These books make you exclaim, "Unbelievable", "No way" or "Totally outrageous" but are still true stories from around the world. For readers who like a little weird with their wonderful.
An unconventional newspaper reporter fascinated by the Space Race and a psychiatrist combine forces and invite individuals to report any dreams of future events they might have. These are recorded and followed up months later to see if anyone could…
Two World War I prisoners suggest to their Turkish captors that they can communicate with the dead and through this occultic information, locate great wealth. Ouija board sessions draw the prison warders into a web of greed and deception while the…
Witold Szablowski investigates the relationship between dictator and their cook and delivers penetrating insights on the personalities and methods of manipulation by some of the scariest leaders in the world. There are also eye-opening anecdotes…
A woman claims she is being tormented by an incorrigible spirit in her London home as the long shadow of Fascism extends over Europe in the late 1930s. Nandor Fodor, chief ghost hunter for the International Institute for Psychical Research, takes on…
An author in pursuit of "The Green Fairy" (AKA Absinthe, a spirit made from wormwood and other plants) turns gumshoe when he attempts to trace a mysterious collector who claims to know the whereabouts of a 100-year-old cache of the drink with a most…
An extraordinary story of survival by talented dressmakers who saved their skins by making stylish clothes for Nazi families. Equally extraordinary is the open hypocrisy of the Nazis who indulged their various vanities while sending thousands of…
At the heart of this eye-popping tale is an eccentric man with a most peculiar and it must be said, self-serving, code of honour. Susan Orlean details this man's outrageous quest for a rare and mysterious orchid while lifting the veil on a history…
Geoffrey Rice's historical compilation is a fabulous collection of outrage and scandal sourced from 19th century Ōtautahi. Brace yourself for the so-called "Temple of Truth" which led to the Riot Act being read in central Christchurch, the grisly…
This book is as odd as it is powerful. It is odd in the connections it makes between atomic power, a sci-fi pioneer who was also a cruel egomaniac, love, a wise but distant father tormented by memories of WWII, colonial oppressors, Tasmania, Oxford…
The author fascinates as a servant completely in the thrall of her incredibly wealthy and powerful masters before a crisis of conscience leads her to turn whistleblower. There are no shortage of bizarre scenarios involving Facebook supremo Mark…
A Native American tribe are brutally shunted off their land and relocated in an area deemed worthless before great resources of oil make the Osage people some of the richest in the world. Then they start dying in a suspicious series of accidents…
A classic of non-fiction that delivers murder, madness, crime and punishment at the heart of the first ever Oxford Dictionary. It is hard to imagine a more deadly tale of self-less commitment to the community by a volunteer. There is also a decent…
Norman Ohler digs into the origins of LSD and examines links to medicine, Nazi interrogation techniques and CIA activities before it became the notorious drug of choice of many hippies in the 1960s. The story does not end there as LSD is now being…
Anke Richter dives deep into the world of coercive cults and reveals all on some of the odder and self-serving beliefs of what are invariably self-appointed gurus and their followers. She also details the cult leaders' methods of control and their…
In Christchurch a man dies of apparently innocent causes but his sister can't believe it and suspects the woman she is grieving with. However, the police are reluctant starters when it comes to considering the possibility that means most foul were…
An outlandish story of a self-made movie mogul who bankrolled The Godfather and then was inspired to behave like a Mafia Don. In his later years he was left vulnerable to the grifters his indulgences introduced him to. His behaviour and that of the…
A colourful and superbly named coroner and the creator of James Bond are just two of the devious minds who cook up an outrageous ruse involving a dressed-up corpse in order to fool the the Nazi high command during a critical period in World War II. …
