Serial Murder Books

Looking for a great book with a little bit of everything? If so The Feast of Stephen is the book that you are going to want to read! This story contains a hidden love story, some drama, and lots of mystery. Ellis Portal is a had-been. He used to live the perfect life with a wife, a daughter named Ellen, and he was a judge. They all lived in a beautiful house in Toronto. When Ellis begins getting in to bad drinking habits, his wife walks out on him taking Ellen with. Ellis quits his job as a judge and now lives on the streets. The only person that he keeps in touch with is his friend Queenie. Queenie is uneducated and refers to Ellis only as "your honor". She lives on the streets also. When Queenie's friend Melia dies and the cops hide all information on the case she instantly takes action in to her own hands. Her and Ellis begin finding stranger and stranger clues. Each case is linked together could Ellis be the next victim?

This book is a great page-turner. I have a really hard time finding books that actually keep me interested enough to finish them. This book kept me reading. I never wanted to put it down! Rosemary Aubert has a superb writing style that will keep you interested. She is very descriptive with an interesting perspective. -The park was full of children sliding down its steep slopes on pieces of cardboard and plastic, the almost fluorescent blues, purples and pinks of their winter jackets making a bright confetti splash of color against the snow- this was one of my favorite lines out of the book. I really felt as if I was there when I read this line. Overall this is a really great book.

I would recommend this book to anyone who loves a great mystery. A lot of this book contains a lof of court context though, so you have to have a slight interest in the court system. I really enjoyed this book and I hope that you will too!

One of the sad facts of modern life as that the "have-nots" among us tend to die earlier and with less fanfare and official interest than the "haves". Ellis Portal is a homeless person who at one time was a judge. He's been on the streets for several years. Two years earlier, he was instrumental in solving the murder of a young homeless girl. Since that time, he's gone into isolation, living rent free in an abandoned government hatchery. A fellow street person and friend named Queenie walks 13 miles from the center of Toronto to find him. She believes that one of her homeless friends, a woman named Melia, has been murdered, although it looks like she froze to death. Since winter is just beginning and the homeless are fairly smart about living in the elements, this doesn't seem to be a probable cause of death. More suspicion is raised when a threatening Bible verse is found on her person.

Ellis doesn't really believe that Melia was murdered, only agreeing to look into it because of his respect for Queenie. Several other deaths of street people follow, all found with a different threatening Bible verse. Ellis doesn't mention it, but he has received several of these verses himself. The other link between all the deaths is that the victims appear to be court "groupies", those people who hang around courtrooms observing trials, possibly because they suffered at the hands of the justice system. It's difficult for Ellis to think about reentering the judicial environment because he is so far from the lofty heights he occupied as a judge. However, most fortuitously (and implausibly), he is offered the opportunity to serve as an Officer of the Court which gives him a bird's eye view of what's happening in various courtrooms.

Although the police don't seem terribly interested in the deaths of the impoverished, there is one man named Matt West who goes beyond a token effort. He finds out that the various deaths have been caused by administering the poison curare. And there appears to be some kind of connection to a crostic puzzle about saints that's appearing in the media.

Aubert has a gift for writing descriptive passages, some of them almost lyrical. She also introduces various elements of homelessness that bring the street people closer to the reader. What does one do with a winter coat when one has no home? How does one live with the constant rejection by the so-called civilized people? However, I felt she was less successful overall than in the first book in the series, Free Reign. For one thing, Ellis is not really that down and out. He earned some money and is able to live in a boarding house (which, oh so coincidentally, happened to be a house where he once lived with his family). It was much more interesting when his abode was a self-made shelter in the outdoors. Secondly, all the victims received one Bible verse and died; Portal has received about a dozen. I've never been too fond of the main character having an "aha!" moment where all becomes clear. Aubert is a good writer and the focus on the homeless interesting; but overall, the book is only average.

I always liked Dorothy Sayers assumption that her readers were intelligent, educated and well read. Rosemary Auberg seems to start with the same assumption while leading her reader through interesting avenues. Her characters seem so real that one must decide if one is up to meeting them. Her clues so honest and wickedly devious they are a joy.

I am a big serial killer buff and have a fairly large collection of books and videos about mass murderers. This is easily one of the best I've ever read:it places you inside Bianchi's warped mind and discusses possibilities for why Bianchi killed. Ranks up there with The Only Living Witness, Buried Dreams, Confessions of Son of Sam, and Silent Rage.

This book was written before the police psychologists realizedthat Ken Bianchi was faking multiple personality disorder. For the real story of the Hillside Stranglers (there were two of them, Bianchi and his cousin Angelo Buono), read Darcy O'Brian's "Two of a Kind: the Hillside Stranglers" instead.

Firstly, there is a new paperback version of this book, which I have been very impressed with, good quality and nice cover. (Get that one!) Now to review: This guy HAS done his homework, has NOT been "duped" and was in fact on an E! special all about the Hillside Strangler. This is an excellent book about Ken Bianchi, and regarding the so called "faking" Schwarz explained that Bianchi could indeed have been a multiple when first arrested, but throughout all the interviews, multiple psychological testing, it was likely that these multiple personalities became self-aware.

Jane Jakeman's In the Kingdom of Mists is a well-sculpted novel about a diverse group of people (among them Claude Monet and his son, Michel) affected directly and indirectly by the murders of two young women whose bodies have been found in the Thames. A knife to the heart caused their deaths, but there are also signs of mutilation on their bodies. Though Jack the Ripper struck more than twenty years earlier, the comparisons are inevitable and the police keep the specifics hidden as best as possible to avoid a panic. There is already unrest as the Boer War rages and England's soldiers are dying or returning home badly wounded, physically and mentally.

The story centers around Oliver Craston, a young man newly employed by the Foreign Office. As Oliver is walking alongside the Thames one day, he witnesses the remains of a woman being dredged out of the water; this is the second victim of the Ripper-esque murderer. Oliver is catapulted into the investigation. Not long after his shock, he is making his way home unsteadily and is aided by two French gentlemen, Claude and Michel Monet. Claude has come to London to paint and young Michel is there to learn English. They befriend Oliver and unwittingly place him in a position to gain knowledge of political unease and to help the police in their murder investigation.

Inspector Will Garrety heads up the investigation and faces pressure from his superiors to tread lightly in some areas and, worse, to stay away from the people and the place that could hold the key to solving the heinous crimes. Garrety is also struggling on a personal level as he and his wife, Aline, desperately want a child and are unable to conceive. It makes our big, red-headed detective very human.

In the Kingdom of Mists is much more than a mystery, it is an intriguing study of people from various walks of life in turn of the century London. Much of the novel is devoted to Oliver and his need to live on his own and his desire to help his sister overcome her parents refusal to allow her to study medicine, something they believe to be improper for a young lady. Another part of the novel follows Claude Monet as he paints scenes of London and as he finds himself drifting back in time to when his first wife, Camille, was dying and he had taken a lover, Alice, who became his second wife.

Most interestingly, Jakeman includes several chapters where we hear from the murderer in first person. These are very disturbing and very revealing.

Jane Jakeman is not only an very talented writer, but also an art historian and this is evident in her wonderful descriptions of the atmosphere surrounding her story and of Monet's paintings.

In the Kingdom of Mists is a well-written novel that may not be for the squeamish, but it does leave me wanting this to be turned into a series.

I am a tremendous fan of Ms. Jakeman's Lord Ambrose Mysteries, which are as well plotted as they are well written. This novel, however, is very disturbing. Yes, I had to finish it - but I sincerely regret my curiosity. Ms. Jakeman is such a good writer that the scenes of horror are indelibly printed on my mind. And they are revolting. Was this necessary? I believe a writer with as much talent as she has could have captured her audience in another way. Buyer beware.

When a woman of quality is fished out of the Thames River in London, the police are quick to see that she was murdered, a knife wound through the heart. A second woman is taken out of the Thames also with a knife wound through the heart and the police are eager to keep these killings quiet. Both women had professional abortions before they were killed The year is 1900 and Londoners have not forgotten the Ripper murders and if they know a serial killer is on the loose, panic would ensue.

Oliver Craston, who is just beginning his career as a diplomat in the Foreign Office, found the body. He tells the police the only reason he was kept on after calling attention to himself is his friendship with the painter Monet who has contacts with radicals living in England. Inspector Garrett is in charge of the case but although he has some clues to the killer's identity, it is Oliver who can break the case wide open if he has the courage to go against his superiors and risk his job.

It is the start of a new century and Jane Jakeman expertly captures the atmosphere of England as she engages in the Boer Wars. The hero of IN THE KINGDOM OF MISTS is Oliver who always tries to do the right thing even though the repercussions for him might be costly, both financially and emotionally. Some of the scenes are told from the point of view of the killer and his perspective makes for a chilling historical police procedural.

Harriet Klausner

When Mr. Egger tries to validate the investigation of Henry Lee Lucas and terms him one of the most brutal serial killers, he is a fool. He was given access to the Texas Rangers' investigation of Lucas, which has been refuted by solid media reporting, an attorney general's investigation and the governor of Texas (who commuted Lucas' death sentence). If Eggers was as good a reporter as promoter, this might be worth something. And he never even met Bundy.

As a researcher, writer and student of serial murder, I believe that Dr. Egger's work is important for three reasons. #1- He writes for the average person who wants to know more about serial murder. He attempts to dispel some of the myths about these people. He gives the average interested person a standard to judge media coverage and the facts in a more informed way. #2- He writes for the person in the criminal justice system whose job it is to deal with the Killers Among Us. His observations and suggestions are helpful and succinct. #3- Dr. Egger is one of the few "experts" in this field who is a voice for the victims and encourages and demands that we do not forget the many victims who have died at the hands of a serial killer.
Dr. Egger was the first person in the world to deal with the investigation of serial murder as a PhD student. His understanding of this phenomenon is enormous.
This book is used in universities throughout the world to introduce students to serial murder and to critically look at this field beyond the pop culture symbolism that it is usually looked upon. This second edition showcases three student contributors. Dr. Egger's motives are to inform, educate, and contribute to apprehending these killers as he said in his PhD dissertation, "so that lives can be saved."
I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants an accurate overview of the subject.

This study of serial murder has been acclaimed as both scientifically sound and reliable. Dr. Egger puts down numerous myths that have confused and bedeviled the study of serial killers for decades. A noted authority, a strong academic voice on the subject of criminology. A fine work. Includes studies of John Wayne Gacy, Ted Bundy, the Hillside Stranglers and Henry Lee Lucas. Dr. Egger spent more than 50 hours with Lucas who managed to fool everyone in authority by retracting his early confessions. The damning factor about Lucas is that teenage girls are no longer disappearing from the highways of South Texas like they did for the past 30 years.

Mr. Right is an absolutely delightful dose of depravity. The juxtaposition of suspense, sex and humour keep you continuously off balance from the beginning to the end. No review could possibly do justice to this one of a kind mystery novel. You simply have to read it.

But I'm the author, so you may want to seek a less biased opinion. Actually, this book is my first, originally published 20 years ago and now being reprinted. It's sexier than any of my mysteries, but the wise-a** humor will be familiar. And my husband, Davis McAuley, did the cover!

The novel opens with explicit sexual description that is also funny and continues in this way throughout. It's hardly a conventional mystery, though there is a murder that involves a mysterious,reclusive author. Of the plot, the less said, the better. The main characters are two female English teachers in a community college in the Washington, D.C. area; the clientele is mostly minority. These students are being offered a Milton course. The novel has something of the flavor of Fay Weldon but is a little cruder and rather more vulgar. Fun if the reader doesn't mind the raunch and isn't expecting a standard mystery.

That many of the events in the book were based on fact was fascinating. Otherwise, I had some serious problems with this book. There was no development of any of the characters. The dialogue made no serious attempt to reflect the period. Although Doherty presented the deplorable sanity conditions of the period, his protagonist's reactions were completely unrealistic and anachronisms were rampant. The clue to the killer was much too obvious and the ending was a blatant sequel to a follow-up book. For me, the negatives definitely outweighed the positive.That many of the events in the book were based on fact was fascinating. Otherwise, I had some serious problems with this book. There was no development of any of the characters. The dialogue made no serious attempt to reflect the period. Although Doherty presented the deplorable sanity conditions of the period, his protagonist's reactions were completely unrealistic and anachronisms were rampant. The clue to the killer was much too obvious and the ending was a blatant sequel to a follow-up book. For me, the negatives definitely outweighed the positive.

What more can you ask for? Well how about intrigue, danger and some good history? That's what you get in this Hugh Corbett book. Someone is going throughout London and cutting the throats and mutilating prostitutes. Not only that a harmless old woman and a priest were also killed. Corbett is sent by his King to find this killer. Corbett has to determine if there is only one killer or more than one. While he's investigating he uncovers a huge caper that could put the Royal Treasury at risk. Corbett and his sidekick Ranulf set out to uncover all, with no small danger to themselves. This is a really good medieval series.

Doherty's medival sleuth Hugh Corbett was faced with one of the most difficult problem yet, in the action packed 'Murder wears a Crowl'.

A serial killer is on the run in London, murdering high class courtesans and mutilates their body in the most gruesom ways. Lady Somerville (a sister of the St Martha) was also killed in similar fashion, and this calls the suspicion of King Edward and he places Corbett to investigate. With a past criminal plotting mischieve at the same time, Corbett and his servant Ranulf are looking at not only a tough case but more than one of them. The two plots runs side by side and the clues you find are not always reliable. You will need all your brain work to be able to separate the red herring from the facts and then find the killer.

Once I start I simply couldn't put this book down until it is finished. The story contains more than the usual mystery, murder and action. The medival England background gives it historical value and vivid setting that gives you a change from all the normal stuff you get in a modern day mystery. After all, it is refreshing to be able to deal with arrows, daggers and poison rather than guns and cars. However it's not one of those serious books that leaves you breathless, The characters are so alive and funny at times that I can't help but to laugh, although the situation isn't really that amusing.

If you enjoys good mystery with various of twist, false leads and want to try reading something a little bit different. I suggest you give this a try. It has everything that you needed, from fictional suspense to actual facts, menacing murders to vivid dialogues. Really, it will be too much of a shame to miss it.

I found this book to be a fun, exciting, thriller which gives us a view into the cogs of the professional golf wheel that only an insider would be able to give. Moriarty has obviously been an insider to the golf world for some time now. I'm not even a golf fan and I found it fascinating. It's an exciting murder mystery that keeps your attention the entire time. The perfect book for a plane ride, beach chair, or that golfer fanatic.

Though I am neither a golfer nor a photographer, I enjoyed this book and found it almost impossible to put down. It's a combination love story and murder mystery, set against a fascinating backdrop of the PGA touring circuit. The lead character, Nick Oliver, is an engaging and 'real' human being, and the story moves along briskly. A great vacation read, or a book to take your mind off whatever's worrying you.

Somewhere around the middle of this book it reads as though someone else finished it, rather than the person that wrote the first part of it.

The result is not a welcome one.

What starts out as an interesting story with a lot of insights into the goings on with the PGA Tour, The Masters and the US Open turns into a poorly plotted jumble of a story in which the characters lose their reality, the story loses it's focus and the reader loses interest. That's not a winning trifecta and this book is a huge disappointment.

Conradi's book is not too bad. My biggest problem with it is that it is subtitled "Russia's monster serial killer and the men who stopped him." This is somewhat misleading, as there is very little about the policemen and the detectives who stopped him.

On the positive end though, one will find few books anywhere that spend so much time discussing the mindset of a killer in such detail. Conradi does a masterful job recreating the horrific crimes. And even though the psychiatric interview at the end is extremely tedious in the first couple of pages, the summary is well worth the time.

Bizzare on both ends, the killer as well as the cops. If you like serial killer books this is unbelieveable!

What makes Chikatilo fascinating is that it took so long for him to be caught, and the reasons for this delay. He was incredibly lucky, in some ways, but the structure of laws, customs and means of communication in the Russia of the time are the real reasons for his long career as a killer. Conradi explains all of this clearly. What is not so clear are the details of how all of the info he presents was acquired. Did the author have access to confession documents, or interrogation documents? If so, the readers would sure like to see them included in the book. Overall, a very readable, informative book.

This magazine, by Mr. Norder has a very attractive cover, but unfortunately, that's all it has going for it. I have been interested in the murders attributed to Jack the Ripper for 3 decades now and subscribed to Ripper Notes a year ago. I was not satisfied with the articles in the magazine as they seemed to cover topics completely irrelevant to the murders. I would have preferred to see more articles based on different theories and suspects, however the writers of this Ripper magazine seem obsessed with just one theory - their own! The magazine was habitually late in arriving and when it did arrive on time, it was in poor condition. Just a word of advice, you would be better off buying Stephen P. Ryder's "Public Reactions to Jack the Ripper". He does not propose any theories of his own, just letters written to the Editors of various newspapers from panicked citizens in 1888. Much more interesting than Ripper Notes.

Ripper Notes is a quarterly compilation magazine/paperback featuring articles about the infamous Jack the Ripper. This is the July 2005, Issue #23. Suspects & Witnesses is a simple and easy to read collection of essays by researchers of the Whitechapel murders. We are presented with views on the suspects Montague Druitt, Joseph Barnett, Francis Tumblety and then the much less plausibles of Claude Reigner Conder, Dr. Cream, and an article featuring a slew of various newspaper articles claiming bogus knowledge of who and where the Ripper was.
This is the first of the Ripper Notes magazine I've read and I'll be reading more. While obviously nowhere near as in depth as a book, there are little bits of interest throughout. For the best coverage, IMO, try Sudgin's 'Complete Jack the Ripper' or the edited 'Jack the Ripper A-Z'. Regardless, this is a nice appetizer with a wide research base.

I'm only doing this to offset the totally fraudulent review by "Helen Pilon" below. You'll note that that name's only reviews on Amazon.com (so far anyway) are to hype a book by Karen Trenouth and to attack this book. If you go to Amazon.co.uk you'll see her doing more hyping for Karen Trenouth's book and attacking Stephen Ryder's book (which is odd, as she praises it in the review she posted here). Why is that? It's because Helen Pilon IS Karen Trenouth (on Casebook.org she gave her married name as Pilon, and she has said she's from Canada), and she's making revenge reviews on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk because both Stephen Ryder (on his website) and myself (in the magazine) gave her book a bad review.

Furthermore, her claims here that she was a subscriber to my magazine are completely false (no one named Helen Pigot or Karen Trenouth has ever been a subscriber, and she has admitted on various Internet sites that she's never been a subscriber), and her description of the contents of this book are also inaccurate.

WOW! This book is an Amazing page-turner! Knowing these events actually happened gives the reader a deeper sense of urgency in finding the killer.
Detective Christine Keers showed dedication and tenacity which is all too uncommon today. There is no doubt in my mind that many more people would have died if Christine had taken the easy way out and simply given up early on.
Christine Keers certainly has my greatest respect! The victim of any crime would want her in their corner. Thanks for a wonderful book!

Between 1986 and 1992, Riverside County, California became the scene of a series of savage sex murders that shocked the nation. Ninteen prostitutes were raped and sexually mutilated by a killer who left his grisly trademark on each victim. For almost 6 years he terroized the city, leaving a trail of false leads, few clues and even fewer suspects...

Homicide detective Christine Keers had been investigating the case for a year when, just ten hours after she predicted the killers next move 41 year old William Lester Suff was apprehended for the murders. Even more incredible was the fact that Suff was a Riverside County stock clerk who was in daily contact with the very detectives assigned to the case!

No one would believe that Suff was the notorious butcher of Riverside County...until Keers exposed the monster that lived behind the facade of the personable, church-going family man. Suff already had a history of murder-the first victim was his own two month old daughter.

Here is the horrifying true story of a depraved killer who committed unspeakable crimes practially under the noses of the police-told by the courageous woman who finally brought him to justice.

This book is poorly written. The first part, about the efforts of detective/co-author Keers to catch serial killer Bill Suff is not bad, but the second part, about Suff's life, rehashes many of the killings and incidents surrounding them in virtually the same words! And in the third part -- about the trial -- one of the incidents is repeated for a third time. What I found extremely annoying about this book was the use of square brackets -- [ ] -- within quotes to supposedly "clarify" what was said. By the book's end, many of these insertions (by the authors or by the editors?) have gone beyond clarification and amount to editorializing. There is at least one instance of brackets which are within the text of a descriptive paragraph -- not a quote! Most of the 16 pages of pictures are of murdered prostitutes (many nude with black bars over their breasts and genital areas) and look like police evidence photos.