Bøker av Peter Hellman

Fifty years after she was viciously attacked in full view of several neighbors and within earshot of still more, the name of murder victim Kitty Genovese still conjures the ugly spectre of American apathy. "37 Saw Murder but Didn't Call Police" ran the Times headline that created a legend. A thirty-eighth witness did call-"after much deliberation"-half an hour after the first attack left Kitty wounded on the street. By then, her killer had returned and finished the job: Kitty Genovese lay dying in a stairwell, just steps from the safety of her own apartment.The apparent indifference of Kitty's neighbors to her screams-and the cold-blooded calm of the killer who came back-fixed this case in the memory of detective chief Albert Seedman. Ten years later, he gave coauthor Peter Hellman the inside scoop on the murder that haunts a quiet corner of Kew Gardens, Queens-and the American conscience.Seedman's account of the investigation, now bookended by incisive new commentary from Hellman, is as gripping today as ever, and the plight of Kitty Genovese as chilling. When Seedman questioned the murderer about Kitty's neighbors, he replied, "I knew they wouldn't do anything. People never do. That late at night, they just go back to sleep." If he struck today, would we prove him wrong?

In 2002, Rudy Kurniawan, an unknown twentysomething, burst into the privileged world of ultrafine wines. Blessed with a virtuoso palate, and with a seemingly limitless supply of coveted bottles, Kurniawan quickly became the leading purveyor of rare wines to the American elite. But in April 2008, at a New York auction house, dozens of Kurniawan's trophy bottles were abruptly pulled from sale. Journalist Peter Hellman was there, and he began to investigate: Were the bottles fake? Were there others? And was Kurniawan himself a dupe . . . or had he ensnared the world's top winemakers, sellers, and drinkers in a web of deceit?