Dead just one week into her Australian honeymoon, Tina Watson's body lay a hundred feet below the ocean's surface at the foot of the Great Barrier Reef. Across the globe, three days into a secret Aruban getaway with an older gentleman she met online, Robyn Gardner vanished from the same Aruban town as Natalee Holloway just five years earlier.

Why did Robyn Gardner's travel companion purchase a $1.5 million insurance policy and make himself the beneficiary? Did Tina Watson's husband really insist she increase her life insurance coverage to $1 million before the wedding? When both suspects' stories are deemed suspicious, what does the evidence ultimately reveal?

Motive and opportunity gave the media full opportunity to cast these suspects as murderers. But what actually happened? And what is it about this pair of bizarre cases that remains brutally chilling to this day? FATAL SUNSE6T: VANISHED BEAUTY-Mark Yoshimoto Nemkoff

Weaver and fiber artist Edith “Pen” Meyer knew her friend Sandy Merritt’s relationship with a married man was wrong. She had even urged Sandy to take out a restraining order against Kenneth Carpenter. Which was why her call to Sandy on February 23, 2005, seemed to come from out of the blue. During it, she told Sandy to drop the restraining order and get back together with Ken. 

Pen was never seen again. 

One man stood to gain from Pen’s disappearance: Ken Carpenter. But evidence was bleak: no blood, no DNA, no body. Until detectives found notes hidden beneath a leather chair that turned out to be a playbook for murder…NOTES ON A KILLING-Kevin Flynn

John Sohus, a twenty-something resident of San Marino, California, was allegedly murdered in 1985 by con man Christian Karl Gerhartsreiter, who has become infamous under his most-known alias, Clark Rockefeller. Rockefeller, the prime suspect in Sohus murder, may have been the last person to see him alive. Nine years after his death, Sohus bones were dug up in the backyard of the home he once shared with his wife Linda, whose whereabouts remain unknown. Rockefeller s 2008 arrest for abducting his daughter put him squarely in the cross-hairs of the decades-old Sohus homicide case. Upon Rockefeller s arrest, Girardot began piecing together the convoluted tale in a series of articles for the Pasadena Star-News. His research resulted in Name Dropper, which reveals inside information about the case Girardot says is the most fantastic he's seen in his 25 years as an investigative reporter. NAME DROPPER-INVESTIGATING THE CLARK ROCKEFELLER MYSTERY-Frank C. Girardot

In Tampa in 1948, known gangster Jimmy Velasco was gunned down by a hit man. In the ensuing weeks, when neither the Tampa Police Department nor Hillsborough made an arrest, Jimmy’s brothers took the investigation to the governor, who ordered a grand jury investigation. In February 1949, the findings were revealed. Among the discoveries was a “pay off” list written by Velasco prior to his death detailing the public officials he paid off to remain immune to law enforcement. The public was captivated by the news and rumors swirled over who was named. The grand jury never released the names on the list and it has been locked away ever since. TAMPA BAY ORGANIZED CRIME-Paul Guzzo

This list detailed a who is who of Tampa's leadership, from judges to city councilman to the mayor and sheriff. Some of these names are old hat, exposed years later by the Kefauver Commission. Others are new and previously thought up-standing leaders.

A beautiful, young American woman was kidnapped and confined against her will in the putrid depths of Tijuana, Mexico. Drugged and tortured, she lived in constant fear for her life. Kidnapped by the Cartel opens the doors into the secret covens of Mexican Organized Crime, a terrifying place where many are lost forever. The slimy backstreets of Tijuana are graphically revealed as the disgusting, gruesome, and violent places they are known to be.

The U.S. State Department has warned against non-essential travel along the United States/Mexico border, especially in the violent cities of Ciudad Juarez and Tijuana. This novel gives a taste of what goes on behind the fence. KIDNAPPED BY THE CARTEL-A NOVEL INSPIRED BY A TRUE STORY-Karen Scioscia

Where was Sandra? Across the country, parents watched with growing panic as the surveillance video was replayed on the evening news: a young girl in black leggings and a Hello Kitty t-shirt, skipping alone through the mobile home park where she lived. Her bouncing steps carried her quickly across the screen and beyond the camera's view-just two weeks after she celebrated her eighth birthday, Sandra Cantu disappeared. Within days, panic gave way to horror when investigators reported that Sandra's neighbor, 28-year-old Melissa Huckaby, had been arrested and charged with the rape and murder of the young girl. Sandra's death at the hands of a trusted adult female sent a powerful message to parents everywhere: The days of warning against "Stranger Danger" are long gone, having been replaced by an even darker era where stereotypes no longer exist and families can never be sure who to trust. SEARCHING FOR SANDRA-THE STORY BEHIND THE DISAPPEARANCE OF SANDRA CANTU-Stacy Dittrich

From ancient Rome through the Dark Ages to the burgeoning West to the open highways of urban America, from the unconscionable exploits of French religious zealot Gilles de Rais to such all-American monsters as Jeffrey Dahmer and Aileen Wournos, Katherine Ramsland makes an eye-opening case for the existence of serial killers throughout time, and offers a complete chronological record of the serial-killer phenomenon-as well as the parallel development of psychology, forensic science, and FBI profiling in the serial killer's evolving manifestation throughout human history. THE HUMAN PREDATOR-A HISTORICAL CHRONICLE OF SERIAL MURDER AND FORENSIC INVESTIGATION-Katherine Ramsland

For twenty-five years, John E. Douglas worked for the FBI, where he headed the elite Investigative Support Unit. The real-life model for FBI Agent Jack Crawford in "The Silence of the Lambs", he's had a brilliant and terrifying career, getting inside the minds of notorious murderers and serial killers including Ted Bundy, John Wayne Gacy, and David Berkowitz (Son of Sam). Written with long-time collaborator Mark Olshaker, "Law & Disorder" is Douglas' most provocative and personal book to date. In it, he addresses every law enforcement professional's worst nightmare: those cases where, for one reason or another, justice was delayed ...or even denied. Through a series of character-driven case histories - from the earliest trials in Salem, Massachusetts to the bungled trial of Amanda Knox - Douglas shows what happens when the system breaks down and bias, media coverage, and other influences get in the way of a dispassionate pursuit of the evidence. Here also are Douglas' personal reflections on his ongoing search for the truth - from painful lessons learned early in his career to his controversial findings in the West Memphis Three and Jon Benet Ramsey investigations. Brimming with procedural detail, "Law & Disorder" is an eye-opening insider's account of the exhilaration and frustration that attend the quest for justice. LAW AND DISORDER-Mark Olshaker

The behavior and activities exhibited by offenders that distinguish lust murderers from among other types of serial murderers are presented through a multiple case studies analysis of the offenders' psychosocial histories and offense patterns. The lust murderers examined include Theodore Bundy, Jeffrey Dahmer, and Dennis Rader. The study advocates that a primary function of the development of typologies is to provide aid and assistance in the investigation of violent crime, specifically violent sexualized homicides. EROTOPHONOPHILIA-INVESTIGATING LUST MURDER-Janet McClellan

What goes through the dark minds of such notorious killers as Ted Bundy, Jeffrey Dahmer, David Berkowitz ("Son of Sam"), John Wayne Gacy, Dennis Rader (the "BTK Killer"), and others? In this chilling book, you'll read exactly what they were thinking in their own words as they committed horrible crimes. Using court transcripts and police interviews, veteran true-crime and crime-fiction writer Tom Philbin has compiled the testimony of twenty infamous serial killers-nineteen men and one woman.

For fans of crime stories who look for realism, this book is like no other. The descriptions couldn't be more realistic since, in effect, the book is written by the serial killers themselves. Their words range from the bizarre and weirdly fascinating to the revolting and horrific.

In each case, Philbin provides a background profile to give readers a sense of the context from which these monsters emerged. Though they come from different backgrounds, nationalities, and generations, their words do reveal certain common elements. Not one evinces any sense of compassion or sensitivity in regard to their victims. They appear to be unable to control the impulses that lead them to kill. And in many cases, they derive a perverse sexual satisfaction from their deeds.

Taking true-crime reading to a new level of immediacy, this disturbing book offers a glimpse into the worst side of human nature. I, MONSTER-SERIAL KILLERS IN THEIR OWN CHILLING WORDS-Tom Philbin