Atlas of True Crime: A Worldwide Guide to Murderers and Thieves, Kidnappers and Con Men.
By Nancy J. Hajeski.
2024. 224p. illus. Firefly, $24.95 (9780228104759). 364.3092.
This information-crammed compendium is sure to delight true-crime aficionados. Specific chapters address broad areas (“Crimebusters,” “Bootleggers,” “Cannibals,” “Kidnappers”) and offer two-page spreads on an array of cops, robbers, gangsters, serial killers, embezzlers, snipers, and others who engaged in various acts of mayhem. Each chapter also includes a feature story (“Murder Most Foul” considers Hollywood homicides, for example). Pages are filled with brief blocks of accessible text, charts, and grids supported by all kinds of graphics: archival photos, building plans, evidence files, and occasional maps, although not as many as might be expected in a book that identifies itself as an atlas. The maps that do appear align nicely with content. One shows the locations of the heists perpetrated by Bonnie and Clyde and John Dillinger, and another shows popular drug-cartel routes. International coverage extends to Latin America, Europe, Africa, and Asia, with continent maps identifying scenes of horror. There may not be a lot of new information here, but the comprehensive scope and appealing packaging (stained pages, tape marks) will attract browsers to this handy ready-reference resource. —Kathleen McBroom
YA: The lack of source notes hinders
