Kentucky-land of bluegrass, horse racing, bourbon, and . . . murder.

In Murder in Old Kentucky: True Crime Stories from the Bluegrass, Keven McQueen recounts dark and disturbing tales from the pages of Kentucky history, including the 1825 murder of Col. Solomon Sharp-a sordid affair that inspired Edgar Allan Poe and Robert Penn Warren-and the 1881 Ashland Tragedy, a heartbreaking murder of three innocent teenagers. This revised and expanded edition includes the story of a family terrorized by an arsonist who massacred eleven of their members and burned the property of even more, the tale of a husband and wife found shot in each other's arms with a life-sized photo of another man between them, and many more deaths that made headlines.

Meticulously researched and written with McQueen's trademark humor, Murder in Old Kentucky will captivate any fan of true crime or Kentucky history.

Preface
Acknowledgments
Introduction to 2021 edition
1. Kentucky's First Great Murder
2. Richard Shuck Confesses All, and Then Some
3. A Mob Teaches Mr. Klein the Errors of His Ways
4. Playing It Cool!
5. Col. Buford Begs to Differ with Judge Elliott
6. An Argument for the Involuntary Commitment of the Criminally Insane
7. An Arsonist with a Grudge
8. Cold Case File, 1866
9. A Question of Sanity
10. The Hanging of John Vonderheide
11. A Regular Killing Machine
12. "A Little Fun:" The Ashland Tragedy
13. A Two-Fisted Professor Refuses to Take No for an Answer
14. Moses Caton, Family Man
15. Knox County Atrocity
16. A Possible Poisoner, and a Definite One
17. The Smart Murders, or: Choose Your Friends Wisely
18. How Not to Spend Homecoming Week
19. The Showers-Moore Tragedy
20. On the Benefits of Keeping One's Temper
21. A Heart in the Wrong Place
22. Two for the Chair
23. Murder on a College Campus
24. Same Story, Different Endings
25. The Head on the Mound
Bibliography

Keven McQueen is author of 20 books covering American history, the supernatural, biography, historical true crime, and what he calls real-life surrealism. His books include Horror in the Heartland: Strange and Gothic Tales from the Midwest, Creepy California: Strange and Gothic Tales from the Golden State, Weird Wild West: True Tales of the Strange and Gothic, and New England Nightmares: True Tales of the Strange and Gothic. His work has been anthologized by the Jesse Stuart Foundation and Texas Christian University Press. He has guested on radio shows and podcasts including Darkness Radio, 30 Odd Minutes, Paranormal View, Controversial TV, Most Notorious, Thorne and Cross Haunted Nights Live, Mind's Eye, Still Unsolved, and Fringe Radio. Recently, his books have been mentioned in articles in the New York Times and on the Daily Beast/Yahoo News. McQueen is a senior lecturer in English at Eastern Kentucky University in Richmond.