Before the Colorado Territory, this land was Jefferson Territory. Made up mostly of ranching and farming communities, early Jefferson County was the kind of place where only the stouthearted and downright crazy could survive. And with any settlement comes violence. It's true that Hollywood has embellished the history of the Wild West, but that doesn't mean it wasn't truly wild. From the "psychic" Italian mother who lured an elderly woman to her death to the violent end of the McQueary-Shaffer feud in the upper Platte region, local historian Carol Turner's Notorious Jefferson County offers readers a peek into some of the area's most famous and infamous murder cases of the frontier era.

Carol Turner has a BA in English from Sonoma State University and an MFA in creative writing and literature from Bennington College. She is the author of Economics for the Impatient, and her short fiction has appeared in numerous literary magazines. She lives in Colorado, writes a history column for the Broomfield Enterprise and maintains a Colorado history blog.