Join us for a presentation and conversation with Kathryn Canavan, author of True Crime Philadelphia: From America's First Bank Robbery to the Real-Life Killers Who Inspired Boardwalk Empire.

Serial killer H.H. Holmes built his murder castle in Chicago, but he met the hangman in Philadelphia. Al Capone served his first prison sentence here. The real-life killers who inspired HBO's Boardwalk Empire lived and died here. America's first bank robbery was pulled off here in 1798. The country's first kidnapping for ransom came off without a hitch in 1874. A South Philadelphia man hatched the largest mass murder plot in U.S. history in the 1930s. His partners in crime were unhappy housewives. Catholics and Protestants aimed cannon at each other in city streets in 1844. Civil rights hero Octavius V. Catto was gunned down on South Street in 1871. Take a walk with us through city history. Mix in murderous maids, bumbling burglars, and unflinching local heroes and you have True Crime Philadelphia.

Kathryn Canavan began her career as a crime reporter. To get a story, she has reported at gunpoint, lived with the Moonies, negotiated with a killer and joined Tug McGraw in the Phillies dugout. She eventually worked as reporter or editor in four states. Her freelance writing has been published in USA Today, the Philadelphia Inquirer, History News Network, and Prevention magazine. She was named a National Health Journalism Fellow at the University of Southern California's Annenberg School of Communications and Journalism in 2011. Her fellowship project, "No Child Allowed Outside," chronicled the health effects of gun violence on young children. She is a 2017 Individual Artist Fellow of Delaware Division of the Arts, awarded the Established Professional Award for Creative Nonfiction.

Copies of the book will be available for sale and there will be a book signing immediately following the event. We invite you to support the author by purchasing a copy of their book from Browseabout Books by clicking HERE. Call-in orders are accepted at (302) 226-2665 or you can stop by the store to purchase a copy. For store hours, please visit their website. Each copy purchased will be signed by the author.

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