"A thrilling account that puts the 1932 Lindbergh baby kidnapping case, billed as "the crime of the century," in the context of the thousands of other kidnappings that occurred in the U.S. during the Prohibition and Depression eras...will enthrall true crime fans."-- Publishers Weekly , STARRED review The Great Depression was a time of desperation in America--parents struggled to feed their children and unemployment was at a record high. Adding to the lawlessness of the decade, thugs with submachine guns and corrupt law-enforcement officers ran rampant. But amidst this panic, there was one sure-fire way to make money, one used by criminals and resourceful civilians alike: kidnapping. Jump into this forgotten history with Edgar Award-winning author David Stout as he explores the reports of missing people that inundated newspapers at the time. Learn the horrifying details of these abduction cases, from the methods used and the investigative processes to the personal histories of the culprits and victims. All of this culminates with the most infamous kidnapping in American history, the one that targeted an international celebrity and changed legislation forever: the Lindbergh kidnapping. The Kidnap Years is a gritty, visceral, thoughtfully reported page-turner that chronicles the sweep of abductions that afflicted all corners of the country as desperate people were pushed to do the unthinkable. Fans of The Postman Always Rings Twice and other 30s and 40s American Noir crime novels will be fascinated by the true crime of the times. "A fascinating crime book like no other."--David Cay Johnston, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist If you like historical nonfiction like these, you'll love The Kidnap Years : Devil in the White City by Erik LarsonThe Splendid and the Vile by Erik LarsonLost City of Z by David GrannKillers of the Flower Moon by David Grann

A newspaper editor in upstate New York is drawn into a deadly web of hatred and suspicion when he joins the hunt for a kidnapped little boy in this gritty and evocative thriller from an Edgar Award–winning authorLong Creek in New York's Hill County is an angry place—depressed, suspicious, and unforgiving. In the aftermath of a late-November snowstorm, one of the town's youngest citizens, five-year-old Jamie Brokow, the son of wealthy divorced parents, is abducted. His family pays the kidnappers their ransom, but the boy is never returned—and soon afterward, Fran Spicer, the local reporter covering the case, dies as the result of a mysterious car crash that the police are all too eager to attribute to alcohol. Will Schafer edits a newspaper in a neighboring county, and he's less willing to dismiss the death of his friend Spicer so easily. Schafer won't find much local support for his investigation, however—strangers like him are...