An impressive contribution to true crime studies

Ripperology--a sometimes obsessive interest in studying the crimes of Jack the Ripper--is a subject of timeless interest that has suffered from confusion, exaggeration, and hyperbole for over a century. Jack the Ripper was probably the first serial killer to appear in a large metropolis at a time when the general populace was literate and the press was a force for social change. The press was also partly responsible for creating many myths surrounding the Ripper.

Robin Odell's Ripperology is the first...

The true story of the first female serial killer to die in the electric chair

Nicknamed "the Blonde Borgia," Anna Marie Hahn was a cold-blooded serial killer who preyed on the elderly in Cincinnati's Over-the-Rhine district in the 1930s. When the State of Ohio strapped its first woman into the electric chair, Hahn gained a place in the annals of crime as the nation's first female serial killer to be executed in the chair.

Told here for the first time in riveting detail is Anna Marie's gripping story, an almost unbelievable tale of multiple murders, deceit, and...

A new look at some gruesome and riveting murders In this grisly and gripping collection of essays--some revised and updated, some never before published, but all new to American audiences--prize-winning English crime historian Jonathan Goodman turns his attention to a variety of British and American crimes from the 1820s to the 1980s, some high profile and others not. With the author as detective, each of Goodman's essays examines a particularly notorious murder and subsequent trial. He introduces the readers to the 1923 shooting at the Savoy Hotel in London of Prince Ali Kamel Fahmy Bey at...

From its settlement in 1634 to its important proximity to the nation's capital in the present, Maryland has served as a crossroads of America, influencing critical events, not the least of which have been numerous crimes. This book begins with a general survey of lawbreaking in the state and then focuses on its landmark cases, including the terrifying killing spree of the Beltway Snipers, the mysterious Lover's Lane Murders, the attempted assassination of George Wallace, the still-unsolved disappearance of murderer Bradford Bishop, and the tragic saga of cop killer Terrence Johnson.

Al Capone. The Untouchables. The Valentine's Day massacre. You may think you know everything about the Roaring Twenties in the Windy City, but in the early twentieth century, the harsh environment of the Maxwell Street ghetto produced a proliferation of Jewish gangsters involved in everything from labor racketeering to white slavery. Their illegal activity offended their own community's value system and sparked rifts between Reform and Orthodox Jews. It also ignited tensions between city officials and Jewish leaders, indelibly marked the gentile population's perception of Chicago's Jews and...

Includes . . . Lee Shelton's murder of Billy Lyons in St. Louis, which inspired the popular song "Stagger Lee" The vigilante killing of the "town bully" of Skidmore, Ken McElroy The kidnapping of millionaire Robert Greenlease's son in Kansas City The Kirkwood City Council massacre Serial killings of 13 young women in Kansas City by Lorenzo J. Gilyard"

Includes . . . Andrew Kehoe and the Bath School Massacre The rise and fall of the Purple Gang in Detroit The Michigan victims of lonely hearts killers Beck and Fernandez Jimmy Hoffa's disappearance The criminal career of Coral Watts"

The once-thriving houseboat communities along Arkansas' White River are long gone, and few remember the sensational murder story that set local darling Helen Spence on a tragic path. In 1931, Spence shocked Arkansas when she avenged her father's murder in a DeWitt courtroom. The state soon discovered that no prison could hold her. For the first time, prison records are unveiled to provide an essential portrait. Join author Denise Parkinson for an intimate look at a Depression-era tragedy. The legend of Helen Spence refuses to be forgotten--despite her unmarked grave.