Welcome to Texas Confidential Online!

Welcome to 'Texas Confidential Online'! This site is an official online supplement to the print edition of the true-crime book Texas Confidential: Sex, Scandal, Murder, and Mayhem in the Lone Star State, which was released just this month. This site will be home to an increasing body of content, including:

* Addenda, expansions, and updates to the chapters that appear in the book.

* "Behind the Scenes" pieces on the research, travel, and personal experiences behind some of the chapters in Texas Confidential.

* "Breaking News." This department mentions media coverage of things related to the material in Texas Confidential and includes links back to their stories on them. Current items on this sort on the site include Strange Family Ties: Man Discovers Mother Killed by Joe Ball, Police Raid Home on Tip from Psychic, and Court Rules Against Anna Nicole Smith Estate.

* Features on relevant groups and organizations. These will include articles on the Texas Rangers, Texas EquuSearch, and other entities involved in battling crime and its effects in the Lone Star State.

* Additional photos and graphics. For many chapters we were able to find images that did a good job of illustrating the text but which were too low-resolution to include in the print edition of the book, and we will make many of these available here.

* Travel information. An appendix on Travel Resources related to the chapters on Texas Confidential was one of the things that needed to get cut from the print edition of the book and a living version of it now appears on this site.

* Event listings. This will include everything from signings and appearances by the author of Texas Confidential to things like annual festivals associated with sites and episodes described in the book.

* Q&A This section will answer questions from readers, which they can pose as Comments to pertinent sections or send directly via email.

* "Where They Are Now." This department is exclusive to this site and provides updates on the status of people covered in Texas Confidential, to include incarcerations, releases from prison, deaths, and the like.

* Reviews, interviews, lists, links, tips, and other features designed to complement the book. Book reviews currently on the site include ones of conspiracy theorist Jimm Marrs' great The Rise of the Fourth Reich.

* New Chapters. These will include write-ups of historic and breaking episodes of sex, scandal, murder, and mayhem. Examples include pieces on iconic stripper Candy Barr, Rev. John Fiala, who not only raped young boys but also tried to have one his victims murdered, and freakish child rapist Warren Jeffs (sex); the Bush family crimes and connections to the Nazi regime during World War II, the Zambian boys choir enslaved by Baptist minister Richard Grimes, and the Comal County fire department that opted out of fighting fires in the summer of 2010 (scandal); Kennedy assassination theories; redneck couple Gayle and Sheila Muhs, who murdered a child for playing on public property near their home; the role of Houston doctor Conrad Murray in the death of Michael Jackson; and the 2009 massacre at Fort Hood (murder); and the Greer County border war, German submarines preying on shipping off the shores of Galveston, Ozzie Osbourne's indiscretions at the Alamo, the man Laura Bush killed when she ran a stop sign, David Koresh and the massacre at Waco, the Republic of Texas separatist militia, and the one-man Jihad against George W. Bush (mayhem).