NCW Libraries

Spokane's early years were marked by an unchecked underworld of greed and sinister dealings. Houses of ill-repute and homebrewed whiskey abounded, and hidden tunnels beneath the streets helped to stoke the lawlessness. Famous cowgirl Calamity Jane loved to deal faro when visiting the city and it's rumored that outlaw Butch Cassidy¬¬, after a bit of plastic surgery, chose the city to live out the rest of his life in relative peace. A corrupt police...

Hangings, lynchings and jail breaks are long forgotten in Pacific County, where tourists flock to quaint attractions every season. But back in the early days, when the first jailhouse was built, this was a rough, rustic setting. Popular cannery worker Lum You was hanged here in 1902 - the only legal execution in county history. Industrious smugglers and creative entrepreneurs outwitted state-sanctioned prohibition measures, though some still did time...

Mike is back in Seattle after a year and a half spent in hiding. An ex-thief, he returned home to change his life... at least that was his plan. On his first day back, he found his brother Jarrod lead astray by someone he knows isn't to be trusted, someone who has connections to all the wrong people. After a run in with one of Seattle's most notorious families Mike must return to his old ways to try and save his brother and the woman he loves from...

In 1978, the Coast Guard seized the freighter Helena Star which was laden with 37 tons of marijuana. The author presents an insider's account of the ensuing events involving drug cartels, smuggling, money laundering, suspicious deaths, and courtroom battles.

"Cal Claxton is determined to reinvent himself as a small town lawyer in the aftermath of his wife's suicide. Once a hardcharging L.A. prosecutor, he now lives in an old farmhouse overlooking the Oregon wine country. When a scruffy, tattooed kid shows up asking for help in solving his mother's cold case murder, Cal wants to say no. But the kid, who calls himself Picasso, has ridden a bike from Portland, and something about his determination touches...

"When Cal's neighbor, Jim Kavanaugh, the owner and gifted vintner of an up-and-coming winery, is accused of murdering his wife, his freedom--and the grape harvest--is suddenly in jeopardy along with his reputation, and his business begins to slide. No gentleman farmer, this puts the rugged winemaker's property, his only financial asset, in play. When a blackmail plot is hatched against the owner of adjacent land, it begins to look like a brutal game...

"On the last hot day of summer 1992, gunfire cracked over a rocky knob in northern Idaho, just south of the Canadian border. By the next day three people were dead, and a small war was joined, pitting the full might of federal law enforcement against one well-armed family. Drawing on extensive interviews with Randy Weaver's family, government insiders, and others, Jess Walter traces the paths that led the Weavers to their confrontation with federal...

"Despite its reputation as a progressive and high-tech place, Seattle had a 100-year history of vice and official corruption. The system involved city official turning a blind eye to illegal gambling, unlicensed bars, and prostitution--in exchange for which police officers demanded "operating fees" in the form of cash payments from establishment owners. The money trail may have started on sordid streets but it traveled high up in official hierarchy....