In the bestselling Deadlier Than The Male and Female of the Species, Wensley Clarkson revealed the terrifying truth of the horror that women can inflict upon their men. Now he brings you a new volume that is more compelling than ever before. The horrifying truth of the world's most dangerous women is revealed in these pages. They come from every cross section of society, and whether young or old, rich or poor, they are united by one thing - murder. This is a collection of darkly readable tales, and if they make you feel uncomfortable then remember that they are made all the more sinister by the fact that each one is completely true...
A fascinating profile of female homicide offenders emerges from this analysis of the characteristics of women murderers in six cities in the United States, including the circumstances of the murders, the role of the victims, the role of the perpetrators, and their fates in court.
A “necessary and brilliant” (NPR) exploration of our cultural fascination with true crime told through four “enthralling” (The New York Times Book Review) narratives of obsession. In Savage Appetites, Rachel Monroe links four criminal roles—Detective, Victim, Defender, and Killer—to four true stories about women driven by obsession. From a frustrated and brilliant heiress crafting crime-scene dollhouses to a young woman who became part of a Manson victim’s family, from a landscape architect in love with a convicted murderer to a Columbine fangirl who planned her own mass shooting, these women are alternately mesmerizing, horrifying, and sympathetic. A revealing study of women’s complicated relationship with true crime and the fear and desire it can inspire, together these stories provide a window into why many women are drawn to crime narratives—even as they also recoil from them. Monroe uses these four cases to trace the history of American crime through the growth of forensic science, the evolving role of victims, the Satanic Panic, the rise of online detectives, and the long shadow of the Columbine shooting. Combining personal narrative, reportage, and a sociological examination of violence and media in the 20th and 21st centuries, Savage Appetites is a “corrective to the genre it interrogates” (The New Statesman), scrupulously exploring empathy, justice, and the persistent appeal of crime.
• Aileen Wuornos (US): Became a prostitute in Florida and murdered seven men between 1989 and 1990. Claimed self-defense, saying the men had either raped or attempted to rape her. • Amelia Dyer (UK): Operated as a baby farmer, taking in infants for money but neglecting and often killing them. Suspected of being responsible for the deaths of over 400 infants. • Amelia Sach (UK): Along with her partner Annie Walters, ran a baby farming business where they murdered infants for profit. • Anna Maria Zwanziger (Germany): Infamous for poisoning victims with arsenic. • Belle Gunness (Norway): Lured men to her farm through personal ads, then murdered and robbed them. Estimated to have killed between 25 to 40 people. • Bertha Gifford (US): Poisoned several family members and neighbors with arsenic. Arrested in 1928, declared insane, and died in a mental institution in 1951. Suspected of killing up to 17 people. • Carol M. Bundy (US): Teamed up with her lover to murder several young women. Known as the Sunset Strip Killers. Sentenced to life in prison in 1983, and died in prison in 2003. • Charlene Gallego (US): Along with her husband, kidnapped, raped, and murdered several young women. Arrested in 1980, and sentenced to 16 years to life in prison. Paroled in 1997 but rearrested in 2002 for violating her parole.
The Disturbing Inside Story of Women Who Are Driven to Kill. From Elizabeth Bathory, 'The Bloody Countess' whose vampire-like tendencies terrorized sixteenth-century Hungary, to the Moors Murderer Myra Hindley and the Florida Highway Killer Aileen Wuornos, these women transfix us with their extreme ability to commit savage acts of cruelty and depravity. In some cases their methods of disposing of the corpses fall nothing short of ingenious: meet Leonarda Cianciulli, 'The Soap-Maker of Correggio', who used the fat from her victims' bodies to make soap and teacakes to sell to unsuspecting customers. These killers' backgrounds, methods and their crimes are described in forensic and gripping detail. Killer Women collects the most disturbing yet compelling of all criminals, representing the very darkest side of humanity and subverting the conventional view of women as the weaker sex. 50 terrifying cases of killer women are brought to life, including: Elizabeth Bathory 'The Bloody Countess' Amelia Dyer, The Reading Baby Farmer Jane Toppan, 'Jolly Jane' Juana Barraza, The Old Lady Killer Leonarda Cianciulli, 'The Soap-Maker of Correggio' Bonnie Parker, 'Bonnie & Clyde' Rosemary West Myra Hindley Aileen Wuornos
"Trailed is a beautifully written account of a great American tragedy--the unsolved murders of an undetermined number of young women, all by the same serial killer, who got away. The truth is still buried. I couldn't put it down." --John Grisham, #1 New York Times bestselling author A riveting deep dive into the unsolved murder of two free-spirited young women in the wilderness, a journalist's obsession--and a new theory of who might have done it In May 1996, Julie Williams and Lollie Winans were brutally murdered while backpacking in Virginia's Shenandoah National Park, adjacent to the world-famous Appalachian Trail. The young women were skilled backcountry leaders and they had met--and fallen in love--the previous summer, while working at a world-renowned outdoor program for women. But despite an extensive joint investigation by the FBI, the Virginia police, and National Park Service experts, the case remained unsolved for years. In early 2002 and in response to mounting political pressure, then-Attorney General John Ashcroft announced that he would be seeking the death penalty against Darrell David Rice--already in prison for assaulting another woman--in the first capital case tried under new, post-9/11 federal hate crime legislation. But two years later, the Department of Justice quietly suspended its case against Rice, and the investigation has since grown cold. Did prosecutors have the right person? Journalist Kathryn Miles was a professor at Lollie Winans's wilderness college in Maine when the 2002 indictment was announced. On the 20th anniversary of the murder, she began looking into the lives of these adventurous women--whose loss continued to haunt all who had encountered them--along with the murder investigation and subsequent case against Rice. As she dives deeper into the case, winning the trust of the victims' loved ones as well as investigators and gaining access to key documents, Miles becomes increasingly obsessed with the loss of the generous and free-spirited Lollie and Julie, who were just on the brink of adulthood, and at the same time she discovers evidence of cover-ups, incompetence, and crime-scene sloppiness that seemed part of a larger problem in America's pursuit of justice in national parks. She also becomes convinced of Rice's innocence, and zeroes in on a different likely suspect. Trailed: One Woman's Quest to Solve the Shenandoah Murders is a riveting, eye-opening, and heartbreaking work, offering a braided narrative about two remarkable women who were murdered doing what they most loved, the forensics of this cold case, and the surprising pervasiveness and long shadows cast by violence against women in the backcountry.
Misogynies is one of the most celebrated feminist texts by a British author. First published in 1989, it created shock waves with its analyses of history, literature and popular culture. Joan Smith drew on her own experience as one of the few women reporting the Yorkshire Ripper murders and looked at novels, slasher movies, Page Three and Princess Diana, teasing out the attitudes that brought them together.
The true story behind the ITV series, A Confession 'The gripping allure of long-form podcasts, such as Serial' Observer On the evening of Saturday, 19 March 2011, D.S. Stephen Fulcher receives a life-changing call that thrusts him into a race against the clock to save missing 22-year-old Sian O’Callaghan, who was last seen at a nightclub in Swindon. Steve knows from experience that he has a small window of time to find Sian alive, but his hopes are quickly dashed when his investigation leads him to Christopher Halliwell, a cabbie with sick obsessions. Following the investigation as it develops hour-by-hour, Steve’s gripping inside story of the cat-and-mouse situation that ensues shows how he hunted down Halliwell – his number-one suspect – which led him to the discovery of Sian’s body and another victim, Becky Godden-Edwards, who had been missing since 2002. The murders shocked the nation and Halliwell become one of the most hated men in Britain. Since then, he has been linked to several murders and disappearances, and has been called 'sick in the head' by an ex-cellmate for his unrelenting hatred of women. Catching a Serial Killer is a thrilling, devastating and absorbing look at a real-life murder case and potentially one of the UK’s most prolific serial killers.
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A twisting, haunting true-life murder mystery about one of the most monstrous crimes in American history, from the author of The Wager and The Lost City of Z, “one of the preeminent adventure and true-crime writers working today."—New York Magazine • NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST • NOW A MARTIN SCORSESE PICTURE “A shocking whodunit…What more could fans of true-crime thrillers ask?”—USA Today “A masterful work of literary journalism crafted with the urgency of a mystery.” —The Boston Globe In the 1920s, the richest people per capita in the world were members of the Osage Nation in Oklahoma. After oil was discovered beneath their land, the Osage rode in chauffeured automobiles, built mansions, and sent their children to study in Europe. Then, one by one, the Osage began to be killed off. The family of an Osage woman, Mollie Burkhart, became a prime target. One of her relatives was shot. Another was poisoned. And it was just the beginning, as more and more Osage were dying under mysterious circumstances, and many of those who dared to investigate the killings were themselves murdered. As the death toll rose, the newly created FBI took up the case, and the young director, J. Edgar Hoover, turned to a former Texas Ranger named Tom White to try to unravel the mystery. White put together an undercover team, including a Native American agent who infiltrated the region, and together with the Osage began to expose one of the most chilling conspiracies in American history. Look for David Grann’s latest bestselling book, The Wager!
