Celebrated Crimes is a collection of true crime stories, narratives and essays on famous criminals and crimes from European history, compiled by Alexandre Dumas, père, with the assistance of several friends. He featured Beatrice Cenci, Martin Guerre, Cesare and Lucrezia Borgia, as well as more recent events and criminals, including the cases of the alleged murderers Karl Ludwig Sand and Antoine François Desrues, who were executed. Table of Contents: The...

Three writings taken from 'Celebrated Crimes', a series of essays on famous criminals and crimes by the author of 'The Count of Monte Cristo' and 'The Three Musketeers', Alexandre Dumas.

The Man in the Iron Mask, by Alexander Dumas, is part of the Barnes & Noble Classics series, which offers quality editions at affordable prices to the student and the general reader, including new scholarship, thoughtful design, and pages of carefully crafted extras. Here are some of the remarkable features of Barnes & Noble Classics: • New introductions commissioned from todays top writers and scholars • Biographies of the authors • Chronologies...

On the 18th June, 1815, at the very moment when the destiny of Europe was being decided at Waterloo, a man dressed like a beggar was silently following the road from Toulon to Marseilles. Arrived at the entrance of the Gorge of Ollioulles, he halted on a little eminence from which he could see all the surrounding country; then either because he had reached the end of his journey, or because, before attempting that forbidding, sombre pass which is...

Beatrice Cenci laid her neck on the chopping block. She'd helped to beat a powerful nobleman to death, but for many in Rome, her execution was a tragic perversion of justice. Beatrice's father, Francisco, was a horrible abuser. His wife and three children all suffered at his hands. Pushed to the brink, the four Cencis grouped together to put an end to Francisco's evil. The ensuing trial enthralled the city's population, and gave rise to a legend about...

Fanatic. Murderer. Martyr. Karl-Ludwig Sand was all of these things and more. Alexandre Dumas delves into his fascinating story as part of the "Celebrated Crimes" series. Sand was a devout believer in German unification. At the time, Germany existed only as a loose confederation. In the name of this cause, he broke into the house of the conservative writer August von Kotzebue and stabbed him to death. Tried and executed in 1820, Sand became a nationalist...

In a morally corrupt society, where does the guilt for a crime really end? In "La Constantin", Alexandre Dumas introduces us to two women who met untimely ends—Angelique-Louise de Guerchi and Josephine-Charlotte Boullenois. While they were killed by a pair of poisoners, Dumas points the reader towards other forces that led to their deaths. Namely, the husbands and fathers who controlled their lives.A history of violence, "La Constantin" also doubles...

Martin Guerre's disappearance has changed him. In fact, he's no longer Martin Guerre at all. In this true crime tale, Alexandre Dumas explores an outlandish case of impersonation. The year is 1556, and French peasant Martin Guerre has been missing for six years. But then he suddenly returns, and is welcomed back by his wife and son. But others in the village sense something amiss. They suspect the man is a total imposter.It's a story that's truly...

To paraphrase the note from the translator, The Celebrated Crimes of Alexandre Dumas père was not written for children. The novelist has spared no language—has minced no words—to describe violent scenes of violent times.
In this, the eighth of the series, Dumas explores the depths of a soul, that of Antonin Derues, a man capable of the most amazing hypocrisy, perfidy, and cruelty. He was what we would know today as an extreme sociopath, a...