Investigative True Crime Starter by Arthur Jay Harris has the first chapters from the books Speed Kills, Flowers for Mrs. Luskin, Until Proven Innocent, and The Unsolved Murder of Adam Walsh.
From Art: All of these books are original reporting, done over years and even decades. I lived with each of these stories, and as new evidence kept hitting me in the face, my thinking about what had really happened kept evolving. Each story was a roller-coaster ride -- and I had the front seat. Now you get to sit next to me.
I have had all of the stories on national TV news and documentaries, and in magazines and newspapers. One, Speed Kills, was made into a movie, starring John Travolta, now streaming on Netflix in the US. In its first week there, it was the Number 5 most watched movie.
For more about each story, go to my Author's Page.
SPEED KILLS: He built the fastest boats -- for royalty, the rich, spies, smugglers, Feds and a former U.S. President. Then came six shots.
It was the era of Miami Vice, and Don Aronow's Cigarette boats were the symbol of the city's sun-drenched decadence. But faster than his speed boats was Aronow himself -- in races behind the throttle, in business deals and with his collection of stunning women. And then, in broad daylight, someone in a dark Lincoln gunned him down.
Had Don double-dealt someone? A dope smuggler? The Mafia? The husband or boyfriend of one of his countless paramours? And after ten years of work, did Miami police get it right -- or did they miss or avoid something?
FLOWERS FOR MRS. LUSKIN: The divorce was vicious, but at least it hadn't turned deadly. Then came the flowers.
At the best house in the best neighborhood in Hollywood, Florida, Marie Luskin answered her front door and saw a deliveryman holding a floral arrangement. From behind the petals he pulled out a pistol and pointed it at her. At the time, she was embroiled in the biggest divorce in the county's history.
Why didn't the gunman kill her? According to Marie, he demanded all her money and then hit her with the gun. According to the prosecutor, he shot her. The jury agreed on one thing: that Marie's wealthy, estranged husband, Paul, was clearly behind a murder-for-hire. But then the truth came out.
UNTIL PROVEN INNOCENT: The prosecutor was no longer sure both murder defendants were guilty. So he asked his dad -- the real-life Kojak.
A mother's dying, gasping call to 911: "My husband! My baby!" In her secluded ranch house, she'd been stabbed with a kitchen knife. Her husband, infant and elderly father-in-law had all been shot in the head, point-blank.
For three years, police had two suspects under surveillance, then arrest. Both faced the death penalty. But then prosecutor Brian Cavanagh began to doubt that the defendants were partners. So he consulted with his father, a retired NYPD cop whose reputation and story had inspired the creation of one of the most beloved characters in television history. Could Dad help solve this difficult, high-stakes case?
THE UNSOLVED MURDER OF ADAM WALSH (a two-book series): The medical examiner misidentified the body. The cops blamed the wrong suspect. What really happened to Adam Walsh?
In 1981, America was horrified by the kidnapping and reported murder of 6-year-old Adam Walsh. Florida police ultimately identified the decapitated head of a found child as Adam, and implicated an out-of-town drifter as the murderer.
But something -- really, everything -- about the investigation was incomplete. And wrong. Journalist Arthur Jay Harris reveals that Adam's kidnapper was actually the notorious serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer, that the child found by police was misidentified, and that -- craziest of all -- Adam Walsh is quite possibly -- even probably -- still alive.
