Gruesome California: Murder, Madness, and Macabre in The Golden State

Gruesome California is a collection of true-life stories - most of them rescued from old newspaper accounts published over 100 years ago. Only a few of the events in this book - have ever made it into print, except maybe in musky-old county histories. Even then, many of them are lucky to rate a paragraph.

Included inside:

Fifteen-year-old Nora Fuller went to a job interview in January 1902 and disappeared without a trace. Three weeks later, her body turned up in the upstairs bedroom of an abandoned house.

Leon Soder traveled to Alsace-Lorraine to fetch his brother-in-law, Joseph Blaise, then was accused of murdering him to collect the insurance premium. Did he do it?

Zollie Clement led a double life. By day, he was a mild-mannered carpet layer who lived a boring life at home with his wife and kids. After dark, he was a thrill-seeker who robbed and killed for the adrenaline rush it gave him.

Of course, there's more, but you get the idea. Gruesome California covers 12 brutal murders that occurred in California between 1867 and 1920.

Read them, if you dare!