Safe harbor

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Rachel Howard

Ten-year-old Rachel Howard woke to the sight of blood on the hallway carpet and a glimpse of her father clutching his stabbed throat. Stan Howard died minutes later, and his bizarre small-town murder was never solved. Rachel's father was a laid-back, handsome man with no known enemies. Faced with her family's shock, Rachel coped by keeping silent and trying to pretend the murder had never happened. Seventeen years later, Rachel attempts to uncover what happened that night. Finally reconnecting with her father's family, she sorts through their memories of his death and presses the less-than-helpful detectives. Still bewildered, she seeks the only other two people present at the murder: her former stepmother and stepbrother, neither of whom she has seen since her father's funeral. The result is a tender portrait of a father and an investigation of memory, truth, and how a family moves on.--From publisher description.

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Joseph Wambaugh

A true murder story, this book is based on the Main Line Murder Case in which a high school teacher was found dead in an automobile in Upper Merion, Pennsylvania, and her two children had disappeared.

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Frank Jones

The book was absorbing but too little detail is given for each of the cases. The author tends to be a bit biased in his reporting. Overall a chilling and quick read for true crime fans.

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Jerry Bledsoe

When North Carolina farmer Stuart Taylor died after a sudden illness, his 46-year-old fiancée Velma Barfield, was overcome with grief. Taylor's family grieved with her―until the autopsy revealed traces of arsenic poisoning. Turned over to the authorities by her own son, Velma stunned her family with more revelations. This wasn't the first time the born-again Christian and devout Sunday school teacher had committed cold-blooded murder. Tried by the "world's deadliest prosecutor," and sentenced to death, Velma turned her life around and gained worldwide attention With chilling precision,New York Times bestselling author Bledsoe probes Velma's stark descent into madness. From her harrowing childhood to the shocking crimes that incited a national debate over the death penalty, to the dark, final moments of her execution―broadcast live on CNN―Velma Barfield's riveting life of crime and punishment, revenge and redemption is true crime reporting at its most gripping and profound.