A tale of outsized egos, appetites, and ambitions, this completely true, heart-stopping story tells of one man, 20 million dollars, and the most expensive game of poker ever played.
Glittering with perception and anecdote, The Death of the Banker is at once a panorama of twentieth-century finance and a guide to the new era of giant mutual funds on Wall Street.
From award winning criminologist R. Barri Flowers and the bestselling author of Murder at the Pencil Factory and The Sex Slave Murders, comes a powerful new historical true crime short, Murder of the Banker’s Daughter: The Killing of Marion Parker. On December 15, 1927, 12-year-old Marion Parker, daughter of a prominent banker was brazenly abducted from her junior high school in Los Angeles, California in a bizarre ransom scheme. Two days later, the girl’s dismembered remains were left behind by a brutal killer, destroying a family and unnerving the entire city. This caused pandemonium as the perpetrator managed to evade immediate capture, leading to a manhunt by authorities unlike any in recent memory. The horror of the crime was reminiscent of one 14 years earlier involving 13-year-old Mary Phagan, who was murdered at a pencil factory in Atlanta, and 5 years later when the 20-month-old son of famed aviator Charles Lindbergh was abducted from the family’s New Jersey home and brutally slain. The killer of Marion Parker was identified as former bank messenger William Edward Hickman, a 19-year-old with a score to settle and an appetite for killing. The career criminal’s capture, trial, and ultimate fate captured the public’s imagination, while putting attention on the age-old vulnerability of children in this country targeted by child predators and the often tragic consequences that rings true to this day. Included with the story are bonus excerpts of R. Barri Flowers' bestselling true crime shorts, Murder at the Pencil Factory and Mass Murder in the Sky, as well as an excerpt of the author’s international bestselling true crime book, The Sex Slave Murders.
"Immersive, satisfying, tense---and timely: This is probably happening for real right now."--Lee Child "First-rate...Slick, heart-hammering entertainment."--The New York Times Book Review On an early morning in November, a private plane bound for Geneva drops off the radar, its wreckage uncovered days later in the Alps. Among the disappeared is Matthew Werner, an insider at Swiss United, a powerful offshore bank. His young widow, Annabel, begins a desperate search for answers and quickly determines that Matthew's death was no accident. She soons finds herself in a terrifying cat-and-mouse chase, on the run from his powerful enemies, who will stop at nothing to hide the truth. Meanwhile, ambitious society journalist Marina Tourneau has finally landed at the top. With her engagement to Grant Ellis, she is set to become one of the elite she has spent a career covering, but, after the death of her mentor, she agrees to dig into one more story: Swiss United. In doing so, Marina uncovers information that implicates some of the most powerful men in the financial world, including a few who are too close to home. The story also could be the answer to Annabel's heartbreaking search--and save her life--if Marina chooses to publish it...