The night before Easter 1905, Miranda Bricker left her sister’s house and made her way through the darkness. Her destination was her living quarters and place of employment, the Maplehurst mansion, the home of Mount Vernon, Ohio’s leading industrialist. Within sight of her destination, an attacker emerged from the darkness, rushing her from behind. Their battle cut across the Maplehurst lawn, ending in Bricker’s death before witnesses could be sure what was happening. The killer melted away into the night.

My guest is Mark Sebastian Jordan, author of "The Maplehurst Murder: Mount Vernon’s Most Infamous Unsolved Crime". He walks us through Miranda's horrific murder, the bloodhound hunt that led to the sheriff's prime suspect, and the suspect's eventual death.

The author's Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/marksebastianjordan/

The author's publisher's page: https://www.arcadiapublishing.com/collections/vendors?q=Mark%20S%20Jordan&contributorID=18602

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(Orig Pub Date 8/10/2016) My conversation with author Mark Lee Gardner continues, about his book "Shot All to Hell: Jesse James, the Northfield Raid, and the Wild West's Greatest Escape". In the second part of the story, we talk about the James-Younger Gang's flight into the Big Woods of southern Minnesota, and the difficulties that they faced navigating through unknown territory, and also the troubles the local posses had finding them.

The author's website: https://songofthewest.com/

This is the 150th Anniversary of the Raid! Visit the official The Defeat of Jesse James Days website for more about the festivities: https://www.djjd.org/

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(Orig pub date: 8/3/2016) Much has been written about Jesse James, including his gang's ill-fated trip to Northfield, Minnesota, a botched bank raid met with death and tragedy, but never told like this. Mark Lee Gardner, author of "Shot All to Hell: Jesse James, the Northfield Raid and the Wild West's Greatest Escape", joins me to tell the story of the James-Younger gang's foray north from Missouri and the chaos that followed.

The author's website: https://songofthewest.com/

This is the 150th Anniversary of the Raid! Visit the official The Defeat of Jesse James Days website for more about the festivities: https://www.djjd.org/

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My guest this week is Merry Gordon, author of Arizona's Murdered Madams: Death in the Red-Light Districts. She shares the stories of two of Territorial Arizona's most infamous madams, former Mormon Minnie Powers and "Belgian Jennie" Bauters, including the cold-blooded murders that ended their lives. She also talks about the colorful and often dangerous world of sex workers in the Old West.

The author's Amazon page: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Merry-Gordon/author/B07F99X97T

The author's publisher page: https://www.arcadiapublishing.com/products/arizonas-murdered-madams-9781467171069

The author on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/merrygordonwrites/

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In May of 1832, an American whaleship called the Mentor went down on a remote reef in the western Pacific. Of the crew, eleven men made it out alive, but surviving the wreck was only the beginning. They found themselves stranded on unfamiliar shores, running low on supplies, and before long they were face to face with the Indigenous people of Palau, who approached them cautiously and heavily armed.

My returning guest is best-selling author Eric Jay Dolin, and his new book is called The Wreck of the Mentor: A True Story of Death, Despair, and Deliverance in the Age of Sail. In this conversation he walks us through the shipwreck, the crew's captivity, the clash of cultures and much more.

The author's website: https://www.ericjaydolin.com/

The author on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ericjayd/

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My guest is New York Times bestselling author Phyllis Karas. She shares the deeply personal story of two shocking tragedies in her family history: a 1935 car accident that killed six relatives, and the brutal 1954 murder of a Massachusetts seamstress named Ora Schonarth that sent her cousin Ronnie to prison. She also explores how the trauma of both events reverberated through her family for generations. Her new book, Curse of the Blumenthals, is out now.

The author's website: https://www.phylliskaras.com/

The author's publisher page: https://www.simonandschuster.com/authors/Phyllis-Karas/260784571

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(Orig pub date: 6/21/22) In the early morning hours of October 17, 1953, a frightened, battered woman named Diane Wells told a horrific tale to police. She said intruders had broken into the top-floor penthouse apartment she shared with her husband Cecil, murdered him, beat her, and then made their escape. It was an especially sensational story because 31-year-old "blonde bombshell" Diane Wells was nicknamed "the most beautiful woman in Alaska", and Cecil (twenty years her senior) was a wealthy and well-known Fairbanks businessman.

There were suspicions, however, that Diane was lying. It was soon learned that she was having an affair with a local musician and also being comforted by a dance instructor who worked downstairs.

My guest is James T. Bartlett, author of "The Alaskan Blonde: Sex, Secrets, and the Hollywood Story that Shocked America". He shares details from his research into the almost 70 year old cold case, including an account of Diane's own tragic end.

More information about the author can be found at these links:

https://www.gourmetghosts.com/

https://www.facebook.com/thealaskanblonde

https://www.instagram.com/thealaskanblonde

https://www.twitter.com/alaskanblonde53

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In 1986, The Mystery of Al Capone’s Vaults drew a larger audience than the Super Bowl or David Frost’s interview with Richard Nixon. The special was intended as a comeback for journalist Geraldo Rivera, built around the dramatic opening of a "vault" beneath Chicago’s Lexington Hotel, rumored to contain Al Capone’s riches. But when the vault was finally opened live the moment didn’t deliver what millions of viewers were expecting.

My guest is William Hazelgrove, author of Capone’s Vault: The Real Story of the Biggest Disaster in Television History. His book traces how the idea came together, combining Rivera’s career arc with the mythology of Capone’s hidden fortune, and reconstructs the broadcast itself along with its fallout, showing how the event became a defining example of live television gone wrong.

The author's website: https://www.williamhazelgrove.com/

The author on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@williamhazelgrove

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In 1939, the crimes of German serial murderer Eugen Weidmann captivated France, culminating in a sensational trial and a public execution by guillotine, the last of its kind in the country, just weeks before the outbreak of World War II.

My guest today is Mark Braude, author of The Typewriter and the Guillotine: An American Journalist, a German Murderer, and the Meeting of Two Cultures on the Eve of World War II. In our conversation he shares how Janet Flanner’s reporting brought this case to American readers and why she saw Weidmann’s story as a chilling reflection of a continent on the brink.

The author's website: https://www.markbraude.com/

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Edward Buckley was a violent East End tough whose life unfolded in the same streets and shadows as the Whitechapel murders. Born into a rough, crime-entangled family, he grew up in a world of poverty, street gangs, and routine violence -where assaults, intimidation, and desperation were part of daily life in 1880s London.

My guest is Jonathan Tye, author of "Jack the Ripper? Edward Buckley: East End Thug and Gang Member". His book revisits the Whitechapel murders of 1888 and the years around them, bringing the focus back to the neighborhoods where they happened and the kinds of men who lived there. Could Buckley, a local thug with a documented history of brutalizing women, offer a clearer way to understand the events known as the Autumn of Terror?

The author's book on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Jack-Ripper-Edward-Buckley-Member/dp/1036115682

The author's publisher page: https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Jonathan-Tye/a/6186

The author's Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61583065492211

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(Orig. Release Date: 4/23/23) For decades following the horrific 1918 execution of the Romanov family, many hoped against hope that one or more of the children had escaped the bullets and bayonets of the Bolsheviks.  And when a young woman came forward with an incredible story - that she was the real Grand Duchess Anastasia and had in fact survived the massacre - it sent shock waves around the world.

My returning guests are Penny Wilson and Greg King, co-authors of "The Resurrection of the Romanovs: Anastasia, Anna Anderson, and the World's Greatest Royal Mystery". They present to us the evidence that proves that Anna Anderson was one of history's greatest imposters.

Their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/kingandwilson
Follow them on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AtlantisMagazin

More about their book on Amazon here:  https://www.amazon.com/Resurrection-Romanovs-Anastasia-Anderson-Greatest/dp/0470444983

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