Investigative True Crime Starter by Arthur Jay Harris: Cliffhanger first chapters from Flowers for Mrs. Luskin, Speed Kills, Until Proven Innocent, and The Unsolved Murder of Adam Walsh
This Investigative True Crime Starter by Arthur Jay Harris includes cliffhanger first chapters from his books Flowers for Mrs. Luskin, Speed Kills, Until Proven Innocent, and The Unsolved Murder of Adam Walsh.

FLOWERS FOR MRS. LUSKIN: The divorce was vicious, but at least it hadn’t turned deadly. Then came the flowers.

At the best house in the best neighborhood in Hollywood, Florida, Marie Luskin answered her front door and saw a deliveryman holding a floral arrangement. From behind the leaves and petals he pulled out a pistol and pointed it at her. At the time, she was embroiled in the biggest divorce in the county’s history.

But why didn’t the gunman shoot and kill her? According to Marie, he demanded all her money and then hit her with the gun. According to the prosecutor, he shot her. But the jury agreed on one thing: that Marie’s wealthy, estranged husband, Paul, was clearly behind a murder-for-hire. Then the truth came out.

SPEED KILLS: He built the fastest boats -- for royalty, the rich, spies, smugglers, Feds and a former U.S. President. Then came six shots.

It was the era of cool shades and Miami Vice, and Don Aronow’s Cigarette boats were the symbol of the city’s sun-drenched decadence. But faster than his speed boats was Aronow himself -- in races behind the throttle, in business deals and on the town with his collection of stunning women. And then, in broad daylight, someone in a dark Lincoln gunned him down.

Who had Don double-dealt? A dope smuggler? The Mafia? The husband or boyfriend of one of his many paramours? And after ten years of dogged work, did Miami police get it right -- or were they dead wrong?

UNTIL PROVEN INNOCENT: The prosecutor was no longer sure both murder defendants were guilty. So he asked his dad -- the real-life Kojak.

A mother’s dying, gasping call to 911: “My husband! My baby!” In her secluded ranch house, she’d been stabbed with a kitchen knife. Her husband, infant and elderly father-in-law had all been shot in the head, point-blank.

For three years, police had two suspects under surveillance, then arrest. Both faced the death penalty. But prosecutor Brian Cavanagh began to doubt that the defendants were partners. So he consulted with his father, a retired NYPD cop whose reputation for savvy sleuthing had inspired the creation of one of the most beloved characters in television history. Now the question was: Could Dad help solve the case?

THE UNSOLVED MURDER OF ADAM WALSH: The medical examiner misidentified the body. The cops blamed the wrong suspect. What really happened to Adam Walsh?

In 1981, America was captivated -- and horrified -- by the kidnapping and reported murder of six-year-old Adam Walsh. Florida police ultimately identified the decapitated head of a found child as Adam, and implicated an out-of-town drifter as the murderer.

But something about the investigation was incomplete. And wrong. In this special Single Edition of his controversial two-book chronicle, journalist Arthur Jay Harris reveals that Walsh’s kidnapper was actually the notorious serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer, that the body found by police was misidentified, and that Adam Walsh is quite possibly -- even probably -- still alive.