Catalog

In 1927, a married railroad official and a woman caught in a forbidden relationship were found brutally murdered on a lonely road outside Birmingham, Alabama.

The killings of Auburn Moore and Ruby Thornton became known as the Tryst Murders, a sensational case filled with sex, scandal, fear, rumor, and public outrage.

But the story did not end with the murders.

As newspapers fed the frenzy and investigators chased conflicting theories, the case moved through the machinery of Jim Crow Alabama, where race, class, police power, political pressure, and public morality all shaped the search for someone to blame. At the center of what followed was Horace DeVaughn, the man whose conviction would lead him to Yellow Mama, Alabama’s newly built electric chair.

In The Alabama Tryst Murder Mystery, S. Thorne Harper looks beyond the headlines to examine the crime, the investigation, the shifting evidence, the press coverage, and the larger world that made the case possible. This is not a fast, flashy true crime retelling. It is a careful, deeply researched account of a double murder, a questionable prosecution, and a state eager to prove the power of its new instrument of death.

The result is a true crime history about more than who pulled the trigger. It is about how a violent event becomes an official story, and what that story can hide.

Praise for The Alabama Tryst Murder Mystery

“It would be accurate to say S. Thorne ‘Sam’ Harper has written a beautiful, well-researched book about Alabama’s first execution in the electric chair known as Yellow Mama. It would also be accurate to say he has, through the little known case of Horace DeVaughn, captured in dramatic detail the state’s century long love affair with death. I am, frankly, jealous.”

— John Archibald, author of Shaking the Gates of Hell and two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize

Don't Believe Everything You Read On the Internet... Or Hear in a Courtroom

Courtrooms are supposed to be where truth comes out. But sometimes, trials look more like games, with lawyers using tricks to win instead of focusing on facts. The Skeptical Juror’s Handbook of Lawyers’ Dirty Tricks takes a clear, straightforward look at the strategies attorneys may use to confuse, distract, or mislead during a trial.

From jury selection to closing arguments, this handbook uncovers common tactics such as gaslighting, semantic wordplay, witness coaching, and even theatrical performances meant to sway opinion. It explains how evidence can be twisted, how reputations can be manipulated, and how both prosecution and defense may play fast and loose with the truth.

The book doesn’t just name the tricks—it shows them in action through real cases, where unusual defenses and outrageous claims shaped courtroom outcomes. Along the way, readers see how jurors are asked to cut through the noise and focus on facts.

Written in plain language with real-world examples, this handbook shines a light on the hidden maneuvers of the justice system. It is both a guide to understanding trials and a reminder of the vital role jurors play in protecting fairness and justice.

Learn how to spot the signs of truth—and deception.

Have you ever watched someone speak and thought, “Something feels off”? Whether you’re talking to a friend, watching a news interview, or trying to understand a high-profile case, this book gives you the tools to see what’s really going on. 

In Uncover the Truth, Mike Ruggiero shares techniques he’s used throughout his 30-year career in law enforcement to evaluate body language and the way people speak. You’ll learn how small changes in posture, word choice, and even eye contact can reveal what someone might be hiding.

This book is filled with real examples—from major cases in Mike’s career to stories in the public eye. Step by step, he explains how to look for clues that often go unnoticed and how to make sense of them.

Whether you’re in law enforcement, work with people every day, or are simply curious about human behavior, these skills can help you better understand the world around you—and the people in it.

Rumors rising out of the Yucatan jungle report healings and miracles attributed to a holy relic. Father Pablo Diego Corellas discovers that even his own parishioners are making secret pilgrimages to the decrepit plantation where it is held. There, Doña Josefa, a mysterious woman who is either mystic or mad, possesses an artifact that she claims is a fragment of the robe worn by Christ at his trial. Guarded by armed Mayan farmers, she holds sway over an ever-growing number of pilgrims desperate for the healing power of the Purple Robe.

Much against his own wishes, young Father Pablo is dispatched to the interior to investigate, while a police captain and a vacationing American couple make plans of their own for the robe. But when the relic is stolen, they soon discover that miracles have unforeseen consequences and that no one is beyond their reach.

1913. Veteran Jim Bishop takes a job with a motion picture company that is filming a movie based on a famous western gunfight. As the filming proceeds, Jim begins to wonder what really happened in Contention City, Arizona, those thirty-three years ago.

1880. In the actual Contention City, Sheriff Lon Dayton is contacted by the notorious Dutch Bascom regarding the territorial governor’s proclamation of amnesty for Bascom and his gang. Dayton has no choice but to walk the tightrope balancing the alleged intentions of the outlaws against the promises of the unscrupulous politicians and railroad men who claim to be in favor of the outlaw’s surrender. But are they really?

Patricia Peck was the ninth of nine children, in a house that looked, from the outside, like a wonderful family.

It wasn’t. But this isn’t a book about what happened to her. It’s a book about what she did after.

Story by story—not in order, because her life never came in order—Pivotal Moments follows Patricia from a childhood she spent decades learning to survive into a life she never could have planned: skydiving at retirement age, riding a zipline through fear she named out loud, taking a “mystery trip” with no destination because she trusted she’d know when to stop, and sitting beside her husband of more than forty years as he told her, gently, that he wasn’t going home.

These are true stories about what happens when a woman finally stops waiting to feel ready and starts trusting the next right step—even when the next right step looks like jumping out of a plane.

If you’ve ever needed proof that a hard beginning doesn’t get the last word, Patricia Peck has spent eighty-three years collecting it.

Market Like It’s 1999 is a practical guide for authors, artists, and entrepreneurs who are tired of chasing algorithms and marketing trends that never seem to stick.

Instead of offering hacks or shortcuts, this book returns to fundamentals that worked long before social media dashboards and automation tools took over. It explains why marketing often feels uncomfortable, confusing, or fake—and how to replace that feeling with clarity.

At the center of the book is a simple but powerful question: What business are you really in? Not what product is being sold, but what problem is being solved. By answering that question clearly, marketing becomes less about performance and more about connection.

Through practical examples and straightforward language, the book shows how testing ideas, recognizing real signals, and showing up consistently in the right places can build trust over time. Phones, email, websites, live rooms, and modern tools all still work—when they are used to support real contact instead of replace it.

This is not a promise of overnight success. It is a framework for sustainable visibility. The focus is on steady presence, clear communication, and building something that lasts without burning out or losing integrity.

For creatives and business owners who want marketing to feel honest again, this book offers a durable path forward.

In this new collection, David Dean—Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine’s longtime favorite author—brings you the Edgar Award nominated “Tomorrow’s Dead,” along with ten other short stories of crime and suspense. This master of short fiction has entertained readers for decades with his suspenseful stories, and for the first time ever you can read them back-to-back.

Tomorrow’s Dead and Other Stories of Crime and Suspense takes the reader through mysterious misdeeds that will bring you to the edge of your seat… or have you hiding under your covers. In these arresting short stories, David Dean’s characters find themselves in sticky, often illegal, situations that shift at every turn. From the chief of police being blamed for a series of murders to long lost siblings on quests for revenge, these stories will leave you wanting more. Luckily, the next Collection is on its way soon!