True crime Books

Book SynopsisThe Parrot’s Perch opens in 2013, when Karen Keilt, age sixty, receives an invitation to testify at the Brazilian National Truth Commission at the UN in New York. The email sparks memories of her “previous life”—the one she has kept safely bottled up for more than thirty-seven years. Hopeful of helping to raise awareness about ongoing human rights violations in Brazil, she wants to testify, but she anguishes over reliving the horrific events of her youth. In the pages that follow, Keilt tells the story of her life in Brazil—from her exclusive, upper-class lifestyle and dreams of Olympic medals to her turmoil-filled youth. Full of hints of a dark oligarchy in Brazil, corruption, crime, and military interference, The Parrot’s Perch is a searing, sometimes shocking true tale of suffering, struggle—and survival. Karen Keilt lived through the darkest days of Brazil’s military dictatorship. In her courageous and compelling memoir, Keilt narrates an emotionally honest reckoning of her desire to find true happiness. Forbidden by her wealthy family to even mention her imprisonment, torture, and rape, Keilt is forced to make a change that will affect the rest of her life. Seen through her testimony to the Brazilian National Truth Commission at the UN, readers become witnesses to both her vulnerability and her quiet strength.

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Book SynopsisAs a spy prepared to give away America’s biggest secrets after the 9/11 attacks, an FBI agent raced to catch her.U.S. government officials knew they had a spy. But it never occurred to them it was a woman—and certainly not a superstar Defense Intelligence Agency employee known as “the Queen of Cuba.”Ana Montes had spent seventeen years spying for the Cubans. She had been raised in a patriotic Puerto Rican household: Her father, a psychiatrist, was a former colonel in the U.S. Army. Her sister worked as a translator for the FBI and helped break up a ring of Cuban spies in Miami. Her brother was also a loyal FBI agent.Montes impressed her bosses, but in secret, spent her breaks memorizing top secret documents before sending them to the Cuban government. She received no payment, even as one of her missives could have brought her the death penalty.She also listened to anxiety-relief tapes, took medication, and saw a psychiatrist. She dreamed of a normal life where she could work a job she enjoyed. She dreamed of getting married, and even had a man in mind: a defense analyst on the Cuba account for Southern Command. He had no idea that, three times a week, Montes pulled a short-wave radio from her closet and received encrypted messages from Cuba.After the 9/11 attacks, Cuba wanted Montes to continue her work. They couldn’t know the FBI was already on to her. Retired FBI agent Peter J. Lapp explains the clues—including never-released information—that led their team to catch one of the United States’ most dangerous spies.Trade Review"Lapp's book gives the reader unique insight into the Montes case and will be of great interest to intelligence professionals and amateurs alike. The story he tells serves as a reminder that, even in the cyber age, a disciplined agent being run by a professional intelligence service using basic tradecraft can wreak great havoc. I hope today’s CI (counterintelligence) professionals are paying attention." -- Mark Kelton, The Cipher Brief"Move over Robert Hanssen, enter Ana Montes. Pete Lapp’s FBI book reads like a post-Cold War version of ‘The Americans’ – with a Latin twist. At a time when the foreign spy presence in the U.S. is at an all-time high, Lapp’s account draws back the curtain on a side of the agency that normally remains in the shadows, and is a reminder that the Bureau’s counterintelligence mission is arguably its most important one.” -- Asha Rangappa, Former FBI agent and senior lecturer, Yale Jackson School of Global Affairs"An authentic, first-hand account of a major case of Cuban espionage. One moment, it's deadly serious and then it takes you on a cat-and-mouse chase. Strongly recommended.” -- Nigel West, author of Spies Who Changed History and other WWII and espionage titles“A page-turning suspense story that takes us behind the scenes into the cloak-and-dagger world of a real life espionage case--from the FBI counterintelligence agent who helped catch the Cuban spy inside the DIA (Defense Intelligence Agency).” -- Frank Figliuzzi, former assistant FBI director for counterintelligence, national security commentator on NBC and MSNBC, and author of The FBI Way: Inside the Bureau's Code of Excellence

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Book SynopsisThe thrilling story of a brazen, uncatchable jewel thief who roamed the homes of Dallas high societyand a window into the dark secrets lurking beneath the surface of the Swinging Sixties.

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Book SynopsisBy 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 Diamond, life felt like one big adventure, whether she was hurtling down the Himalayas in a rickety car or mingling with underworld fixers. Her family appeared to be an unbreakable gang of five. One day they were in Australia, the next in South Africa, the pattern repeating as they crossed continents, changed identities, and erased their pasts. What Diamond didn’t yet know was that she was born into a family of outlaws fleeing from the highest international law enforcement agencies, a family with secrets that would eventually catch up to all of them. By the time she was in her teens, Diamond had lived dozens of lives and lies, but as she grew older, love and trust turned to fear and violence, and her family—the only people she had in the world—began to unravel. She started to realize that her life itself might be a big con, and the people she loved, the most dangerous of all. With no way out and her identity burned so often that she had no proof she even existed, all that was left was a girl from nowhere. Surviving would require her to escape, and to do so Diamond would have to unlearn all the rules she grew up with. Wild, heartbreaking, and often unexpectedly funny, Nowhere Girl is an impossible-to-believe true story of self-discovery and triumph.Trade Review'An absolutely breathless read. Nowhere Girl is a courageous, heart-breaking, and beautifully written story of a girl doing everything in her power to protect the ones she loves.' — Paul Haggis, Academy Award-winning writer/director of Crash, Million Dollar Baby, and Casino Royale"A riveting tale of trauma and resilience." —People “Like Tara Westover’s Educated, Cheryl Diamond’s memoir tells the harrowing story of how crippling a childhood can be under the despotic narcissistic rule of a controlling father . . . Diamond has a powerful story to tell, and she tells it well, creating strong characters and settings, describing the complicated motivations of her parents and older siblings, all while conveying her yearning for ‘normalcy,’ whatever that is.” —New York Journal of Books “A shocking rollercoaster ride of a story that shares secrets of life on the run but also asks big questions about what family means and who we truly are, no matter what the name on a passport might say.” —Town Country “This memoir is proof that truth really is stranger than fiction.” —CrimeReads, “The Most Anticipated Crime Books of 2021: Summer Reading Edition” “[A] remarkable true story of growing up in a family of outlaws.”—Asheville Citizen-Times “A transfixing chronicle . . . Propulsive . . . Eloquent and bracing, Diamond’s story will haunt readers long after the last page.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review “A beyond-harrowing memoir . . . Diamond's tale might just be the most mind-blowing of them all.” —Booklist, starred review “Former teen model Diamond reveals a childhood both wacky and cliff-hanging in Nowhere Girl; on the run with an outlaw family, she lived in more than a dozen countries, on five continents, under six assumed identities, by age nine.”—Library Journal “Nowhere Girl beautifully captures the intensity, darkness, and fierce love within an uncompromising outlaw family. Diamond's odyssey would leave the most adventurous among us panting to keep up.”—Alia Volz, author of Home Baked: My Mom, Marijuana, and the Stoning of San Francisco “An absolutely breathless read. Nowhere Girl is a courageous, heart-breaking, and beautifully written story of a girl doing everything in her power to protect the ones she loves.” —Paul Haggis, Academy Award-winning writer/director of Crash, Million Dollar Baby, and Casino Royale"A riveting tale of trauma and resilience." —People “Like Tara Westover’s Educated, Cheryl Diamond’s memoir tells the harrowing story of how crippling a childhood can be under the despotic narcissistic rule of a controlling father . . . Diamond has a powerful story to tell, and she tells it well, creating strong characters and settings, describing the complicated motivations of her parents and older siblings, all while conveying her yearning for ‘normalcy,’ whatever that is.” —New York Journal of Books “A shocking rollercoaster ride of a story that shares secrets of life on the run but also asks big questions about what family means and who we truly are, no matter what the name on a passport might say.” —Town Country “This memoir is proof that truth really is stranger than fiction.” —CrimeReads, “The Most Anticipated Crime Books of 2021: Summer Reading Edition” “[A] remarkable true story of growing up in a family of outlaws.”—Asheville Citizen-Times “A transfixing chronicle . . . Propulsive . . . Eloquent and bracing, Diamond’s story will haunt readers long after the last page.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review “A beyond-harrowing memoir . . . Diamond's tale might just be the most mind-blowing of them all.” —Booklist, starred review “Former teen model Diamond reveals a childhood both wacky and cliff-hanging in Nowhere Girl; on the run with an outlaw family, she lived in more than a dozen countries, on five continents, under six assumed identities, by age nine.”—Library Journal “Nowhere Girl beautifully captures the intensity, darkness, and fierce love within an uncompromising outlaw family. Diamond's odyssey would leave the most adventurous among us panting to keep up.”—Alia Volz, author of Home Baked: My Mom, Marijuana, and the Stoning of San Francisco

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