Sign-In
Cart
The Murder of John Shakespeare: A Centralia Cold Case
Hardcover
Series: True Crime
20th Century United States HistoryRegional: MidwestTrue Crime
Publisher Price: $34.99
ISBN13: 9781540299765
Publisher: History Press
Published: Dec 30 2025
Pages: 160
Weight: 1.03
Height: 0.70 Width: 6.15 Depth: 9.31
Language: English
Authors Cary O'Dell and Richard L. Sprehe lead a literary investigation of a brutal cold-case murder.
In May 1975, in the small Southern Illinois town of Centralia, the body of one of its best-known residents, John Shakespeare, was found nearly nude, bound, and shot, execution-style, in the basement of his home. Shakespeare, sixty-nine, was a wealthy bachelor, an eccentric, an heir to the Shakespeare fishing fortune, a world-renowned collector of vintage cars, and, maybe, a possessor of a few secrets.
Despite the victim being well liked in the community, state and local police, and eventually even the FBI and Interpol, found a plethora of suspects while investigating the crime. Could it have been his longtime business associate? Or the mysterious hitchhiker seen in town just days before his body was found? Or a long-ago name from his past?
Also from
O'Dell, Cary
Bucky's Dome: The Resurrection of R. Buckminster Fuller and Anne Hewlett Fuller's Dome Home in Carbondale, Illinois
O'Dell, Cary
Heckman, Thad
Paperback
Also in
Regional: Midwest
Twin Cities by Trolley: The Streetcar Era in Minneapolis and St. Paul
Diers, John W.
Isaacs, Aaron
Hardcover
Lake Minnetonka
Wayzata Historical Society
Westonka Historical Society
Excelsior-Lake Minnetonka Historical Society
Paperback
Scandinavians in the State House: How Nordic Immigrants Shaped Minnesota Politics
Bergman, Klas
Paperback
The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America
Larson, Erik
Paperback
The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl
Egan, Timothy
Paperback
The Pioneers: The Heroic Story of the Settlers Who Brought the American Ideal West
McCullough, David
Paperback
Sea of Grass: The Conquest, Ruin, and Redemption of Nature on the American Prairie
Hage, Dave
Marcotty, Josephine
Hardcover
The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America
Larson, Erik
Hardcover
Black Wall Street: From Riot to Renaissance in Tulsa's Historic Greenwood District
Johnson, Hannibal B.
Paperback
Spooky Michigan: Tales of Hauntings, Strange Happenings, and Other Local Lore
Schlosser, S. E.
Paperback
Shadow of the Bridge: The Delphi Murders and the Dark Side of the American Heartland
Cain, Áine
Greenlee, Kevin
Hardcover
Heart of American Darkness: A Story of Murder and Revolution on the Early Frontier
Parkinson, Robert G.
Paperback
The Dawn of Detroit: A Chronicle of Slavery and Freedom in the City of the Straits
Miles, Tiya
Paperback
White Pines and Stone: The Hunt for the Springfield Three
McDermott, Dylan
Whitcomb, Christopher
Hardcover
Wrecked: The Edmund Fitzgerald and the Sinking of the American Economy
Nelson, Thomas M.
Podair, Jerald
Paperback
The Great Black Swamp: Toxic Algae, Toxic Relationships, and the Most Interesting Place in America That Nobody's Ever Heard of
Wensink, Patrick
Paperback
The Broken Heart of America: St. Louis and the Violent History of the United States
Johnson, Walter
Paperback
Death in the Haymarket: A Story of Chicago, the First Labor Movement and the Bombing That Divided Gilded Age America
Green, James
Paperback
What's the Deal with Dead Man's Curve?: And Other Really Good Questions about Cleveland
Sweeney, Jim
Paperback
One Shot at Forever: A Small Town, an Unlikely Coach, and a Magical Baseball Season
Ballard, Chris
Paperback
Brooding Upon the Waters: A Memoir of Farming, Fishing, and Failure in America's Lost Landscape
Schaap, Howard
Paperback
The Containment: Detroit, the Supreme Court, and the Battle for Racial Justice in the North
Adams, Michelle
Hardcover
Lake Michigan Gales & Tales: Vanishing Ships, Tragic Wrecks, and Historic Rescues
Passwater, Michael
Paperback
Wilder Weather: What Laura Ingalls Wilder Teaches Us about the Weather, Climate, and Protecting What We Cherish
Boustead, Barbara
Paperback
The Containment: Detroit, the Supreme Court, and the Battle for Racial Justice in the North
Adams, Michelle
Paperback
It Happened in Nebraska: Stories of Events and People That Shaped Cornhusker State History
Partsch, Tammy
Paperback
Shipwrecks and Lost Treasures: Great Lakes: Legends And Lore, Pirates And More!
Varhola, Michael
Paperback
Girl Without a Country: The Untold Story of a Landmark Fight for U.S. Citizenship
Ramseyer, Rick
Paperback
The Maid and the Socialite: The Brave Women Behind Green Bay's Scandalous Minahan Trials
Drews, Lynda
Paperback
Daniel Burnham and Louis Sullivan: Personal Histories of Two Icons of American Architecture
Thoreson, Trygve
Paperback
Chicago's Great Fire: The Destruction and Resurrection of an Iconic American City
Smith, Carl
Paperback
Dodge City: Wyatt Earp, Bat Masterson, and the Wickedest Town in the American West
Clavin, Tom
Paperback
A Keg of Their Best: Brewing in the Beer State Capital--From the Beer Baron Era to Modern Microbrews
Shepard, Robin
Paperback
The Girls of Murder City: Fame, Lust, and the Beautiful Killers Who Inspired Chicago
Perry, Douglas
Paperback
The Origins of the Urban Crisis: Race and Inequality in Postwar Detroit - Updated Edition
Sugrue, Thomas J.
Paperback
City of Champions: A History of Triumph and Defeat in Detroit
Szymanski, Stefan
Weineck, Silke-Maria
Hardcover
Spooky Great Lakes: Tales of Hauntings, Strange Happenings, and Other Local Lore
Schlosser, S. E.
Paperback
Spooky Wisconsin: Tales of Hauntings, Strange Happenings, and Other Local Lore
Schlosser, S. E.
Paperback
The Politics of Resentment: Rural Consciousness in Wisconsin and the Rise of Scott Walker
Cramer, Katherine J.
Paperback
It Happened in Michigan: Stories of Events and People That Shaped Great Lakes State History
Burcar, Colleen
Paperback
Fishes of the Chicago Region: A Field Guide
Willink, Philip W.
Veraldi, Francis M.
Pescitelli, Stephen M.
Paperback
Murder at Minnesota Point: Unraveling the Captivating Mystery of a Long-Forgotten True Crime
Sauve, Jeffrey M.
Paperback
Spooky Indiana: Tales Of Hauntings, Strange Happenings, And Other Local Lore, First Edition
Hoffman, Paul G.
Schlosser, S. E.
Paperback
Glory Days in Tribe Town: The Cleveland Indians and Jacobs Field 1994-1997
Pluto, Terry
Hamilton, Tom
Paperback
When Democrats Won the Heartland: Progressive Populism in the Age of Reagan, 1978-1992
Haala, Cory
Paperback
Vintage Cavs: A Warm Look Back at the Cavaliers of the Cleveland Arena and Richfield Coliseum Years
Pluto, Terry
Paperback
The Nastiest Saloon in Iowa: Murder, Prostitution, and Corruption in the Heartland
Donovan, David P.
Donovan, Rose M.
Paperback
Evanston Speaks: Oral Histories of Transformation and Triumph from a Progressive City
Hurtig, Elliott
Hardcover
The Lions Finally Roar: The Detroit Lions and the Road to Redemption in the NFL
Morris, Bill
Paperback
The Pioneers: The Heroic Story of the Settlers Who Brought the American Ideal West
McCullough, David
Hardcover
Sin in the Second City: Madams, Ministers, Playboys, and the Battle for America's Soul
Abbott, Karen
Paperback
Retracing the Dragoon Trail in Iowa: Environmental Transformation Along the Des Moines River
Mason, Kevin T.
Paperback
We Can Do Better: Collected Writings on Land, Conservation, and Public Policy by Paul Johnson
Johnson, Paul
Paperback
Land of the Burnt Thigh: A Lively Story of Women Homesteaders on the South Dakota Frontier
Kohl, Edith Eudora
Paperback
Lumberjack: Inside an Era in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan - 70th Anniversary Edition
Crowe, William S.
Paperback
We Had a Little Real Estate Problem: The Unheralded Story of Native Americans & Comedy
Nesteroff, Kliph
Paperback
Crime & Corruption on the Michigan Railroad: Stories from the Victorian Era
Delaware, Michael
Paperback