Showing results for "Murder" in Film & TV

The Thin Man films are one of the most highly regarded and successful series of films from Hollywood's classic era. This book looks at the people who populated the films, including full chapter profiles of its stars, William Powell and Myrna Loy, whose chemistry together was a huge reason for the success of the films. As Nick and Nora Charles, they knocked the stereotypes of on-screen marriage out of the park and replaced the stiff and formal with fun and sexy.

Brought to you by Penguin. Drawn from rigorous research, this true crime title tells the story of Marilyn Monroe's extraordinary life and explores the shocking circumstances of her death. 'The master storyteller of our times' HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON __________________________________ BORN IN THE...

Film historian David Thomson, leads us into this very delicate subject. While unpacking classics such as Seven, Strangers on a Train, The Conformist, The Godfather, and The Shining, he offers a disconcerting sense of how the form of movies makes us accomplices in this sinister narrative process. Murder and the Movies admits us into what Thomson calls "a warped triangle": the creator working out a compelling death; the killer doing his and her best; and the entranced spectator trying to cling to life and a proper sense of decency.

Why do we keep returning to Agatha Christie's ingenious puzzles and Raymond Chandler's hard-boiled murder mysteries? What do spy thrillers teach us, and what accounts for the renewed popularity of morally ambiguous noirs? In The Mysterious Romance of Murder, the poet and critic David Lehman explores a wide variety of outstanding books and movies—some famous (The Maltese Falcon, Double Indemnity), some known mainly to aficionados—with style, wit, and passion.

The behind-the-scenes story of the quintessential film noir and cult classic, Billy Wilder’s Double Indemnity—its true crime origins and crucial impact on film history—is told for the first time in this riveting narrative published for the film's 80th anniversary. From real crime to serial...

Chaired by Simon Brett (author of the hugely popular Charles Paris series), this intriguing, interactive panel show challenges professional crime novelists to put their experience and expertise to the test as they try to unravel various mind-bending mysteries. Each episode features a death and a denouement - with various red herrings and misdirections along the way. As the murder scenario is described and the clues laid out, our writer-detectives take turns cross-examining the suspects. 

They thought they had got away with murder. They were wrong. Discover the vital clues, the crucial evidence, the lucky breaks, the chases, the painstaking detective work, and the unlikely heroes that led to the capture of some of the world's most notorious murderers and serial killers, such as "The Good Nurse" poisoner Charles Cullen, finally detected by a young colleague; "Night Stalker" Richard Ramirez, spotted by a 13-year-old boy; " Son of Sam", unmasked by a parking ticket; John Wayne Gacy, connected to his final victim by a stray receipt; and, Rodney Alcala, spotted on a TV game show...

"Creepy crawling" was the Manson Family's practice of secretly entering someone's home and, without harming anyone, leaving only a trace of evidence that they had been there, some reminder that the sanctity of the private home had been breached. Now, author Jeffrey Melnick reveals just how much the Family creepy crawled their way through Los Angeles in the sixties and then on through American social, political, and cultural life for close to fifty years, firmly lodging themselves in our minds.

A history about the invention of the motion picture and the mysterious man behind it—detailing his life, work, disappearance and legacy. The year is 1888, and Louis Le Prince is finally testing his 'taker' or 'receiver' device for his family on their front lawn. The device is meant to capture 10 to 12 images per second on film, creating a reproduction of reality that can be replayed as many times as desired. In an otherwise separate and detached world, occurrences from one end of the globe could now be viewable with only a few days delay on the other side of the world. 

There are two names etched into 1800’s history whose unspeakable crimes forged a darkness that will never be forgotten. Amelia Dyer, once seen as a nurturing, baby farming motherly figure, harbored a chilling secret that left a trail of innocent young lives lost, while establishing a reign of terror. In Chicago was the twisted mind of H.H. Holmes who lured his female victims into his infamous murder castle, a labyrinth of death and bloodshed, whose thirst for blood knew no bounds.

In "The Corpse as Big as the Ritz", Ron Rosenbaum, author of Explaining Hitler and master of the "investigation of investigations", gives us a Hollywood noir with shades of F. Scott Fitzgerald and Raymond Chandler: An inquiry into the "Dirty Little Death in the Desert" of David Whiting, the love-stricken business manager of actress Sarah Miles, who was found dead in the actress's hotel room during the filming of the Burt Reynold's Western The Man Who Loved Cat Dancing.