TERRIFYING TEXAS MURDERS of the 1880s, brilliantly revisited by an incomparable true-crime writer. B PLUS

THE MIDNIGHT ASSASSIN
Henry Holt & Company
2016

A BRAZILIAN FAVELA KINGPIN’S extraordinary story highlights how poverty and corruption undermine society. A MINUS

NEMESIS: THE MAN AT THE CENTER OF THE BATTLE FOR RIO
Knopf Publishing Group
2016

A NOTORIOUS VICTORIAN MURDER case, fascinatingly presented, offers insights into the era’s preoccupations. A MINUS

PRETTY JANE AND THE VIPER OF KIDBROOKE LANE: A TRUE STORY OF VICTORIAN LAW AND DISORDER: THE FIRST UNSOLVED MURDER OF THE VICTORIAN AGE
Pegasus Books
2016

ON SCAMS AND CON ARTISTS, and a look at what research psychology says about why we fall for them. Smart! B PLUS

THE CONFIDENCE GAME: WHY WE FALL FOR IT… EVERY TIME
Penguin Group USA
2016

THE WILD, ALMOST HALLUCINOGENIC story of writer Walter Kirn’s friendship with murderer “Clark Rockefeller”. A MINUS

BLOOD WILL OUT
Liveright Publishing Corporation
2014

AN ENTERTAINING MISCELLANY OF impostors and hoaxsters through the ages. Lots of information, never boring! SOLID B

FASCINATING TRUE CRIME story of a brilliant academic whose career was cut short by his high-profile felonies.

A PAMPERED HOTEL HEIR, a troubled marriage, and a brutal murder add up to a compelling true crime story.

ENTERTAINING AND ENLIGHTENING look at how mathematics and statistics are used (and misused) in the courtroom.