Explore the dark side of the history of the River City… Richmond has a curious share of horrific accidents, coolly calculated slaughter, and incidents of implacable deceit in its history. Here, the wronged, the devious, and the heartbroken enact their lives on the stage set of the River City's ostensibly genteel neighborhoods, where a tree-shaded city street may have been the site of a crime of passion and an innocuous path in the woods recalls a grisly unsolved murder. Discover these and other lesser-known stories, from a young bride poisoned by her husband to the horrific fate of an entire airliner. Local historian Selden Richardson explores tales from a time when murder and mayhem stalked the streets of Richmond.

Selden Richardson is a local historian who writes and lectures about history and architecture in his native city of Richmond, Virginia. He is the author of Built by Blacks: African American Architecture and Neighborhoods in Richmond, Virginia (The History Press, 2008) and The Tri-State Gang in Richmond: Murder and Robbery in the Great Depression (The History Press, 2012).