Serial Murder Books

I was pleasantly surprised by how much this book draws the reader in. The author has obviously done a tremendous amount of research in the era, and creates a chilling tale of murder and sexuality. A great historical fiction in the Gothic tradition.

Although this is not the last word in modern drama, the play included in this book is quite interesting. I am a theatre director interested in Grand Guignol Dramas and, even though I did not LOVE the play, it is most certainly a great excercise for actors, as well as for directors, since the play presents a very intriguing character. It is a ruthless character, yet the audience must love her dearly. It's a very fine line to work there, therefore a great challenge. It's strange, the poems and specially the play affected me in a peculiar way: I was not cray about the text, but it was intriguing and challenging. I guess the best way to know it is to stage it and see what comes out. For theatre lovers it is a very peculair reading. Join the Blood Countess crusade if you dare!

Scotland Yard hires genealogist Nigel Barnes as a consultant to their investigation into ghastly serial killings haunting London. The only link between the victims besides a gruesome death is each corpse is marked with "1A137".

Barnes follows up on the death number and soon realizes it is the number on the death certificate filed in 1879 for murder victim Albert Beck, who was stabbed to death in a churchyard. As he widens his historical search, he learns that Beck was one of the five victims allegedly murdered by the Kensington Killer; Eke Fairbairn was arrested as such, tried and executed. Further evidence seems to imply Eke was innocent and an apparent descendant is avenging his undeserved execution by executing relatives of the prosecution.

Although the climax seems implausible, readers will relish this strong police procedural with a fascinating lead character, who uses genealogy to uncover nineteenth century clues to a present day serial killer. The story line is fast-paced, but held together by Nigel as he begins to piece together the puzzle. He will remind the audience somewhat of Rhett McPherson's Missouri genealogist Torie O'Shea. Fans will enjoy this fine English whodunit while looking forward to more such cases starring Nigel.

Harriet Klausner

"The past is a living thing; it's always present." It's the comment that haunts Dan Waddell's debut mystery, The Blood Detective. Nigel Barnes, a genealogist, knows that the keys to a modern murder spree are found in the past.

Detective Chief Inspector Grant Foster and Detective Sergeant Heather Jenkins are puzzled by the bizarre series of letters and numbers carved in the chest of a dead man found in London. It takes a genealogist to recognize them as numbers referring to index numbers for birth, marriage and death records, records going back to 1879. When Foster hires Nigel to assist them in research, neither man realizes the importance of the historical records. Somewhere in old newspapers, archives and libraries is the clue to solving a series of violent murders that stir up the city of London. The two officers and Barnes suddenly find themselves racing to find a killer's future victims, with only a murder case from 1879 and historical records as clues. The reader is just getting to know the three investigators when the case reaches a terrifying climax.

Waddell's first mystery is a fascinating police procedural, combined with the workings of genealogical research. Sometimes the details of the two cases, with multiple victims, and numerous names, becomes a little overwhelming. Even so, anyone interested in cold cases will find this story intriguing. This is not similar to Rett MacPherson's Torie O'Shea mysteries. The Blood Detective is much darker and more violent. Readers of Kate Ellis' Wesley Peterson books might appreciate this mystery. With its British setting, police investigation, and historical connection, The Blood Detective reminds me of Ellis' cold cases. However, Waddell takes a different tack with the genealogical research.

Dan Waddell's The Blood Detective is a promising debut. If this leads to a series, there needs to be a little less detail about historical records and streets. Even so, there are promises of a unique series combining police investigation and genealogical research. The Blood Detective is an excellent choice for lovers of cold cases and British police procedurals.

Jeremy Bryan Jones wants to be remembered as the Red Neck Ted Bundy, he was well on his way until he got caught after the brutal, rape, murder, and arson of Lisa Nichols, a forty something attractive divorced mother and grandmother. It was after he obtained a false identity as John David Chapman by befriending the man's mother. Chapman is in prison for lesser crimes. Jones was up on charges of sexual assault. His life and background was all in preparation to be a career criminal. After Hurricane Ivan occurred in 2004, Lisa Nichols' murder was discovered in a trailer park. Sadly, we don't hear much about people who live in mobile homes except on Jerry Springer. Anyway, they are decent and normal people like everybody else. Mobile homes provide a better alternative to renting anyway. Jones is psychopath or sociopath or both but he is got a lot of the characteristics. He used people without a conscience like garbage when he was done. He left a trail of murder along the way in several states. Once he was arrested, he confessed to crimes that some he committed including killing the Freeman family of three and a childhood friend of their daughters. He killed without conscience or guilt or remorse. His drug use is not an excuse for his crimes. There are several drug addicts who commit crime but don't rape and murder women and kill men, women and children. They rob to get drugs. I can't stand Jones using his drug usage as an excuse for his crimes. I think he did it without the drugs but uses excuses. Jones has a broken home but that's no excuse. His supporters like his girlfriend and mother are your typical deniers.

In this latest release from Sheila Johnson, readers are introduced to Jeremy Bryan Jones: a young, southern drifter who claims to have killed numerous people all across the southern states. Yet, as of today, he remains convicted of only one murder and charged with two others. Many of the crimes he confessed to just couldn't be linked to him for a variety of reasons.

This is a well written account of Jones' crimes. Unfortunately, Johnson provided hardly any detail about his childhood, which, to true crime readers, can be a very important part of the book. Johnson plainly states that she didn't intend to make this a story of his life and therefore didn't go back to Jones' roots and ask the all important questions. For me, this was a major disappointment.

And, as journalist turned book writers are prone to do, Johnson repeats many of the details over and over. I found myself skimming through the repeats as well as lesson on Meth found later in the book.

Overall, it is a good read. I would recommend it to those who enjoy the true crime genre.

I got hooked on Robert J. Randisi's writing style when I reviewed the first of his Rat Pack series, Everybody Kills Somebody Sometime. So that meant that I needed to read everything he's written that's still in print. All but one of his titles at my local library were checked out, so I grabbed Cold Blooded before anyone else could snag it.

Cold Blooded features another Randisi-series protagonist, NYPD Detective Sergeant Dennis McQueen. When the first stiff, dead AND frozen, washes up on a Brooklyn beach, McQueen and his new partner, Detective Bailey Sommers, think it's odd, but it's just another murder in the city that never sleeps. McQueen's Lieutenant ships the case out of McQueen's hands and tries to convince McQueen to focus on breaking in Sommers who is new to the district and homicide.

McQueen reluctantly lets the case go, but when another and another pop up with the same MO, McQueen is sure that there is a serial killer loose in the borough. With warm weather, the body count dwindles and then picks up again when winter strikes, and it's as cold outside as the bodies that float.

In the last third of Cold Blooded, Randisi adds Owen Feinstein's point and view and lets the reader in on the mind of a murderer. The scene illustrating Feinstein's cruelty (scalding a small child's arms) is horrifying.

While finding the killer is center stage, Cold Blooded also deals with office politics, sexual harassment, and the need to follow your gut.

It was an easy read, however I was appalled at the number of typos in the text. I guess Cold Blooded is a testimony that publisher's need to re-hire proof readers.

Armchair Interviews says: If you like Randisi's other writing, you'll also like this book.

From our armchair to yours...

Randisi has done it again.

He has managed to write a police thriller that will keep you on your toes and make you feel as though the book should never end.

Although I thought that I had figured out the ending, it turns out that there are a few twists and turns in this one that I hadn't counted on.

Buy this book and enjoy an honest to goodness thriller. I have been really missing those lately.

Let's face it, Ned Snelgrove, aspired to be his hero, Ted Bundy, but he never got that famous like his hero. He was already in prison in New Jersey for murder and got off on good behavior after nearly killing a second woman. The author does an excellent job in explaining and detailing the lives of his victims, Mary Ellen, Karen, and Carmen as well as their families who suffered needlessly through the trauma of Ned's terror. For a young man who had a solid education and graduated from Rutgers University (my alma mater), he became a killer and rapist in New Jersey and his home state of Connecticut. Unfortunately, his last victim, Carmen, would catch him in his notorious lies. Of course, he did it. Carmen was seen leaving with him and nobody bought his story that he just dropped her off in the opposite direction of her apartment. Still, I am only three quarters through and it's an easy read with about 100 short chapters broken down into parts. There is no question that Ned is guilty of the murders of his college girlfriend, Karen Osmun, or Carmen, a beloved sister, mother, daughter, and grandmother. Her granddaughter died after her murder. Ned never amounted to be the serial killer with the likes of Ted Bundy, JEffrey Dahmer, or JOhn Wayne Gacy. Unlike them, he was much more sloppy, inefficient, and incompetent. He probably did not realize that Bundy was also a necrophiliac. He dumped Carmen's body in Rhode Island where she was found by Mr. Mareck, who knows personally what it is like to lose a loved one. His sister was murdered in the terrorist explosion of Pan Am 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland on December 21, 1988. He knows personally what it is like to lose a family member and not be able to find her. He found Carmen much to his own horror. The author paints a solid portrait of a crazed, brilliant sociopath criminal as well as the victims whose lives he claimed. Mary Ellen, the divorced mother and grandmother, survived but barely from her attack in 1987 while Carmen and Karen did not. Ned's crimes also took Karen's mother prematurely while Carmen's estranged husband in Puerto Rico died of a broken heart over her disappearance only two weeks after she was missing. Carmen would have never missed her daughter's baby shower or her birthday. Carmen was a fun loving woman who was vibrant and tried to overcome her hardship like her weakness for alcoholism. Karen had a promising future with a new boyfriend who treated her much better than Ned. She was killed right before Christmas in 1983. Her sister, Barbara, was pregnant and she would never get the chance to Aunt Karen. Phelps points these facts out about the loss of the victims. I thought the trial part was the least interesting part of the book because it becomes as always redundant and repetitive about Ned's lies and the facts about his guilt.

I AM OVER HALFWAY THROUGH THE BOOK AND THE MORE I READ THE BETTER IT GETS. THIS BOOK IS SO HARD TO PUT DOWN. MR. PHELPS DOES IT AGAIN!

This book just misses the four star mark - The final factor in grading was the price. If a paperback copy comes along for under twenty dollars, I would push the book up to four stars. Don't get me wrong, this is a good book, but not good enough to merit the forty five dollar asking price. I was able to get a copy for twenty-five, and that was plenty to spend on this book. Alright, now that I've talked about the price, let me talk about the book. The title states " seventy persons CITED" - If you buy this book keep that in mind, because in many cases that's pretty much all you get. The book I feel could have been so much better. No pictures of any of the seventy persons to be found in the book, and please note there are extant pictures of some of these people. I'm afraid that a novice to the ripper murders will become confused, as the suspects are not treated with enough detail. Very brief on most subjects. This author certainly has gone to lengths in finding all the sources, and does a great job in listing them at the end of each suspect. The strength of the book lies in the fact that if a certain suspect interest you, you will know exactly where to go to find more information on the subject in question. The author also gives his opinion, and you are to treat it as fact, and not to question - He does have some good thoughts, and opinions, but it AIN'T the gospel. If your after a listing of suspects, and where to look for addiional informaton this book serves that purpose excellently and gets an A+ for that. However, if your looking for a book that goes into unbiased detail with an open mind, I'm afraid this book misses that mark. It is an interesting read, and I do recommend it for beginners and for well versed ripper reseachers. However, I don't recommend it, if it cost you over thirty dollars.

Excellent book, lists suspects not yet discussed, written in a totally unbiased opinion,direct an to the point, doesn't go over facts already known in boring detail, touches on what we already know without boring us half to death. I loved the book. Stan did a great job, he voiced his opinion on other author's suspects with tact . He did not only oppose other's opinions with the usual here's why not, he also listed the here's why this person should still be considered. A very professional writing with a down to earth opinion, for the pluses and the minuses. I would highly recommend this book for J the R fans as myself. Good job Stan great forward also Christopher.
Best regards judyjanes (ripper fan for years)

A good overview, but Rumbelow's book is better researched and more comprehensive.

Jack The Ripper has never seaced to fasinate me, the grossness of the whole thing has caught me up in a whirlwind of imagination. I have already devoted 16 precious years of my life following his ghost and reliving the amazing fantasy

An interesting yet flawed account of Holmes tracking Jack The Ripper, with Ellery Queen added to the mix. Not a terrible pastiche, mind you, but it pales when compared to the wonderful non-Ellery Queen film version that stars John Neville as Holmes. So check out the film first, if you can track it down. And then, if you're so inclined, try the book.

In the year 1888, a surgeon's kit mysteriously arrive at Baker Street residence of Sherlock Holmes. Training his marvelous powers on it,Holmes set forth on one of his most fascinating adventures.

Three-quarters of a century later, an equally mystifying package is deliverd to Ellery Queen. It contains a manuscript purporting to be an unpublished Sherlock Holmes novel written byJohn Watson, M.D.-an exceptional tale revealing the long-revealed secret of how Holmes uncovered the identityof Jack The Ripper!

Tracing the origin of the manuscript, Ellerydiscovers a startling connection betweenthe past and the present. Irresistibly intrigued, he journeys back into time to join Holmes in pursuit of the Ripper.
Following the master step-by-thrilling step, Ellery's remarkable powers of deduction lead him to a stunning and ironic solution of his own!

There's no doubt that the story of Florence Maybrick and her trial and travails is a fascinating one, and the author, who is believed to be an indirect descendant of "Florrie's", has done a very good job of recounting it.

The trial of Florence Maybrick for the murder of her husband James and her life afterwards was already one of the most famous sagas in the history of "true crime" and, as such, has already been the subject of other books.

But another more recent treatment is appropriate in light of the recent finding of the diary that identifies James Maybrick as "Jack the Ripper", the notorious East End serial killer of prostitutes.

The diary's authenticity and the identification of Maybrick as the "Ripper" have been hotly disputed since the diary was first made public. Shirley Harrison's publication of the diary, complete with commentary, and Paul Feldman's investigative work are excellent treatments of the subject, which strongly suggest that the diary is indeed genuine and that the most famous unsolved serial killings are no longer unsolved.

But this particular book will disappoint those who are primarily interested in the Maybrick/Ripper angle. As Ms. Graham candidly states in her forward, she did not write the book with the intention of providing any more proof that James Maybrick was the Ripper; she has left that task to others. Therefore, this book does not add any information to that produced by Harrison and Feldman.

Instead, this is principally "Florrie's" story, and the author has simply incorporated the Maybrick/Ripper information produced by the others and woven it into the fabric of Florrie's story. And that story stands on its own, but it leaves the reader even more puzzled about how Florrie and her associates, to an individual, managed to keep their amazing knowledge secret even BEYOND their deaths. The book disappoints in that it makes the Maybrick/Ripper connection a little MORE speculative, not less so.

Wonderful, and very informative. Graham obviously knows a lot about the Maybrick case and Jack the Ripper, and she skillfully weaves a convincing and interesting argument that they were connected. One of the best books I've read lately!

I must admit I only picked the book up because of the author's last name. I had no great expectations. However, I was pleasantly surprised. It made for a great weekend read. I couldn't wait to finish weekend chores so I could pick it up again. The criticism from one of the other reviewers was a bit harsh. Since I was born and raised in the south with my childhood in the 60s I don't think that a person "knowing" about the civil rights movement is the same thing as knowing how it personally affected one's family. Children were often shielded from the ugliness. It is not something we care to dwell on.

This writer has potential. The story line is interesting, and I wanted to read to the end. The characters were fairly amusing, too. It's kind of a Heat of the Night scenario, with the sherriff and his deputies not unlike the TV show.

However, I feel this book could not have received the attention it merited from its editors. There are some extremely irritating style quirks that made me want to stop reading entirely, but I pushed on because I did want to see "who dunnit.(By the way, the ending is anticlimactic, another problem. Frankly, I barely cared who dunnit. It was a side character that just wasn't quite involved or interesting enough, and sort of came on the scene suddenly.)

Back to the style problems, and I'll just write about the two most glaring ones.

First, it is not necessary in fiction to keep repeating the full name, first and last, of a main character. It really gets in the way of this writer's work. The sherriff's full name is continually repeated, as are both of his deputies. There is a deputy named H.C. Curry, for example. For some reason, the author was in love with that name, because he used it, over and over and over again, ad naseum. Unnecessary! We got who he was talking about, again and again.

Also: I got really bored by the descriptions of so many shocked peoples' eyes widening, getting wider, being wide open, flying wide open, etc., etc., etc. These stylistic techniques mark the amateur writer. Once again - he has potential, but somebody (hopefully his editor) should give him a tune-up because it's kind of silly, really, especially when the book is about serious material (racial tension, etc.)

Oh, and one more thing: I found it rather unbelievable that a young, educated African American southern male would not know about the history of the Civil Rights Movement, especially in the south. It just didn't cut it that H.C. (notice that you don't need to repeat the whole name to get the picture) needed a three-hour lecture from his father about how bad things were. Only one thing might have redeemed this point: if we were let in on some of the well-researched history, and really learned something new ourselves.