Among the Bros Recounts Drug Ring

Run By Charleston College Students

In 2016, a police task force charged five College of Charleston Kappa Alpha fraternity members and three of their friends for running a $400,000 narcotics network that supplied Xanax, cocaine, and other drugs to a number of colleges across the South. The arrests came as a result of an investigation into the murder of Patrick Moffly, a 23-year-old former student and son of a luxury real estate developer who had been shot in the chest a few months prior. Authorities confiscated not only drugs but seven firearms, a grenade launcher, and over $200,000 in cash from a stash house the young men rented. Journalist Max Marshall became intrigued with the story and, in his book titled Among The Bros: A fraternity Crime Story, he recounts how the group’s ringleader, a student from Georgia named Mike Schmidt, initially made money selling fake IDs, while his friend Rob Liljeberg dealt weed to others in the fraternity. Seeing an opening, they teamed up to sell harder drugs to other students in Charleston and began recruiting other members of KA as mules. Soon enough, the members of this fraternity were at the center of a multimillion-dollar drug ring, made all the more noxious by their school’s notoriety for excess drinking and drug use. While Schmidt received a ten-year sentence with no parole, many of the others walked away with suspended sentences or probation, and were allowed to graduate. “For the most part, they are living in their home towns and just sort of climbing the corporate ladder,” Marshall said of the men involved.

Five Little-Known Facts [And 10

Great Movies] About The Berlin Wall

One would be hard-pressed to count just how many novels and films used the Berlin Wall as a setting or plot device (although Wikipedia does a fairly good job). From Funeral in Berlin to Torn Curtain to The Tunnel, the barrier that ran through the heart of Germany’s largest city became the most stark and notorious symbol of the Cold War. More than 60 years have passed since it’s construction, and to commemorate the occasion, Time magazine compiled this list of ten excellent movies that were set in the time of the Wall—and now have outlasted it. Meanwhile, History Facts recently published five five interesting facts you may not know about the structure:

• The name “Checkpoint Charlie” come from the NATO phonetic alphabet, along with Checkpoint Alpha and Checkpoint Bravo. Checkpoint Charlie was located in the heart of Berlin and, as it marked the divide between the Soviet and American zones, it became a symbol of the Cold War divisions.

• The “Death Strip” between the original wire fence and a newer barrier was the most dangerous part of the wall.

• The final version of the wall, a sophisticated cement barrier with increased surveillance, was built in 1975.

• An estimated 5,000 East Berliners managed to make it to the other side, some by tunneling under it, walking a tightrope over it, or via zip line.

• An administrative error led to the fall of the wall when East German spokesperson Günter Schabowski mistakenly said it was going to be torn down immediately, stunning East and West Berliners and causing border guards to step aside.

All The World’s A Stage: When The

Theater Meets The Mystery Novel

Crime writers utilize an extraordinarily wide range of backgrounds for their stories, but the stage is one of the most popular of them all. As noted by author Martin Edwards in Crime Reads, stories set in—or connected with—the theatre, concert halls, or similar venues have entertained readers since the nineteenth century. One of the main strengths of Janice Hallett’s recent bestseller The Appeal, for instance, is that the story revolves around the members of a local amateur dramatic group who are involved with a production of Arthur Miller’s All My Sons. This fondness for the theater might come from the fact that more than a few mystery writers are enthusiastic actors, including Wilkie Collins, Charles Dickens, Dulcie Gray, Alex Atkinson, and the less celebrated Fiona Sinclair. Still other crime novelists doubled as playwrights, among them Simon Brett, Rupert Holmes, Ngaio Marsh and, of course, Agatha Christie. “Many writers have taken advantage of the fact that the theatre and the concert hall offer marvelous opportunities for a dramatic murder, and the same is true in film and television,” Edwards says. “Take, for instance, Ellery Queen’s debut whodunit, The Roman Hat Mystery, which is a cerebral puzzle concerning the death of a lawyer who is a member of a theatre audience. Raoul Whitfield’s Death in a Bowl concerns the killing of maestro Hans Reiner at the Hollywood Bowl." And who can forget The Phantom of The Opera, which was based on a 1910 novel by Gaston Leroux and tells the tale of a disfigured musical genius who haunts the Paris Opera House.

The 10 Greatest Movies Ever,

According To The Coen Brothers

Joel Coen and Ethan Coen’s Minnesota upbringing might belie the eclecticism derived from having been raised by worldly, academic parents, but their body of work—much of it dark and cynical—undoubtedly comes from a collective love of movies. As Mike Damski recently wrote for Movie Web, “While the Midwestern Jewish ethos and outsider anxiety of their childhood has bled into a few of their films, namely A Serious Man, the two have drawn more inspiration from a cadre of post-war, cerebral filmmakers ranging from such film school-favorites as Akira Kurosawa to the new Hollywood directors that corresponded chronologically to their education in film. Their topical range and delicate dance between micro and macro historical focus helped create a catalog of films that examined time and place as much as character…Tongue is always firmly ensconced in cheek in a Coen brothers film, [yet] this only extends to the boundary of character, whereupon the place becomes as important a topic as their stories, whether that place is Los Angeles or somewhere closer to home — say, Fargo, North Dakota. Every character in a Coen brothers movie is a caricature, so we spend as much energy laughing at their carefully-choreographed slapstick as anything intellectual in their films." With that in mind, here are the ten films the two brothers say are the greatest of all time and, presumably, influenced their own vision as filmmakers. [The Bad News Bears? Seriously?]

One Last Look At The Best Mystery

And Thriller Movies Of 2023

We’re halfway through the first month of 2024, but I want to take one last look at some of the best mysteries and thrillers to hit theaters during 2023. As noted in Novel Suspects, these films encompass a wide range of subgenres, from old-fashioned murder mysteries to hyper-violent revenge stories to twist-filled con games, and even a new take on the Western. Such renowned directors as David Fincher and Kenneth Branagh brought their talents to new thrillers this year, while lesser-known filmmakers working with much smaller budgets demonstrated creativity and ambition within familiar genre templates. From How To Blow Up A Pipeline to The Killer to Sympathy For The Devil to The Ballerina, here are 10 movies that provided this year’s best suspense, thrills, and action onscreen.

Coming March 19

Beyond All Doubt

[Reed Bunzel writing as Hilton Reed]

“Beyond All Doubt is an edge-of-your-seat fast-moving thrill-ride, kicked off by the reappearance of a dead man and propelling the reader along to the final bullet—and beyond.”— S.J. Rozan, best-selling author of The Mayors of New York

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“Beyond All Doubt is a taut, smart, and emotionally rich thriller. Reed has a sharp eye for character and a screenwriter's feel for action. This tale is sleek as a mink and fast as a bullet.”— T. Jefferson Parker, author of The Rescue

“Beyond All Doubt is not a 'who done it,' but a twisty, compelling 'who did what.' Cameron Kane is a sympathetic, yet unrelenting bulldog in his pursuit of the truth about his wife's death. Intriguing and intense, Beyond All Doubt is a winner!”—Matt Coyle, bestselling author of the Rick Cahill crime novels

“In this action-packed and engrossing thriller, Reed masterfully balances between a husband’s drive to uncover the truth about his wife’s death and a father’s instinct to protect his family at all costs. Once I started reading, I couldn’t put it down!”— Matthew Farrell, bestselling author of The Woman at Number 6

“Beyond All Doubt has plenty of thrills—deadly snipers, false identities, shocking deaths—but at its heart, this book is about a grieving single father whose desperation propels the plot like a speeding car with its brake lines cut.”— Cayce Osborne, author of I Know What You Did