An acclaimed true-crime author takes on his toughest project of all-- writing about a murderer who happens to be his son. When a hideous murder makes the headlines, a barrage of questions usually appears in its wake: Why did this happen? Could it have been prevented? What kind of family was the criminal from? Are his parents in some way to blame? Any crime writer worth his salt would attempt to answer these questions-- but how do you address such questions when the killer is your own son? As a single father raising two sons, Carlton Stowers did his best to instill in his boys a healthy sense of right and wrong. But with Anson, his oldest, it would prove to be an ongoing uphill battle. At a young age, Anson began to angrily shun authority, and soon became involved with a number of illicit activities, including drugs, forgery, and theft. After each jail stay, Anson would vow to get clean and start anew. It became a revolving door for both father and son, until Anson, twenty-five years old and strung-out on amphetamines, brutally murdered his young ex-wife. In a brave, honest, and moving work, bestselling true-crime writer Carlton Stowers examines the downfall of his eldest son, once a happy child full of promise, now a convicted murderer serving a sixty-year sentence. With a reporter's shrewdness and a father's heart, Stowers presents a true story of two lives irrevocably lost, and of one man struggling to both understand-- and move beyond-- the...Sins of the Son.
The true story of Joy Aylor, an elusive femme fatale who in 1983 contracted killers to murder her husband's mistress--and later her own husband. Reissue.
Recounts the murder of a police officer in a small town in Texas, and tells of the investigation that turned up evidence that the town's own children committed the crime.
In this compelling new installment of bestselling author Ralph Compton's Sundown Riders series, a man seeks revenge for the death of his wife and sons while caring for his traumatized daughter. Carl Novak returned to the Texas hill country after fighting in the Civil War, but unlike most of his neighbors, Carl didn't fight for the Confederacy. He was a Union soldier. Carl tries to resume his life as a farmer with his wife and three children. One day, when returning from an overnight trip to buy a calf, he finds his home burned to the ground and, even worse, his wife and sons murdered. His young daughter escaped the slaughter by hiding in the fields. She is so traumatized that she refuses to speak. Carl has one clue: a group of strangers has just left town. One man had a tattoo of a scorpion on his hand and one man was missing two fingers. Carl is determined to track them and exact his revenge.
Chronicles the events surrounding the murders of five women in Wichita Falls, Texas, between 1984 and 1985, discussing how one investigator managed to solve the case and capture the real killer more than fourteen years after the murders occured.
When the bodies of three teenagers were found on the shores of Lake Waco, Texas in July, 1982, even seasoned lawmen were taken aback by the savage mutilation and degradation they had been subjected to. Yet only 52 days after the gruesome triple-murder was discovered, frustrated authorities suspended the case indefinitely. Patrol Sergeant Truman Simons, who had been called to the scene that night, saw the carnage first-hand -- and vowed to find the ferocious killer or killers. He soon became a man with a mission, risking his career and his family's safety in search of evidence. Plunging himself into a netherworld of violence and evil, Simons finally got close enough to a murderous ringleader to hear his careless whispers--and ultimately, put him and his three accomplices behind bars for the brutal slayings. Now, in his Edgar Award-winning account of the Lake Waco killings, acclaimed true crime writer Carlton Stowers lays bare the facts behind the tragic crimes, the twisted predators, and the heroic man who broke the investigation--with important updated information based on new developments in the case.
When the bodies of three teenagers were found on the shores of Lake Waco, Texas in July, 1982, even seasoned lawmen were taken aback by the savage mutilation and degradation they had been subjected to. Yet only 52 days after the gruesome triple-murder was discovered, frustrated authorities suspended the case indefinitely. Patrol Sergeant Truman Simons, who had been called to the scene that night, saw the carnage first-hand -- and vowed to find the ferocious killer or killers. He soon became a man with a mission, risking his career and his family's safety in search of evidence. Plunging himself into a netherworld of violence and evil, Simons finally got close enough to a murderous ringleader to hear his careless whispers--and ultimately, put him and his three accomplices behind bars for the brutal slayings. Now, in his Edgar Award-winning account of the Lake Waco killings, acclaimed true crime writer Carlton Stowers lays bare the facts behind the tragic crimes, the twisted predators, and the heroic man who broke the investigation--with important updated information based on new developments in the case.
An hour's drive south of Dallas, in the tiny community of Penelope (population 211), Carlton Stowers found the perfect vantage point from which to view a small town as it came together around their six-man high-school football team. Here, where shopping for groceries is a forty-five-minute round-trip drive and there is no stoplight on Main Street, he followed the hapless Penelope Wolverines in their quest to win their second game in four years since reviving their football program after a thirty-seven-year hiatus. But even as the team struggled, the entire town still came out to show its support every Friday night. Why? Because as one Texas writer recently said, "Texas high school football is a six-point favorite over Sunday-go-to-meetin' in most small towns." A wide-open game in which teams sprint up and down the field and where the combined score can typically exceed one hundred points, six-man football was invented in Nebraska in 1934. At its peak in 1953, 30,000 teams across the country and in Canada competed in the sport. Though there are fewer teams now, it is still played in states as far flung as Texas, New Mexico, Montana, Colorado, and Kansas, among others. A poignant story of a small town, and its unwavering support-through thick and a lot of thin-of the winless Wolverines, Where Dreams Die Hard is a warm and revealing slice of life in the American heartland and of a culture fast disappearing.
In this compelling new installment of bestselling author Ralph Compton's Gunfighter series, Marshal Ben Dalton travels to Fort Worth to prove an old friend innocent of murder. It's been ten years since the worst day of Ben Dalton's life. After four grinding years of war, the Confederate veteran returned to his hometown of Aberdeen, Texas, to find that Mandy, the girl he loved, had run off with his best friend, John Rawlings. Dalton recovered from the loss and spent the next decade settling down to life as the town's marshal. That quiet life is shattered with the arrival of one stunning telegram. Mandy begs her old friend to come to Fort Worth, where her lawyer husband has been arrested for murder. Without a second's hesitation, Dalton heads to the big city, where he will discover that the forces who want Rawlings convicted won't hesitate to commit a second murder to silence a visiting lawman.
A farmer is pulled into the world of outlaws when his estranged brother turns up dead in this new Ralph Compton Western. Brothers Clay and Cal Breckenridge, sons of a hardscrabble East Texas farmer, never did see eye to eye. Clay, the eldest, returned home after the Civil War to help his father run the family farm; Cal deserted his military post and disappeared into a new life with a new name. Everyone knew who was the good son and who was the bad. Clay had almost forgotten his wayward brother until the morning a limping horse approaches the farm with young Cal Breckenridge’s body slumped in the saddle, shot in the back. Vowing to avenge Cal’s death, Clay sets off on a perilous journey across the West to find the man responsible and bring him to justice—and take down an outlaw enterprise in the process.
In this breathless new installment in bestselling author Ralph Compton's the Gunfighter series, an ex-con fights to free his hometown from the clutches of a greedy land baron. When twenty-five-year-old Lewis Taylor is released from the Texas State Prison, he receives little attention as he walks into the midday sunlight, free after serving five years for a crime he didn’t commit. His only interest is in getting back to his hometown of Gila Bend, Texas, a quiet farming community about which he has only warm, idyllic memories. During his long years in prison, he survived by thinking fondly of the home he'd known since boyhood—and of one special girl, Darla Winslow. What he finds instead is a town dramatically changed. Once a happy and carefree place to live, it is now populated by people who are angry and afraid. One man, Captain Archer Ringewald, has taken control of the town, and now he's turning the townspeople, even Darla, against Taylor. Can one ex-con single-handedly save an entire town?
On January 22, 1994, two-year-old Renee Goode played happily with her sisters and cousin, enjoying an impromptu "slumber party" at the home of her father, Shane Goode. The next day Renee was dead. "To the Last Breath" reveals what Renee's grandmother had suspected all along: cold, calculating Shane Goode had murdered his own daughter to cash in on her death. of photos. Martin's Press.
In his eloquent words, hear mega-football superstar Marcus Allen--Heisman trophy winner, Super Bowl MVP, and record-breaking running back--tell his inspiring and unforgettable story. In Marcus, learn about his triumphant rise to athletic stardom, to his rocky 11-year relationship with Los Angeles Raiders coach Al Davis, to his controversial friendship with O.J. Simpson, and all the high and low points in between. Marcus on Al Davis: "I could neither understand nor determine why Al Davis had declared war against me. But for all the motives suggested, none involved the possibility that the issue might be racial. Al Davis was many things that I didn't admire, but he was no bigot." Marcus on O.J. Simpson: "I am and forever will be forever be tortured by the loss of two people who were my friends; one murdered, one now forced to live a lifetime being blamed for tragedy." Marcus on Football "It teaches hard lessons about success and failure, joy and disappointment. And when played well, it has a poetry all its own.
Were it not so carefully documented, the remarkable football career of former Dallas Cowboys quarterback Roger Staubach would seem more fiction than truth. From his All-Star days as an Ohio schoolboy to All-American and Heisman Trophy-winning heights at the U.S. Naval Academy and from a four-year military stint to a decade spent leading America's Team to Super Bowl successes, the Pro Football Hall of Fame standout served as the gold standard for Sunday afternoon greatness.
When young Jeorrick organizes his own gang after his father's violent death, he takes a first step that leads to the death of his brother amd best friend and his own becoming paralyzed before he eventually works in gang prevention.
When twenty-five-year-old Lewis Taylor is released from the Texas State Prison, he receives little attention as he walks into the midday sunlight, free after serving five years for a crime he didn't commit. His only interest is in getting back to his hometown of Gila Bend, Texas ... What he finds ... is a town dramatically changed: once a happy and carefree place to live, it is now populated by people who are angry and afraid. One man, Captain Archer Ringewald, has taken control of the town, and now he's turning the townspeople ... against Taylor"--Back cover.
A ruthless rancher crosses the wrong man in this action-packed Ralph Compton western. Haunted by memories of the Civil War, Coy Jennings just wants to find work as a ranch hand and to begin saving for a small farm where he could finally enjoy peace and quiet. Arriving in the Texas settlement of Phantom Hill, Coy soon befriends a damaged but likable stable hand by the name of Ira Dalton and hopes for a future with a lovely widowed mother and her seven-year-old daughter. In order to make Phantom Hill a decent place to settle down, Coy must wage a new kind of war and take a stand against ruthless ranch owner Lester Sinclair, his sadistic sons, and the murderous band of cattle rustlers who work for them. And after the Sinclairs turn on innocent Ira, Coy is driven to seek justice for his trusted friend...cost what it may.
Marcus Allen is not only one of the great running backs in NFL history, he is also one of the class acts in all of sports. He used hard work and determination to outperform players with superior athletic ability, and off the field he said no to the temptations of drugs and alcohol that seem to be ever-present in the lives of celebrities. When you add it all up, Allen is that rarest of commodities: a true role model. In Strength of the Heart Allen draws on his experiences to create a motivational book for young readers age eight to 12. In chapters such as Family Values, Heroes, Drinking and Drugs, and Teamwork, he shares stories from his own life to demonstrate the rewards of courage, determination, and humility. Throughout the book he challenges his readers to follow his example and to learn from his mistakes. He encourages them to listen to their hearts, build on their strengths, and have faith in themselves.
In this gripping Ralph Compton western, a man rides for vengeance and into danger.... Thad Taylor is no one’s idea of a fine man. Usually drunk and shiftless, he’s disapproved of by most, especially his father. But when his father doesn’t return from a trip across the Kansas plains, Thad is the only one who can search for him. And he’s far from ready for the ordeal. Because his father is already dead. He has fallen victim to the bloody Benders—a family of demented killers who lure travelers into their cabin way station only to rob and brutally murder them. Now, for his father’s memory, Thad must hunt the Benders down and deliver them either to the law—or to the grave.
An account of the brutal 1983 murder of Rozanne Gailiunas follows the two-year police investigation of the crime, a probe that culminated in the pursuit of Joy Aylor, wife of Rozanne's contractor-lover
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