Betty Shanks was brutally murdered 70 years ago. This book’s third edition reveals Betty’s secret life as documented in an ASIO file, which states that: - Betty was in an ‘intimate association’ with a young married man who was a member of the Communist Party of Australia. - Betty’s best friend from schooldays at Brisbane Girls Grammar School and at the University of Queensland, Winifred Cowin, worked for ASIO before committing suicide in 1958. - An ASIO officer arrived in Brisbane on Sunday 21 September 1952 to recruit Betty, only to be told that she had been murdered the previous Friday night. Ted Duhs alleges that Betty was killed by a man she met at the Grange tram terminus as she returned home from a night class at Brisbane’s Central Tech. This man, referred to as ‘the man in the brown suit’, was seen by four witnesses, including Marie Patton who is still alive. Minutes before Betty was attacked, Marie saw him 30 yards from the murder scene. Evidence suggests he was Eric Sterry. His daughter, Desche, is still alive, and in 1999 her story “My Dad Killed Betty Shanks” was published in The Courier Mail, after her earlier attempts to persuade the police were unsuccessful.

Why is it that some people are convicted of murders that they did not commit, while others are not convicted of murders that they did commit? Australian Police Services are generally well funded, so something more must be involved. Just what that is, is investigated in this book. To minimise the prospect of future errors, we need both to scrutinise past cases where errors have been revealed, and to investigate police training procedures with a view to uncovering any errors of omission or commission, to see what scope there is for improvements. Each of us has good reason to take an interest in such matters, since any one of us could be a victim if we are in the wrong place at the wrong time. In fact all of us are victims to the extent that some guilty parties continue to walk free on our streets, and as taxpayers all of us fund the additional costs of dealing with crime, including the sizeable compensation payments that are made to those whose wrongful convictions are quashed. This book deals with instructive cases which continue to agitate the public mind, and makes practical suggestions for improved procedures.

On an overcast, wind swept day in January 1965, two teenage girls were raped and murdered on an isolated beach in Sydney s southern suburbs.The discovery of their bodies the following day sparked a public outcry, media frency and one of the largest police investigations in Australianhistory. To this date the deaths of the Christine Sharrock and Marianne Schmidt -notoriously know as the Wanda Beach Murders - remainunsolved and the story behind the crime has never been told. In this book Alan Whiticker re-creates the lead up to the aftermath of the murders and provides a fascinating insightinto the history, lives and fate of Christine and Marianne.

Can you catch a killer or find a missing person? Australia is 'the lucky country'. But not for everyone. Unsolved Australia: Lost Boys, Gone Girls tells thirteen stories of people whose luck ran out in the most mysterious of circumstances. It's a journalistic deep-dive into Australia's dark heart by one of Australia's premier true crime writers, Justine Ford, the acclaimed bestselling author of Unsolved Australia and The Good Cop. Why are four people missing from a Western Australian doomsday cult? Who abducted and murdered beauty queen Bronwynne Richardson on pageant night? And why is a cooked chook important evidence in the outback disappearance of Paddy Moriarty? Key players are interviewed, evidence laid out and suspects assessed. Never-before-published information is revealed. Can you help crack the case and solve these mysteries? Hold tight as Unsolved Australia: Lost Boys, Gone Girls takes you on a chilling yet inspiring true crime rollercoaster ride where the final destination is hope.

From the bestselling authors of Gangland Australia comes Dangerous to Know, an A to Z of Australasian crimes, criminals and their victims. James Morton and Susanna Lobez have trawled through written records to compile this snappy yet comprehensive account of the bad, mad and plain notorious. All the names are here, from Ronald Ryan (the last man hanged in Australia), to the Carlton Crew. An unmissable book, in one handy volume, for anyone who wants to know all there is to know about Australia's dark underbelly.