An imprint of Clover Mill Media · Series: American Crime & Detection
Annotated Primary Sources
First-person accounts of America's greatest frauds, cons, and cases, written by the swindlers and detectives themselves, and annotated by scholars who know exactly where the bodies are buried. Con men lie beautifully. Our annotations keep score.
The series
Each volume is a complete first-person account from the era, published in every format that matters: annotated audiobook, clean-narration audiobook, paperback, hardcover, and ebook. All of it free to borrow on hoopla.
Two prospectors salt a remote field with rough diamonds and walk away with a fortune from Tiffany, Civil War generals, and San Francisco's mightiest bank. Told by a man who was in the room.
Open the case →A wealthy recluse is murdered on his Connecticut farm and fifty thousand dollars vanishes with him. To catch the servant everyone suspects, Pinkerton puts a detective in the next cell.
Open the case →$40,000 vanishes from a locked express pouch, and America's most famous detective runs the country's first long-game undercover operation to get his man. The book that invented the detective memoir.
Open the case →The riverboat card sharp who fleeced soldiers, senators, and suckers from New Orleans to St. Louis, then bragged about every hand. A confession disguised as a highlight reel.
Open the case →How an annotated edition works
The full treatment. Professional narration of the complete text, with a host guiding you between chapters: who's lying, what the money would be worth today, and what happened to everyone after the last page. Think of it as the director's cut.
The complete, unabridged text with nothing added. One narrator, one story, no interruptions. For purists, and for the second listen once you know all the secrets.
The annotated text on paper: 6×9 editions with the scholar's notes set beside the passages they illuminate, plus an ebook where every annotation is a tap away.
The dispatch
Launch dates, annotation previews, and the research rabbit holes our historians fall down. Free on Substack.
Subscribe free