Female Criminals

In the 17th century, a middle-aged woman remakes her life in New England. But her fresh start turns sour after her neighbors decide she’s a witch. Jailed several times over, Goody Cole is never quite able to reclaim her reputation... so a new crop of townspeople do it for her, hundreds of years later.

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Their upbringings couldn’t have been more different, but by the time they meet, Helen and Olga have one important thing in common: They’re schemers, willing to bend the world to their will if it means making a quick buck. In the 1990s, they hatch a plot more devious than all the rest.

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She was a singular woman in Gold Rush-era San Francisco: an entrepreneur, an abolitionist, and extraordinarily wealthy. But Mary Ellen Pleasant’s mere presence was enough to rattle her neighbors, and the accusations levied against her were enough to shock: she practiced black magic; she murdered a business associate; she cursed a family. Now she’s rumored to haunt a park in the very city that helped her swim, then watched her sink.

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After marrying the heir to the Winchester Repeating Arms Company in 1862, Sarah Winchester was seemingly set for life. But while her finances never despaired, Sarah did — experiencing a string of tragedies that would haunt her. She built a strange and sweeping mansion to try and escape her ghosts, but in the process, built an even bigger legend.

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She started out as a con woman who eventually had to go on the run. Once she had a fresh start, she became a charismatic businesswoman who could sell anything. But not everybody wanted to see her succeed.

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