The Case Files of Detective Laszlo Briscoe chronicles sixty-three dastardly crimes actually perpetrated in Newtown, Connecticut, between 1889 and 1933. Included are murders, arsons, assaults, burglaries, safecrackings, rapes, chicken thefts, even statutory mayhem.

These true crimes are presented by fictional detective Laszlo Briscoe, an investigator and crime diarist who keeps his true-shooting Smith & Wesson revolver at the ready. He offers insightful and sometimes humorous observations that invite the reader to reflect on human nature and the social norms of the times.

Vigilante groups had deep roots in the region: the anonymous White Caps dealt out their own form of justice and the KKK did business on the other side of the law. The five decades of crime covered in the book include both casual acts of thievery and passionate, villainous crimes fueled by insanity, hunger, revenge, jealousy, and greed.

Who perpetrated these calculated and evil deeds? Ah! Not always the hobo-strangers you might think! Many crimes were committed by neighbors, family, and hired help in Taunton, Sandy Hook, Hattertown, Hawleyville, Botsford, on Sugar Street, Main Street, and Queen Street.

No neighborhood was safe from sinister activity...

Andrea Zimmermann is a writer and librarian with a keen interest in local history and preservation. She is the author of Eleanor Mayer's History of Cherry Grove Farm published in 2005 by the Newtown Historical Society. Andrea was a features writer for The Newtown Bee before becoming a freelance journalist writing for The New York Times Connecticut Weekly section and regional magazines.

For the past nine years Andrea has been an interviewer for and editor on the Newtown Oral History Project. She established and was director of the Newtown Historical Images Archive, a Historical Society project to digitize and preserve more than 3,000 photographs that document life in Newtown between 1880 and 1950. Andrea has earned a BS in Social Work, MA in English, and MLIS. She works as a reference librarian at the C.H. Booth Library.

Andrea makes her home in Newtown, Connecticut, with Bill Brassard, Jr., and their springer spaniel, Libby.