Eleven stories of deadly doings in Missouri by "a standout writer of terse, staccato prose and vivid details" ( The Omaha Reader). Missouri has a bloody history dating back to frontier days-not just in St. Louis or Kansas City but in small towns and rural hamlets where one local summed up how Missourians prefer to handle conflicts: You shoot, you shovel, and you shut up.In this book, David J. Krajicek recounts eleven true tales of shocking and infamous crimes in the state, among them: 
				
				
			- The St. Louis barroom murder that inspired the popular song "Stagger Lee"
- The vigilante killing of Ken McElroy, the "town bully" of tiny Skidmore, MO
- The heartless kidnapping and murder of millionaire Robert Greenlease's son in Kansas City by a couple of St. Joseph barflies
- The Kirkwood City Council massacre
- The "throwaway" serial killings of over a dozen young prostitutes in Kansas City by a garbage collector
- The forgotten story of "Cockeyed" Cook, a lost soul from Joplin who massacred an entire family and dumped them down a mineshaft
- The "American Gothic" killers, farmer Ray Copeland and his wife, Faye, who murdered their farmhands near Chillicothe in a bizarre plot to make money-but made the mistake of planting their human crop too shallow
- And more








