True tales of executioners culled from the annals of history Award-winning mystery writer Howard Engel traces the hangman's tradition from medieval England and early Canada to the present-day United States. From beheadings and hangings to the electric chair, Engel offers gritty details of the executioner's process, focusing on key players who epitomize both the exemplars and buffoons of the dark profession. Citing far-removed examples of past punishments,...

Bernadine is a stoic prison warden, but two back-to-back executions put a strain on her marriage, career and convictions.

"Sue and her brother, Eddie, are visiting London when they run into a little problem. They can't find their tour group. Still, there's no reason to panic. Because there's no way their tour guide would just leave them. All alone. In a gloomy old prison tower. There's no way they'd get locked inside. After dark. With those eerie sounds. And a strange dark figure who wants them ... dead"--P. [4] of cover.

For every innocent man sent to prison, there is a guilty one left on the outside. He doesn't understand how the police and prosecutors got the wrong man, and he certainly doesn't care. He just can't believe his good luck. Time passes and he realizes that the mistake will not be corrected: the authorities believe in their case and are determined to get a conviction. He may even watch the trial of the person wrongly accused of his crime. He is relieved...

"An elite police squad hunts a manipulative mastermind out to publically execute criminals the law cannot reach. A wild thriller and deadly game of cat-and-mouse from one of China's most popular authors. For fans of Jo Nesbo, Se7en, and Hong Kong police cinema. The brutal murder of respected police officer Sergeant Zheng Haoming sends shockwaves through Chengdu, a modern metropolis in the heart of China's stunning Sichuan Province. He had been obsessed...

For four years sixteen-year-old Twylla has lived in the castle of Lormere, the goddess-embodied, whose touch can poison and kill, and hence the Queen's executioner--but when Prince Merek, her betrothed, who is immune to her touch returns to the kingdom she finds herself caught up in palace intrigues, unsure if she can trust him or the bodyguard who claims to love her.

1662. Alpine village hangman Jakob Kuisl receives a letter from his sister calling him to the imperial city of Regensburg, where a gruesome sight awaits him: her throat has been slit. Arrested and framed for the murder, Kuisl faces first-hand the torture he's administered himself for years. Jakob's daughter, Magdalena, and a young medicus named Simon hasten to his aid. With the help of an underground network of beggars, a beer-brewing monk, and an...

"1855, New Hampshire. Lucy Blunt is set to hang for a double murder. Murderess or victim? Only Lucy knows the truth. In the shadow of the gallows, Lucy reflects on the events that led to her bitter downfall--from the moment she arrived at the rambling Burton mansion looking for work and a better life to the grisly murders themselves. In a mysterious household of locked doors and forbidden affections, Lucy slips comfortably into the shadows, where...

"38 Nooses" details the events surrounding the 1862 uprising of the Dakota Indians led by Little Crow within the larger context of the Civil War, the history of the Dakota people, and the subsequent United States-Indian wars.