From bandits to gangsters, from kidnappers to gunslinging evangelists, Kansas City has proved to be a hotbed for criminals. In Kansas City Crime Central, longtime Kansas City Star reporter and editor Monroe Dodd recounts the highlights and lowlights of a century and a half of bad deeds.

His new book not only covers the area’s most notorious crimes, but also details the gangland shooting of Ferris Anthon in the 1930s and a 1890s hanging for which the sheriff sent out printed invitations.

The book will be available for sale.