Nonviolent True Crime

Updated June 6, 2026
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The art thief : a true story of love, crime, and a dangerous obsession
Finkel, Michael
Paper Book
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * One of the most remarkable true-crime narratives of the twenty-first century * "The Art Thief, like its title character, has confidence, élan, and a great sense of timing."--The New Yorker A...
Rogues : true stories of grifters, killers, rebels and crooks
Keefe, Patrick Radden
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * From the award-winning author of Empire of Pain and Say Nothing--and one of the most decorated journalists of our time--twelve enthralling true stories of skulduggery and intrigue "An excellent collection of Keefe's detective...
The feather thief : beauty, obsession, and the natural history heist of the century
Johnson, Kirk W.
Paper Book
As heard on NPR's This American Life "Absorbing . . . Though it's non-fiction, The Feather Thief contains many of the elements of a classic thriller." --Maureen Corrigan, NPR's Fresh Air "One of the most peculiar and memorable true-crime...
Empire of pain : the secret history of the Sackler dynasty
Keefe, Patrick Radden
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK OF THE YEAR * A grand, devastating portrait of three generations of the Sackler family, famed for their philanthropy, whose fortune was built by Valium and whose reputation was destroyed by OxyContin. From...
Little bosses everywhere : how the pyramid scheme shaped America
Read, Bridget
Paper Book
A "gripping" (The Washington Post) work of history and reportage that unveils the stranger-than-fiction world of multilevel marketing- a massive money-making scam and radical political conspiracy that has remade American society. "Reads like a thriller . . . masterfully...
Bad blood : secrets and lies in a Silicon Valley startup
Carreyrou, John
Paper Book
NATIONAL BESTSELLER * The gripping story of Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos--one of the biggest corporate frauds in history--a tale of ambition and hubris set amid the bold promises of Silicon Valley, rigorously reported by the prize-winning journalist. With a new Afterword.
0101818131795
364.168 B498A
Ebook
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER. The unbelievable true story of the man who built a billion-dollar online drug empire from his bedroom--and almost got away with it   In 2011, a twenty-six-year-old libertarian programmer named Ross Ulbricht launched the ultimate free market: the...
The orchid thief
Orlean, Susan.
Audiobook
The Orchid Thief is the true story of John Laroche, an obsessed Florida plant dealer willing to go to any lengths to steal rare and protected wild orchids and clone them, all for a tidy profit. But the morality of Laroche's actions do not drive the narrative of Orlean's strange, compelling,...
Unmask Alice : LSD, satanic panic, and the imposter behind the world's most notorious diaries
Emerson, Rick
Paper Book
Unmask Alice by Rick Emerson goes a long way to showing what investigative journalism could be in the right hands ... this book is undeniably buzzworthy.' -- Portland Book Review. 'An absorbing and unnerving read ... this book demands to be finished in one sitting.' -- Booklist. Two teens. Two...
Billion dollar whale : the man who fooled Wall Street, Hollywood, and the world
Wright, Tom (Wall Street Journal reporter)
Paper Book
Named a Best Book of 2018 by the Financial Times and Fortune, this "thrilling" (Bill Gates) New York Times bestseller exposes how a "modern Gatsby" swindled over $5 billion with the aid of Goldman Sachs in "the heist of the century" (Axios). Now a #1...
The King of Diamonds : the search for the elusive Texas jewel thief
Pederson, Rena
Paper Book
The thrilling story of a brazen, uncatchable jewel thief who roamed the homes of Dallas high society--and a window into the dark secrets lurking beneath the surface of the Swinging Sixties. As a string of high profile jewel thefts went unsolved during the Swinging Sixties, the...
Catch me if you can : the amazing true story of the youngest and most daring con man in the history of fun and profit
Abagnale, Frank W.
Ebook
The uproarious, bestselling true story of the world's most sought-after con man, immortalized by Leonardo DiCaprio in DreamWorks' feature film of the same name, from the author of Scam Me If You Can.  Frank W. Abagnale, alias Frank Williams, Robert Conrad,...
My friend Anna : the true story of a fake heiress
Williams, Rachel DeLoache
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER ONE OF TIME'S 100 BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR Sex and the City meets Bad Blood and Catch Me if You Can in this riveting true crime memoir that tells the astonishing firsthand story of Anna Delvey--the...
Nowhere girl : a memoir of a fugitive childhood /
Diamond, Cheryl
Paper Book
By the age of nine, I will have lived in more than a dozen countries, on five continents, under six assumed identities. I'll know how a document is forged, how to withstand an interrogation, and most important, how to disappear . . . To the young Cheryl...
American heiress the wild saga of the kidnapping, crimes and trial of Patty Hearst
Toobin, Jeffrey.
Paper Book
From New Yorker staff writer and bestselling author of The Nine and The Run of His Life: The People v. O. J. Simpson, the definitive account of the kidnapping and trial that defined an insane era in American history   On February 4, 1974, Patty...
The less people know about us : a mystery of betrayal, family secrets, and stolen identity
Betz-Hamilton, Axton
Paper Book
AN EDGAR AWARDS 2020 WINNER AND WALL STREET JOURNAL BESTSELLER In this powerful true crime memoir, an award-winning identity theft expert tells the shocking story of the duplicity and betrayal that inspired her career and nearly destroyed her family. ...
Priceless : how I went undercover to rescue the world's stolen treasures
Wittman, Robert K.
Paper Book
The Wall Street Journal called him “a living legend.” The London Times dubbed him “the most famous art detective in the world.”   In Priceless, Robert K. Wittman, the founder of the FBI’s Art Crime Team, pulls back the curtain on his...
The billionaire's vinegar : the mystery of the world's most expensive bottle of wine
Wallace, Benjamin
Paper Book
In 1985 a bottle of 1787 Chateau Lafite Bordeaux supposedly owned by Thomas Jefferson was sold for the sum of $156,000. Benjamin Wallace goes on the trail of this most expensive of wines, and meets along the way Nazis, conspiracies and millionaires.
A gentleman and a thief : the daring jewel heists of a Jazz Age rogue
Jobb, Dean
Paper Book
A captivating Jazz Age true-crime caper about "the greatest jewel thief who ever lived" (Life Magazine), Arthur Barry, who charmed everyone from Rockefellers to members of the royal family while simultaneously planning and executing the most audacious and lucrative heists of the...
The man who loved books too much : the true story of a thief, a detective, and a world of literary obsession
Bartlett, Allison Hoover.
Ebook
The forger's spell : a true story of Vermeer, Nazis, and the greatest art hoax of the twentieth century
Dolnick, Edward
Paper Book
New York Times Bestseller "Dolnick brilliantly re-creates the circumstances that made possible one of the most audacious frauds of the 20th century. And in doing so Dolnick plumbs the nature of fraud itself . . . an incomparable page turner." --Boston Globe As riveting as a World...
All that glitters a story of friendship, fraud, and fine art
Whitfield, Orlando
Paper Book
A NEW YORKER, ECONOMIST, AND TOWN & COUNTRY BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR * A dazzling insider's account of the contemporary art world and the stunning rise and fall of the charismatic American art dealer Inigo Philbrick, as seen through the eyes of his friend and fellow dealer ...
Ghost in the wires : my adventures as the world's most wanted hacker
Mitnick, Kevin D.
Ebook
In this "intriguing, insightful and extremely educational" novel, the world's most famous hacker teaches you easy cloaking and counter-measures for citizens and consumers in the age of Big Brother and Big Data (Frank W. Abagnale). Kevin Mitnick was the most elusive computer break...
Heist : the oddball crew behind the $17 million Loomis Fargo theft
Diamant, Jeff
Ebook
The inspiration behind the major motion picture Masterminds starring Zach Galifianakis, Owen Wilson, Kristen Wiig, and Jason Sudeikis! The bizarre true story of the criminals behind the second-largest bank heist in American history. One night in a small North Carolina town, a down...
The Gardner heist : the true story of the world's largest unsolved art theft
Boser, Ulrich.
Paper Book
"Boser cracks the cold case of the art world's greatest unsolved mystery." --Vanity Fair
The falcon thief : a true tale of adventure, treachery, and the hunt for the perfect bird
Hammer, Joshua
Paper Book
A rollicking true-crime adventure about a rogue who trades in rare birds and their eggs--and the wildlife detective determined to stop him. On May 3, 2010, an Irish national named Jeffrey Lendrum was apprehended at Britain's Birmingham International Airport with a suspicious...
Empire of deception : the incredible story of a master swindler who seduced a city and captivated the nation
Jobb, Dean
Audiobook
A rollicking story of greed, financial corruption, dirty politics, over-the-top and under-the-radar deceit, illicit sex, and a brilliant and wildly charming con man who kept a Ponzi scheme alive perhaps for longer than anyone else in history.   It was a time of...
You'll never believe me : a life of lies, second tries, and things I should only tell my therapist
Ferrell, Kari
Paper Book
"A captivating, sharp and very funny memoir." --New York Times Book Review The compelling, edgy, compassionate, laugh-out-loud memoir from Kari Ferrell, formerly known as the "Hipster Grifter" Before Anna Delvey, before the Tinder Swindler,...
Gator country : deception, danger, and alligators in the Everglades
Renner, Rebecca
Paper Book
A New York Times Editors' Choice "Delivers everything its title promises and much more." - NPR "Remarkable... Every species, and every person who fights for its continued existence, deserves a book like this." -- The New York Times
Easy money : cryptocurrency, casino capitalism, and the golden age of fraud
McKenzie, Benjamin
Paper Book
At the height of the pandemic, TV star Ben McKenzie (The O.C., Gotham) was the perfect mark for cryptocurrency: a dad stuck at home with some cash in his pocket, worried about his family, armed with only the vague notion that people were making heaps of money on something he-despite...
Confident women : swindlers, grifters, and shapeshifters of the feminine persuasion
Telfer, Tori
Ebook
The true crime author of Lady Killers presents a roundup of history's most notorious female con artists and their bold, outrageous scams. From Elizabeth Holmes and Anna Delvey to Frank Abagnale and Charles Ponzi, audacious scams and charismatic scammers continue to...
Master thieves : the Boston gangsters who pulled off the world's greatest art heist
Kurkjian, Stephen A.
Ebook
The definitive story of the greatest art theft in history. In a secret meeting in 1981, a low-level Boston thief gave career gangster Ralph Rossetti the tip of a lifetime: the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum was a big score waiting to happen. Though its collections included...
Hype : how scammers, grifters, and con artists are taking over the internet--and why we're following
Bluestone, Gabrielle
Ebook
"Hype is the best kind of nonfiction: juicy, sharp, savage and wildly entertaining, with a celebrity behaving badly on every page. What more could you want?" -Cat Marnell, New York Times-bestselling author of How to Murder Your Life From former Vice...
The confidence men : how two prisoners of war engineered the most remarkable escape in history
Fox, Margalit
Ebook
NATIONAL BESTSELLER * The Great Escape for the Great War: the astonishing true story of two World War I prisoners who pulled off one of the most ingenious escapes of all time. FINALIST FOR THE EDGAR® AWARD * ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: The Washington Post,<...
The pirate king : the strange adventures of Henry Avery and the birth of the Golden Age of piracy
Kingsley, Sean
Ebook
The incredible story of the "Robin Hood of the Seas," who absconded with millions during the Golden Age of Piracy and who harbored an even greater secret. Henry Avery of Devon pillaged a fortune from a Mughal ship off the coast of India and then vanished into thin air--and into...
The wizard of lies : Bernie Madoff and the death of trust
Henriques, Diana B.
Paper Book
"An impressive, meticulously reported postmortem. . . . The Wizard of Lies is the definitive book on what Madoff did and how he did it." --Bloomberg Businessweek Who was Bernie Madoff, and how did he pull off the biggest Ponzi scheme in history?
The key man : the true story of how the global elite was duped by a capitalist fairy tale
Clark, Simon
Paper Book
LONGLISTED FOR THE FINANCIAL TIMES & MCKINSEY BUSINESS BOOK OF THE YEAR ONE OF THE ECONOMIST'S BEST BOOKS OF 2021 In this compelling story of lies, greed and tarnished idealism, two Wall Street Journal reporters investigate a man who Bill Gates, Western governments, and other...
Diamond Doris : the true story of the world's most notorious jewel thief
Payne, Doris
Audiobook
In the ebullient spirit of Ocean's 8, The Heist, and Thelma & Louise, a sensational and entertaining memoir of the world's most notorious jewel thief--a woman who defied society's prejudices and norms to carve her own path, stealing from elite jewelers to live her dreams. Growing up during...
0101814780710
364.163 G856P
Ebook
A darkly comic foray into the world of men and women who fake their own deaths, the consultants who help them disappear, and the private investigators who'll stop at nothing to bring them back to life. "A delightful read for anyone tantalized by the prospect of disappearing...
The art of the con : the most notorious fakes, frauds, and forgeries in the art world
Amore, Anthony M.
Ebook
"Must reading for any true-crime fan . . . [a] diverse, colorful crew of art-gallery grifters and scammers . . . Highly recommended!" --Howie Carr, New York Times-bestselling author Art scams are today so numerous that the specter of a lawsuit...
Scam goddess : lessons from a life of cons, grifts, and schemes
Mosley, Laci
Ebook
A delightfully subversive essay collection from Laci Mosley, host of the award-winning "Scam Goddess" podcast, about the frauds, cons, and schemes that make up our world--and how the scammer mindset has affected her own upbringing, career, friendships, love life, and more. ​ ...
Con/artist : the life and crimes of the world's greatest art forger
Tetro, Tony
Paper Book
The world's most renowned art forger reveals the secrets behind his decades of painting like the masters--exposing an art world that is far more corrupt than we ever knew while providing an art history lesson wrapped in sex, drugs, and Caravaggio. The art world is a...
Gentleman bandit : the true story of Black Bart, the Old West's most infamous stagecoach robber
Boessenecker, John
Ebook
As seen on Netflix's Wyatt Earp and the Cowboy War New York Times bestselling author and award-winning historian John Boessenecker separates fact from fiction in the first new biography in decades of Black Bart, the Wild West's most mysterious gentleman...
Tree thieves : crime and survival in North America's woods
Bourgon, Lyndsie
Ebook
Devil's coin : my battle to take down the notorious OneCoin cryptoqueen
McAdam, Jennifer
Ebook
*A NEXT BIG IDEA CLUB MUST-READ BOOK FOR AUGUST 2023* "[An] exhilarating mix of memoir and true crime. . ." -- Publishers Weekly (starred review) The astonishing true story of the coal miner's daughter who took on the creators of the world's...
Retail gangster : the insane, real-life story of Crazy Eddie
Weiss, Gary
Paper Book
A biography of the spectacular rise and fall of Eddie Antar, better known as "Crazy Eddie," whose home electronics empire changed the world even as it turned out to be one of the biggest business scams of all time Back in the fall of 2016 we heard the news about the...
The Peking Express : the bandits who stole a train, stunned the West, and broke the Republic of China
Zimmerman, James M.
Audiobook
The thrilling true story of train-robbing revolutionaries and passengers who got more than they paid for in this Murder on the Orient Express-style adventure, set in China's republican era. In 1923 Shanghai, native and foreign travelers alike are...
Can you ever forgive me? : memoirs of a literary forger
Israel, Lee
Audiobook
The missing cryptoqueen : the billion dollar cryptocurrency con and the woman who got away with it
Bartlett, Jamie
Ebook
The dead duke, his secret wife, and the missing corpse : an extraordinary Edwardian case of deception and intrigue
Eatwell, Piu Marie
Ebook
A Book Riot Best Book of the Year Goodreads Choice Award Finalist (History/Biography) "It's Downton Abbey meets The Addams Family in [this] delightfully offbeat history." --Library Journal At the close of the Victorian era, as now, privacy was power. The extraordinarily...
The unusual suspect : the rise and fall of a modern-day outlaw
Machell, Ben
Audiobook
The remarkable true story of a modern-day Robin Hood: a British college student who started robbing banks as the financial crisis unfolded. "Completely fascinating . . . [The Unusual Suspect] reads like a deep psychological thriller, but it's real. Is truth...
The last job : the "bad grandpas" and the Hatton Garden heist
Bilefsky, Dan
Paper Book
The definitive account of one of the most brazen jewel heists in history. Over Easter weekend 2015, a motley crew of six English thieves, several in their sixties and seventies, couldn't resist coming out of retirement for one last career-topping heist. Their target: the Hatton...
The map thief : the gripping story of an esteemed rare-map dealer who made millions stealing priceless maps
Blanding, Michael
Ebook
The story of an infamous crime, a revered map dealer with an unsavory secret, and the ruthless subculture that consumed him   Maps have long exerted a special fascination on viewers--both as beautiful works of art and as practical tools to navigate the world. But to those who...
The Bettencourt affair : the world's richest woman and the scandal that rocked Paris
Sancton, Thomas
Paper Book
Liliane Bettencourt is the world's richest woman, and the tenth wealthiest in the entire world. But at 93, she's embroiled in incredible controversy - controversy so great it almost took down the French government. It's all become Europe's biggest scandal in years, uncovering a shadowy corporate...
Vanished smile : the mysterious theft of Mona Lisa
Scotti, R. A.
Paper Book
The astonishing story of the still unsolved mystery of Mona Lisa’s disappearance in 1911 told with dramatic freshness and imagination. On August 21, 1911, the unfathomable happened— Mona Lisa vanished from the Louvre. More than twenty-four hours passed before museum officials realized...
There is no Ethan : how three women caught America's biggest catfish
Akbari, Anna
Paper Book
Part memoir, part explosive window into the mind of a catfisher, a thrilling personal account of three women coming face-to-face with an internet predator and teaming up to expose them. In 2011, three successful and highly educated women fell head over heels...
Never saw me coming : how I outsmarted the FBI and the entire banking system--and pocketed $40 million
Smith, Tanya
Ebook
A riveting true story of an unsuspecting woman who creates an ingeniously clever white-collar scheme that manipulates the Federal banking system out of millions--who eventually loses everything that is most important to her.   In Never Saw Me Coming, Tanya Smith shares...
The spy who couldn't spell : a dyslexic traitor, an unbreakable code, and the FBI's hunt for America's stolen secrets
Bhattacharjee, Yudhijit
Paper Book
Before Edward Snowden's infamous data breach, the largest theft of government secrets was committed by an ingenious traitor whose intricate espionage scheme and complex system of coded messages were made even more baffling by his apparent dyslexia. In this fast-paced, true-life spy thriller,...

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