Detective Files

DETECTIVE FILES #1 Five crimes. Five extraordinary investigations. And five stories in which the truth proved far stranger than fiction. A young woman is found brutally murdered in Los Angeles, beginning one of America's most enduring murder mysteries. On an isolated German farm, an entire family is slaughtered—yet disturbing evidence suggests the killer may have remained at the property afterwards. In a quiet Iowa town, eight people are murdered as they sleep, leaving behind a crime scene that would haunt investigators for generations. A well-dressed stranger is discovered dead on an Australian beach with no identification and a cryptic clue hidden among his possessions. And in The Vagabond and the Magistrate, another remarkable investigation demonstrates how easily an apparently straightforward crime can become something far more complicated. Detective Files #1 opens the files on The Black Dahlia, Hinterkaifeck, the Villisca Axe Murders, the Somerton Man and The Vagabond and the Magistrate, examining the victims, suspects, detectives and evidence behind five fascinating true-crime cases. Some produced suspects but no conviction. Some remained mysteries for decades. Others contain clues whose significance is still argued over today. There are no invented conversations and no attempt to turn speculation into fact. Instead, the evidence is laid out as the investigators encountered it, allowing you to follow the trail and reach your own conclusions. The crime has already happened. The evidence is waiting. Now open the file.