The harsh discipline of Puritan life bred the hard-bitten and hard-working people of Massachusetts, but did it also breed a unique type of criminal? This book explores the headline crimes of the state to find an answer. Included are the cases of the alleged ax-wielding Lizzie Borden, the executed anarchists Sacco and Vanzetti, the legendary Brinks robbery, the mysterious Boston Strangler, the Big Dans spectator rape, the desperate college professor who murdered a young prostitute, and the fur salesman who slaughtered his wife and unborn child in cold blood.