Book to Movie Alert

Black Mass: The Irish Mob, the Fbi, and a Devil's Deal by Dick Lehr

John Connolly and James "Whitey" Bulger grew up together on the tough streets of South Boston. Decades later, they met again when Connolly was a major figure in the FBI's Boston office and Bulger was godfather of the Irish Mob. This is the true story of what happened between them as a dark deal spiraled out of control, leading to drug dealing, racketeering, and murder. (Publisher Summary)

Vendetta: Bobby Kennedy Versus Jimmy Hoffa by James Neff

From 1957 to 1964, Robert Kennedy and Jimmy Hoffa channeled nearly all of their considerable powers into destroying each other. Kennedy's battle with Hoffa burst into the public consciousness with the 1957 Senate Rackets Committee hearings and intensified when his brother named him attorney general in 1961. RFK put together a "Get Hoffa" squad within the Justice Department, devoted to destroying one man. But Hoffa, with nearly unlimited Teamster funds, was not about to roll over.

Drawing upon a treasure trove of previously secret and undisclosed documents, Vendetta by James Neff has crafted a brilliant, heart-pounding epic of crime and punishment, a saga of venom and relentlessness and two men willing to do anything to demolish each other. (Publisher Summary)

The white-hot courtroom battles between Jimmy Hoffa and Robert F. Kennedy gripped the United States during some of the bleakest days of the Cold War. Neff captures the tension and hatred between the men in this impressively researched page-turner. (Library Journal Reviews)

View the Black Mass Official Movie Trailer Below

Based on the popular true crime novel, Black Mass: Whitey Bulger, the FBI, and a Devil's Deal by Dick Lehr and Gerard O'Neill is set to release in the fall, Black Mass, starring Johnny Depp as Whitey Bulger, the brother of a state senator and the most infamous violent criminal in the history of South Boston, who became an FBI informant to take down a Mafia family invading his turf is sure to please all fans of true crime. Check out the official movie trailer below and don't forget to add the book to your summer reading list!

Terrifying True Crime

Sometimes true stories are scarier than fiction.  If true crime is your thing, check out one of these sinister stories at your Community Library.

• True crime author Ann Rule was friends with Ted Bundy long before anyone suspected he was a serial killer.  Working together side by side at a suicide prevention hotline, the two grew to be quite close.  Rule details Bundy's deadly charisma in The Stranger Beside Me.

•  Three year old Sayville Kent was brutally murdered in 1860 in an isolated country house inhabited by a limited number of suspects.  Although the detective correctly names the murderer, he considers his reputation to be forever ruined.  Kate Summersgale's The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher is a wonderfully suspenseful historically accurate mystery that details the birth of modern forensic investigations.

• In The Devil in the White City, Erik Larson follows Dr. H.H. Holmes, the serial killer who haunted the 1893 Chicago World's Fair along with the fair's architect, David Burnham as he worked tirelessly to ensure the fair was a success.  Written like an novel, Larson not only describes Holmes' horrific crimes but the sky reaching potential of the World's Fair as well.

Was The "Green Beret Killer" Wrongly Convicted?

You may know Errol Morris as an award winning documentarian, but he's also an author.  In A Wilderness of Error: The Trials of Jeffrey MacDonald,  Morris investigates the case of the notorious "Green Beret Killer" convicted 30 years ago of murdering his family.  Over the years, MacDonald has maintained his innocence and has insisted that his loved ones were slaughtered by four hippies.  After two decades of investigation, Morris concludes many of the things we think we know about the case are flawed and that MacDonald may in fact be innocent.  Not just an exploration of the case, A Wilderness of Error poses hard questions about the nature of proof, the media, and our whole criminal justice system.

New Nonfiction: 'Will to Kill'

Fans of both true crime and murder mysteries might want to check out the new book The Will to Kill: Making Sense of Senseless Murder, which analyzes the circumstances in which people kill one another.  Looking at homicide statistics and trends, the authors thoroughly cover the topic of murder from hate crimes to domestic and workplace killings, and they examine criminals from juvenile first-time offenders to serial killers.  The book also looks at the criminal justice system's response to these crimes, a nice bonus for armchair sleuths (or would-be authors of police procedurals) who want to learn what really happens during a murder investigation and trial.

Family curse explored 'The Devil's Right Hand'

If the intersection of the real world and the supernatural thrills you, you may enjoy the new book The Devil's Right Hand: The Tragic Story of the Colt Family Curse by M. William Phelps. The legacy of the Colt family of gunmakers is largely remembered for a lurid murder case that inspired Edgar Allan Poe's story "The Oblong Box," but it encompassed much more. Part historical true-crime, part family biography and cultural history, The Devil's Right Hand is a stirring narrative about a darkly cursed American dynasty.

Families in the Aftermath of Tragedy

Did you enjoy the new book The Night Strangers by Chris Bohaljian?  For other stories about families in the aftermath of tragedy, Shelf Awareness recommends the following three books. Tess of the D'Urbervilles is a work of classic literature in which the lower-class Tess becomes the victim of her father's desire to rise in society.  In the fictional Red Hook Road, the accidental death of a newlywed couplebrings out the simmering class tensions in a Maine resort town.  Finally, A Rip In Heaven is the true story of the author's brother and two female cousins who were raped, pushed off a bridge, and left for dead.  Got any other suggestions for this topic?  Share them by commenting!

Caught Reading

Community Library member Antoinette L. was recently talking with librarian in the true crime section (362), and shared an enthusiastic recommendation for Cruel Death.  In this true story, a college-educated woman and her Navy SEAL husband rob, murder, and dismember two vacationers in Ocean City, Maryland.  Read all about the crime and its aftermath in Cruel Death by M. William Phelps.  If you like it, though, you may have to get in line behind Antoinette to check out other books by this true crime author...