crime

Mystery novelist Alison Gaylin has built a career exploring obsession, secrets, and the dark corners of modern life. An Edgar Award winner known for novels like 'The Collective and If I Die Tonight,' Gaylin has also stepped into the world of Robert B. Parker, continuing his beloved Sunny Randall series.In 'Robert B. Parker’s Booked,' Boston private investigator Sunny Randall is hired by a bestselling author to uncover the identity of an online reviewer whose brutal takedowns are threatening careers. But when the critic turns up dead, the literary feud becomes a murder case tangled in grudges, publishing politics, and social media fury.

James Lasdun's latest is 'The Family Man: Blood and Betrayal in the House of Murdaugh,' turns to the real-life Southern saga that captivated the country. Lasdun digs beneath the headlines surrounding disgraced attorney Alex Murdaugh, tracing generations of privilege, power, corruption, and violence in South Carolina’s Lowcountry.The result is part true-crime page-turner, part portrait of a family dynasty collapsing in public. His novels, memoir, poetry, and short story collections have won many awards, and his essays have appeared in the New York Times, the London Review of Books, and The New Yorker, among other publications.

'Diamond Fever!' is a bit of a departure from Steve Sheinkin's other books and is perfect for emerging readers. Both shorter and faster paced, it also features an engaging mixture of prose and comics from renowned illustrator Jon Chad. With these additions, readers will fully immerse themselves in the Great Diamond Hoax of 1872, a time full of deception, fortune, and greed.Steve Sheinkin and Jon Chad will be at Northshire Bookstore in Saratoga for a talk and signing about 'Diamond Fever' on Monday, May 18, 2026, at 6:00pm. northshire.com. You’re listening to the RT on WAMC.

On this week’s 51%, we speak with Meg Stone, violence prevention expert and executive director of IMPACT Boston, about her upcoming book “Don’t Fight Back” And 10 Other Myths About Crime, Personal Safety, and Gender-Based Violence. Stone says a lot of common “safety tips” aimed at protecting women from violence aren’t actually based on quality research and reinforce the power structures that enable abusers in the first place. “Don’t Fight Back” addresses some of the most common myths and equips women with personal safety advice that doesn’t encourage them to make their lives small or accept the status quo.

On this week’s 51%, we speak with Meg Stone, violence prevention expert and executive director of IMPACT Boston, about her upcoming book “Don’t Fight Back” And 10 Other Myths About Crime, Personal Safety, and Gender-Based Violence. Stone says a lot of common “safety tips” aimed at protecting women from violence aren’t actually based on quality research and reinforce the power structures that enable abusers in the first place. “Don’t Fight Back” addresses some of the most common myths and equips women with personal safety advice that doesn’t encourage them to make their lives small or accept the status quo.

Historian Ryan Gingeras has spent years tracing the hidden networks of power that operate just beneath the surface of modern states. A professor at the Naval Postgraduate School and a specialist in late Ottoman and modern Middle Eastern history, his work often explores crime, politics, and the blurred lines between them.His new book, 'Mafia: A Global History,' widens that lens, charting the evolution of organized crime across continents and centuries. It’s a sweeping, deeply researched account of how mafias emerge, adapt, and endure—and what their stories reveal about the world we live in.

Rabbi Matt Cutler of Congregation Gates of Heaven in Schenectady has since confirmed he was the subject of the threats. WAMC’s Andrew Pugliese spoke with him Wednesday.

According to the Justice Department, he began impersonating an Army veteran who served honorably from 1979 to 1982 as early as 1994.

“Nash Falls: A Thriller” by David Baldacci was one of the most popular books this Holiday Season and remains on the NYT Bestsellers list. We meet Walter Nash, a successful businessman whose life is upended when the FBI recruits him to go undercover at his own company to expose a massive money-laundering operation run by a criminal mastermind.

In April of last year, a 76-year-old man was killed on the Mohawk-Hudson Bike Trail in Menands.