Chrisp's True Crime Miscellany

by Peter Chrisp, T.G. Fieldwalker

This arresting miscellany is jam-packed with intriguing and enlightening stories, facts and trivia about all manner of murderers, miscreants, and malcontents.

The book reveals incredible tales about criminal gangs around the world, such as the Japanese Yakuza, the L.A. Crips and Bloods and the Italian Camorra. Plus, there are extensive lists of criminal slang throughout the centuries; an explanation of Russian prison tattoos; a confidence trickster's lexicon; insights into the world's most audacious crimes—like the theft of the Mona Lisa—and quotes from the criminals themselves, and the cops who chased them. Inside are chilling black and white illustrations and revealing portraits of some of society's scariest killers.

Chrisp's True Crime Miscellany is an indispensable gift to any fan of TV shows like CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Elementary, The Killing, and Dexter.

Genres: True Crime, Nonfiction

96 pages, Hardcover

First published September 2, 2013

About the author

Peter Chrisp is a British children's author of books on history. With over sixty books published, his various works include Blitzkrieg!, Dorling Kindersly's Ancient Egypt Revealed and Ancient Rome Revealed, The Spanish Conquests of the New World, and many more.

He first began writing history after working on the Mass-Observation archive at the University of Sussex. He has also worked as a writer on the online project "Icons of England".

Aside from his publications in literature, he is also an artist, who has exhibited collections of his cartoons and hand-drawn postcards during Brighton Festival. He is an inveterate theatre- and concert-goer, and during the Edinburgh Festival regularly views three shows a day. He collects original art works, and is a fan of Eric Ravilious and Jonny Hannah among others.

At present, Mr. Chrisp acts as one of Brighton's cultural attaches to Lewes. This is believed to be largely an honorary position. He is also being talked of as a possible future Mayor of Brighton.

Reviews

[Terri · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun book of bits and bobs all related to true crime. From charts of Victorian Slang to crime related acronyms and bits on killers from Bundy to Berkowicz -- just lots of intersting facts and drawings and whatnot.

[Fishface · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great read. Full of facts, figures, and curious anecdotes about crime.

[Kate Marie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I know it's a really small book but I felt like they could have done a lot more than that with it. It was a quick and easy read but rather dull.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was a blast! It is very short (most sections are half a page, but no more than two), but that made it easy to read it sporadically. You don't feel like you'll be lost if you don't finish it immediately. There was a heavy slant towards British crimes and terminology (such as the definition of NCIS). Quite honestly I loved this book. It gives you bite-sized pieces of well-known and lesser-known crimes and criminals, and lots of interesting factoids.

[Dana · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a pretty cool read. It was full of facts and figures about different true crimes that have happened throughout history. Being someone who finds true crime interesting, I knew quite a few of these entries, but there were some I did not know.

The only thing I did not like about this was the tiny font. It made it hard to read, if I'm being honest.

But all in all, it's quite an interesting read. I got it on sale at Barnes and Noble where it was half off an already reduced price!

[Samantha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quick, interesting read focusing primarily on British criminals. Check it out from the library.

[Victoria Fuller · Rating 3 out of 5]

I dnf'd this not because it was bad but because i guess i just don't care that much about true crime *shrugs*

[Kaiti Laughlin · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting read for any lovers of true crime, mysteries, and macabre facts. Includes foreign and domestic true crime.

[Steven Jorgenson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is an interesting collection of facts and trivia about various crime organizations like the US Mafia and the Japanes Yakuza. Infamous murderers and serial killers are also profiled. There could be a new version of Trivial Pursuit based on this one small book. To me, the format of this book seemed kind of haphazard. At one point I thought I would be unable to finish reading Chrisp's True Crime Miscellany.

[Cheyenne Mayhall · Rating 3 out of 5]

It had some interesting facts, but.... Meh.