#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE STARRING MICHAEL B. JORDAN AND JAMIE FOXX • A powerful true story about the potential for mercy to redeem us, and a clarion call to fix our broken system of justice—from one of the most brilliant and influential lawyers of our time. “[Bryan Stevenson’s] dedication to fighting for justice and equality has inspired me and many others and made a lasting impact on our country.”—John LegendNAMED ONE OF THE MOST INFLUENTIAL BOOKS OF THE DECADE BY CNN • Named One of the Best Books of the Year by The New York Times • The Washington Post • The Boston Globe • The Seattle Times • Esquire • Time Bryan Stevenson was a young lawyer when he founded the Equal Justice Initiative, a legal practice dedicated to defending those most desperate and in need: the poor, the wrongly condemned, and women and children trapped in the farthest reaches of our criminal justice system. One of his first cases was that of Walter McMillian, a young man who was sentenced to die for a notorious murder he insisted he didn’t commit. The case drew Bryan into a tangle of conspiracy, political machination, and legal brinksmanship—and transformed his understanding of mercy and justice forever. Just Mercy is at once an unforgettable account of an idealistic, gifted young lawyer’s coming of age, a moving window into the lives of those he has defended, and an inspiring argument for compassion in the pursuit of true justice.Winner of the Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction • Winner of the NAACP Image Award for Nonfiction • Winner of a Books for a Better Life Award • Finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize • Finalist for the Kirkus Reviews Prize • An American Library Association Notable Book“Every bit as moving as To Kill a Mockingbird, and in some ways more so . . . a searing indictment of American criminal justice and a stirring testament to the salvation that fighting for the vulnerable sometimes yields.”—David Cole, The New York Review of Books “Searing, moving . . . Bryan Stevenson may, indeed, be America’s Mandela.”—Nicholas Kristof, The New York Times “You don’t have to read too long to start cheering for this man. . . . The message of this book . . . is that evil can be overcome, a difference can be made. Just Mercy will make you upset and it will make you hopeful.”—Ted Conover, The New York Times Book Review “Inspiring . . . a work of style, substance and clarity . . . Stevenson is not only a great lawyer, he’s also a gifted writer and storyteller.”—The Washington Post “As deeply moving, poignant and powerful a book as has been, and maybe ever can be, written about the death penalty.”—The Financial Times “Brilliant.”—The Philadelphia Inquirer Read more

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Sam Jordan’s dreams of legal stardom are long dead. Fired from his three previous law firms, he now spends his days handling fender benders and his nights drowning his frustrations in video games. When his wife announces she needs “space,” Sam hits a new low.Then Gina—the woman who’s haunted his thoughts since college—unexpectantly reappears in his life, reigniting a passion Sam thought he’d buried. A romantic dinner rekindles his long-suppressed desires, and sparks a dangerous fantasy, a future with Gina, no matter the cost..That dream shatters when Gina’s husband is found brutally murdered, their bedroom walls splattered with blood. Gina abruptly cuts ties with Sam, and he’s thrust into the center of a sprawling murder investigation.As the prime suspect, can Sam navigate a treacherous web of lies, betrayal, and deadly secrets to defend himself against a damning tide of evidence?”A gripping combination of suspense and legal drama, James Rosenberg’s latest legal thriller mixes Gone Girl with Grisham, carving out a heart-pounding tale of obsession and justice gone awry. Read more

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • LOOK FOR THE NETFLIX ORIGINAL DOCUMENTARY SERIES • “Both an American tragedy and [Grisham’s] strongest legal thriller yet, all the more gripping because it happens to be true.”—Entertainment WeeklyJohn Grisham’s first work of nonfiction: a true crime masterpiece that tells the story of small town justice gone terribly awry. In the Major League draft of 1971, the first player chosen from the state of Oklahoma was Ron Williamson. When he signed with the Oakland A’s, he said goodbye to his hometown of Ada and left to pursue his dreams of big league glory. Six years later he was back, his dreams broken by a bad arm and bad habits. He began to show signs of mental illness. Unable to keep a job, he moved in with his mother and slept twenty hours a day on her sofa. In 1982, a twenty-one-year-old cocktail waitress in Ada named Debra Sue Carter was raped and murdered, and for five years the police could not solve the crime. For reasons that were never clear, they suspected Ron Williamson and his friend Dennis Fritz. The two were finally arrested in 1987 and charged with capital murder. With no physical evidence, the prosecution’s case was built on junk science and the testimony of jailhouse snitches and convicts. Dennis Fritz was found guilty and given a life sentence. Ron Williamson was sent to death row. If you believe that in America you are innocent until proven guilty, this book will shock you. If you believe in the death penalty, this book will disturb you. If you believe the criminal justice system is fair, this book will infuriate you.Don’t miss Framed, John Grisham’s first work of nonfiction since The Innocent Man, co-authored with Centurion Ministries founder Jim McCloskey. Read more

STORM OF SUSPICION: The Karen Read Murder Trialsisan electrifying, real-time courtroom thriller and the gripping personal account of author Kevin Lenihan’s detailed examination of the evidence—both known and what he’s discovered—as well as the dark rumors, courtroom bombshells, and conspiracy theories that are at the heart of two of the most explosive and controversial murder trials of the decade.The case began in the midst of a massive snowstorm in 2022 and ended the first time in a mistrial. Now, more than two years later, it is poised to ignite in a Boston courtroom once again.At question is whether Karen Read, a 43-year-old college professor, is responsible as charged for the cold-blooded murder of her boyfriend, John O’Keefe, a Boston police officer? Or was she framed, by the real killer—another cop—covering his tracks with the help of a corrupt law enforcement establishment?In STORM OF SUSPICION, Lenihan, the COURT TV expert commentator in the case, breaks down the key evidence and shocking conspiracy theories from the first trial. Then he does a deep dive into how the new trial will be fought by both sides, as well as in the court of public opinion, with new revelations, unanticipated twists, and a storm of suspicion. Read more

Not every woman is meant to be a mother.In The Murder of Jennyann: A Shocking True Crime Story, Rod Kackley unravels the harrowing true story of Martha Ann Johnson—a woman whose desperate attempts to keep her husband, Earl, from leaving her took a devastating toll on her innocent children.Each time Earl strayed, Ann’s fury grew darker, and tragedy struck. She called it bad luck. But Earl and his best friend, Stanley, suspected something far more sinister, even as their suspicions fell on deaf ears. Despite their pleas, law enforcement, medical professionals, and social services overlooked the warning signs, allowing Ann’s deadly patterns to continue unchecked.For seven years, the investigation grew cold—until a newspaper story revived interest, catching the attention of a police detective who launched a crusade for justice.The Murder of Jennyann: A Shocking True Crime Story isn’t just the tale of a mother turned murderer—it’s an indictment of the systems meant to protect the vulnerable, systems that ultimately failed Ann’s children.This is a new and enhanced edition of one of Rod’s first books, Mommy Deadliest, featuring fresh twists, refined storytelling, and deeper character insights. Rediscover the story as it was meant to be told.Through chilling details and meticulous research, Rod Kackley explores the broken institutions that ignored the warning signs and the tragic consequences that followed.This haunting, deeply moving story will captivate true crime fans, leaving them to wonder how many lives might have been saved if someone had only listened. Read more

"Masterfully crafted tale of one of history’s greatest unsolved crimes.” - BookLife Reviews, Editor's PickDid Lizzie Borden really murder her parents?“Lizzie Borden took an axe,Gave her mother forty whacks,When she saw what she had done,She gave her father forty one.”On the morning of August 4, 1892, Abby and Andrew Borden were brutally murdered in their home just a few steps from passersby on busy Second Street. No trace of the killer or killers was found.There were suspects, though.The daughters, Emma and Lizzie Borden, were suddenly wealthy women. Lizzie and the Borden family maid, Bridget, had both been home at the time of the murders but swore they saw nothing. Uncle John had stayed, unexpectedly, in the Borden guest room the night before the murders, though he'd brought no luggage.Lizzie quickly became the focus of attention and then the main suspect.But did she kill?Exhaustively researched, Killing the Bordens tells the true crime Borden murder mystery and the life of Lizzie Borden as a novel, and reveals who committed the murders, how, and why. Read more

The fascinating story of how two brothers—one an English professor, the other a cop, and as different as night and day—tag team as authors to solve North Carolina’s most notorious cold case …A MURDER ON CAMPUS: The Professor, The Cop, And North Carolina’s Most Notorious Cold Case by Brian and Cameron Santana is a true crime investigation that unveils the shocking story behind the brutal 1973 murder on campus of 19-year-old Virginia Marie Olson.On April 15, 1973, two high school students discovered Olson’s body near the campus of the University of North Carolina-Asheville. The cold case that followed would span over 50 years, involving three generations of detectives and the Asheville Police Department and North Carolina SBI as they worked tirelessly to uncover the truth. Olson’s murder was horrifically violent—she had been bound, raped, and stabbed to death, leaving the Asheville community in shock.The true crime book takes readers through law enforcement’s dramatic efforts to find Olson’s killer, facing numerous obstacles along the way, from the abduction of another UNCA student in 1974 to a rape and murder victim's body discovered near Olson’s crime scene in 1978. Whispers about the killer's identity have circulated for decades, with theories ranging from an escaped mental health patient to one of North Carolina’s most notorious serial killers—until now.A MURDER ON CAMPUS is the first to tell the gripping story of this unsolved crime and the surprising twists that led to the authors' revelation of the killer’s identity in North Carolina's most notorious cold cases. Written by two brothers, one a cop and the other an English professor, this book offers a unique and fascinating perspective on a case that has haunted Buncombe County for generations. Read more

The 2011 murder of Karen Swift sent shockwaves throughout the nation, capturing widespread media attention. However, as years passed with little progress in the case, many began to lose hope for justice. Nearly a decade later, private investigator heather Cohen and her assistant Tracey Ellis arrived in Dyersburg, Tennessee, reigniting public interest with their compelling podcast, "The Justice Warriors." Through this book, they reveal the untold story of how they opened Pandora's box, triggering a chain of events that uncovers what they believe to be a significant cover-up and obstruction of justice. This is not just a retelling of a tragic event; it's a powerful call to seek the truth and demand accountability. Read more

One of the New York Times’s Best Books of the 21st CenturyNamed one of the most important nonfiction books of the 21st century by Entertainment Weekly‚ Slate‚ Chronicle of Higher Education‚ Literary Hub, Book Riot‚ and ZoraA tenth-anniversary edition of the iconic bestseller—"one of the most influential books of the past 20 years," according to the Chronicle of Higher Education—with a new preface by the author"It is in no small part thanks to Alexander's account that civil rights organizations such as Black Lives Matter have focused so much of their energy on the criminal justice system." —Adam Shatz, London Review of BooksSeldom does a book have the impact of Michelle Alexander's The New Jim Crow. Since it was first published in 2010, it has been cited in judicial decisions and has been adopted in campus-wide and community-wide reads; it helped inspire the creation of the Marshall Project and the new $100 million Art for Justice Fund; it has been the winner of numerous prizes, including the prestigious NAACP Image Award; and it has spent nearly 250 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list.Most important of all, it has spawned a whole generation of criminal justice reform activists and organizations motivated by Michelle Alexander's unforgettable argument that "we have not ended racial caste in America; we have merely redesigned it." As the Birmingham News proclaimed, it is "undoubtedly the most important book published in this century about the U.S."Now, ten years after it was first published, The New Press is proud to issue a tenth-anniversary edition with a new preface by Michelle Alexander that discusses the impact the book has had and the state of the criminal justice reform movement today. Read more

In August 2015 Limerick man Jason Corbett was murdered by his wife, Molly Martens, and her father, ex-FBI agent Tom Martens, in the bedroom of their luxury North Carolina home. He had been savagely beaten to death with a baseball bat and brick while his children slept nearby. For his sister, Tracey Corbett-Lynch, and the rest of his family in Ireland it was just the beginning of the nightmare that would involve a custody battle for his orphaned children, an online hate campaign by Molly Martens and, ultimately, the gripping trial that would lead to her conviction, alongside her father, for his murder.My Brother Jason is the story of how this seemingly all-American girl from a picture-perfect family targeted the widowed Jason Corbett, becoming nanny to his children in a desperate bid to create the family and security she craved, thus setting in motion a series of events that would lead to Jason's brutal killing by the woman he had once loved.Here, for the first time, Tracey Corbett-Lynch tells her family's side of the story in a book that contains shocking revelations about Molly Marten's history of strange behaviour and the lengths she was willing to go to in order to get custody of Jason's children.With full access to Jason's letters, emails, keepsakes and photographs, it is the story of how an ordinary, loving family was torn apart by the brutal murder of their beloved brother. Read more

WHEN YOU FIGHT THE SYSTEM, THE SYSTEM FIGHTS BACKKarim Jackson, college student and social justice activist, joins a protest at a newly completed private jail in downtown Tacoma, Washington. When the director of the jail comes out to confront the protesters, a physical altercation ensues. The director ends up on the ground with a fatal head wound, and Karim ends up arrested for his murder.Attorney Talon Winter defends Karim against the murder charges, struggling to convince the prosecutor that Karim didn’t actually cause the death and anyway he was acting in self-defense. But the prosecutor isn’t going to cut a deal for someone accused of killing one of their own. When Talon gets too close to the truth, a third lawyer jumps in—a partner from Talon's old law firm, representing the private jail company.Talon battles both the power of the government and the corporate prison complex to save a man from losing his freedom for a crime he didn’t commit.STEPHEN PENNER IS AN AMAZON BESTSELLING AUTHOR WITH OVER ONE MILLION COPIES SOLDWinter’s Justice is Book 4 in the top-rated legal thriller series featuring hard-nosed criminal defense attorney Talon Winter. Each book in the series can be read as a stand-alone novel, but also follows the personal and professional growth of Talon and her friends and foes."Talon Winter is a kick-ass main character." --Amazon Reader ReviewIf you're looking for an authentic legal thriller that doesn’t shy away from the big issues in the criminal justice system, you’ll love Winter’s Justice Read more

Love & MurderKelsey Berreth, vanishes on Thanksgiving Day 2018. The FBI is afraid they’ll have to do a deal with the devil to find her.Her fiance, Patrick Frazee, says he doesn't have a clue. In fact, he says they broke up just a few days before. He's as mystified as everyone else.But Kelsey's mother, Cheryl, is afraid she knows what happened to her daughter.A task force of FBI and the Colorado Bureau of Investigation agents believe they also know what happened to Kelsey. They have cell phone records and more, including surveillance video and DNA. But they have run into a roadblock.The agents have to get someone close to the killer to flip and turn state's evidence. Are they going to have to do a deal with the devil to find justice for Kelsey Berreth?The Murder of Kelsey Berreth: A Shocking True Crime Story. This is a riveting story of a young woman's disappearance, her family's will to find out what happened, and a 21st-century police investigation that nearly cracks the case wide open. Nearly.Will the FBI do a deal with the devil to solve this crime? Read more

The author of The Way of the Gladiator continues his exploration of the dark side of history with this grisly account of pain and punishment through the ages. Human beings have a deep-seated instinct for cruelty, and, so far, have not evolved much past it. History is rife with examples of the infliction of pain used as penalty or execution. In The History of Torture, Daniel P. Mannix takes you from the crucifixions of ancient Rome, to the hanging of women during the Salem witch trials, to the atrocities discovered at Nazi concentration camps. The act of torture has shifted from simple barbarism to advanced psychological techniques thanks to science and technology. Now it’s not just an actual flogging that will have a prisoner spilling his guts, but law enforcement’s coercive tactics that might prompt a confession. Follow Mannix as he: leads you into the chambers of Inquisitors, who elevated torture to an art form; illuminates the myriad miseries of the slave trade, America’s greatest contribution to the torture hall of fame; and explains the most terrible and famous of all Chinese tortures, the Ling-chez or “death of a thousand cuts.” No country or culture is spared in this wide-reaching survey of suffering. Read more

The explosive memoir of an FBI field operative who has worked more undercover cases than anyone in history.Within FBI field operative circles, groups of people known as “Special” by their titles alone, Michael R. McGowan is an outlier. 10% of FBI Special Agents are trained and certified to work undercover. A quarter of those agents have worked more than one undercover assignment in their careers. And of those, less than 10% of them have been involved in more than five undercover cases. Over the course of his career, McGowan has worked more than 50 undercover cases. In this extraordinary and unprecedented book, McGowan will take readers through some of his biggest cases, from international drug busts, to the Russian and Italian mobs, to biker gangs and contract killers, to corrupt unions and SWAT work. Ghost is an unparalleled view into how the FBI, through the courage of its undercover Special Agents, nails the bad guys. McGowan infiltrates groups at home and abroad, assembles teams to create the myths he lives, concocts fake businesses, coordinates the busts, and helps carry out the arrests. Along the way, we meet his partners and colleagues at the FBI, who pull together for everything from bank jobs to the Boston Marathon bombing case, mafia dons, and, perhaps most significantly, El Chapo himself and his Sinaloa Cartel.Ghost is the ultimate insider's account of one of the most iconic institutions of American government, and a testament to the incredible work of the FBI. Read more

On 29th February 2000, John Price took out a restraining order against his girlfriend, Katherine Knight. Later that day, he told his co-workers that she had stabbed him and if he were ever to go missing, it was because Knight had killed him. The next day, Price didn’t show up for work.A co-worker was sent to check on him. They found a bloody handprint by the front door and they immediately contacted the police. The local police force was not prepared for the chilling scene they were about to encounter.Price’s body was found in a chair, legs crossed, with a bottle of lemonade under his arm. He’d been decapitated and skinned. The “skin-suit” was hanging from a meat hook in the living room and his head was found in the kitchen, in a pot of vegetables that was still warm. There were two plates on the dining table, each had the name of one of Price's children on it. She was attempting to serve his body parts to his children.Man-Eater is a dramatic and gripping account of the first women in Australia to be given a life sentence without parole and a special addendum ‘never to be released’. Ryan Green’s riveting narrative draws the reader into the real-live horror experienced by the victim and has all the elements of a classic thriller.CAUTION: This book contains descriptive accounts of abuse and violence. If you are especially sensitive to this material, it might be advisable not to read any further Read more

Welcome all my friends to the show that never endsUnlike the 1973 classic by Emerson, Lake, & Palmer, the New York City Police Department doesn’t want you to have a look inside. They’d prefer you stay away and not ask questions. From fudging crime statistics to clueless cronies landing in coveted positions, everything is par for the course in America’s largest police department. You only call 911 when you have a problem. From a double-parked car to the dead guy in the apartment, cops are expected to have all the answers. Unfortunately, there is no crystal ball to consult, just an outdated, eight-inch-thick NYPD patrol guide. When that fails, it’s time to get creative. Hopefully, the remedy you choose won’t come back to haunt you. The moment you take the oath to protect and serve, you realize the job is not on the level. What happens behind the scenes at the New York City Police Department is unbelievable.Would you believe a car thief facing years in prison fled the United States to become a dentist in the Dominican Republic? How about the quirky cop who carried a roll of toilet paper everywhere he went?What about the sultry supervisor who lost her handcuff key after shackling her date to a bedpost?How an unauthorized tour of a female correctional facility led to a prison riot.Learn how a murder suspect vanished after shooting a man in the face with a silencer-equipped pistol on a Manhattan street. Retired NYPD detective Vic Ferrari takes you behind the blue wall of silence, exposing the hijinks and hypocrisy of the New York City Police Department. Whether it’s a cokehead cop in a bathroom stall or a catfight over a spouse’s paycheck, there’s never a dull moment in NYPD: Presumption & Dysfunction. Read more

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Shortlisted for Columbia Journalism School’s J. Anthony Lukas AwardA Publishers Lunch NonFiction Buzz Book| Named Most Anticipated by Los Angeles Times A leading authority on sheriffs investigates the impunity with which they police their communities, alongside the troubling role they play in American life, law enforcement, and, increasingly, national politics. The figure of the American sheriff has loomed large in popular imagination, though given the outsize jurisdiction sheriffs have over people’s lives, the office of sheriffs remains a gravely under-examined institution. Locally elected, largely unaccountable, and difficult to remove, the country’s over three thousand sheriffs, mostly white men, wield immense power—making arrests, running county jails, enforcing evictions and immigration laws—with a quarter of all U.S. law enforcement officers reporting to them. In recent years there’s been a revival of “constitutional sheriffs,” who assert that their authority supersedes that of legislatures, courts, and even the president. They’ve protested federal mask and vaccine mandates and gun regulations, railed against police reforms, and, ultimately, declared themselves election police, with many endorsing the “Big Lie” of a stolen presidential election. They are embraced by far-right militia groups, white nationalists, the Claremont Institute, and former president Donald Trump, who sees them as allies in mass deportation and border policing. How did a group of law enforcement officers decide that they were “above the law?” What are the stakes for local and national politics, and for America as a multi-racial democracy?    Blending investigative reporting, historical research, and political analysis, author Jessica Pishko takes us to the roots of why sheriffs have become a flashpoint in the current politics of toxic masculinity, guns, white supremacy, and rural resentment, and uncovers how sheriffs have effectively evaded accountability since the nation’s founding. A must-read for fans of Michelle Alexander, Gilbert King, Elizabeth Hinton, and Kathleen Belew. Read more

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