-minute nod to humanity--that although these murderers, rapists, and villains listed inside may have performed inhuman acts, they are still indeed human. The irony of feeding a criminal before killing them by electrocution or lethal injection is not missed on many of the inmates, as we shall see from some of their choices. Controversial and fascinating, the last meals of the condemned will continue to make headlines as long as the death penalty exists. This book contains both a brief history of the chefs who make the meals and the stories behind the last meals of over two dozen famous death row inmates (recipes are also included, of course).

In the crime-ridden Chicago of the Prohibition era, gangsters like Al Capone battled for power, but few went to the extreme lengths that Capone did on Valentine's Day in 1929. The Saint Valentine's Day Massacre is one of the most notorious gang murders of all time. This short book, the first in the "Crime Shorts" series, gives you a page-turning look at one of the most notorious criminals of all time, and the massacre he masterminded to finally gain control of the bootleg liquor trade.

Any fan of mobs and gangsters will get a kick out of this anthology of organized crime; three stories are included. They include The Fighting Parson, Public Enemy #1, and Sam the Cigar. These books may always be purchased individually.

★★★ The Original Public Enemy of the F. B. I. ★★★Before John Dillinger, Pretty Boy Floyd, and Baby Face Nelson made the term "Public Enemy" famous, there was Alvin Karpis--one of the ruthless leaders of the Barker-Karpis gang. It was him that J. Edgar Hoover first thought worthy of the title Public EnemyIn a page-turning style, this true crime book traces his criminal origins from his young days as a bootlegger to his ultimate demise.

The oceans can be a dangerous place; Captain Richard Phillips knew this. Still he never imagined what would happen to him or his crew on April 8, 2009, when Somalian pirates boarded and captured his ship. With the gripping narrative of a page-turning thriller novel, this book recounts the capture of the Alabama by pirates, and the daring rescue of the hostages.