Historical Serial Killers

Current Edition - Updated Annually Step into the shadowy realm of humanity's most notorious figures The Encyclopedia of Serial Killers: Who, When, Where, Why! delves into the lives, methodologies, and dark motives of the world's most infamous predators. From Victorian London's fog-laden alleys to the modern streets of Beijing, each page unveils chilling tales and mind-boggling mysteries. Discover not just the crimes, but the twisted psyches behind them. Learn about the tireless detectives, the unsolved enigmas, and the very fabric of what creates a killer. A great research tool and a must-...

Pain, torment, and torture. Cruelty, brutality, and violence. The twisted psyches, murder. and yes, even the ability to charm people. Take a deep dive into the terrifyingly real serial murderers, spree killers, and true faces of evil.

What makes a man—or a moment—turn lethal? Why do some societies spot predators early while others do not? After Dark examines thirty cases of serial killing from medieval Europe to the DNA era, bringing forensic clarity, courtroom drama, and measured moral reflection to stories too often told as spectacle. Each chapter reconstructs a life of crime and the investigation that ended it—Burke and Hare’s trade in corpses; Ted Bundy’s theatrical court appearances and late confessions; the forensic breakthroughs that finally unmasked long‑evading predators—while always asking the ...

On the night of June 9, 1912, eight people went to sleep in a white timber house in Villisca, Iowa. By morning, all of them were dead. The crime scene was discovered within hours. Investigators arrived promptly. Evidence was collected. Suspects were identified and interrogated. Trials were held. Newspapers across the country followed every development in a case that seemed to demand resolution—a prosperous family and two young guests killed in their beds by an intruder who left behind ritualistic staging but no clear motive, no definitive trail, and no certain identity. More than a ...

A warning before we begin: this book is not for the faint-hearted. There are no disguises here, no softened edges. What you are about to read is real—unsettling, disturbing, and deeply uncomfortable. Because the truth is far worse than fiction… especially when innocence turns deadly. Children are meant to represent purity, vulnerability, hope. But what happens when that image shatters? When the face of childhood hides something far darker? Pretty Little Killers takes you beyond the headlines and into the chilling reality of cases where youth was no barrier to brutality. These are not ...

Step back into the shadowed cities, remote villages, and colonial frontiers of the eighteenth century, a time when reason and enlightenment existed alongside superstition, brutality, and relentless crime. In 25 True Crimes That Shocked the 18th Century, history is brought vividly to life through twenty-five deeply researched true crime stories reconstructed from court records, newspapers, and contemporary accounts. From the Cape Colony in southern Africa to the cities of Europe and the colonies of the Caribbean, North America, and South America, these stories trace a world where violence ...

They didn’t look like monsters. They looked like spouses. Caretakers. Neighbors. Between the 1800s and the early 1900s, some of the most dangerous killers in history lived ordinary lives. They married. They hosted dinners. They offered help. And behind closed doors, they killed again and again. This book explores real, documented cases of men and women who murdered multiple victims during the rise of modern society, when cities were growing, newspapers were spreading stories faster than ever, and trust was often misplaced. Some poisoned their victims quietly at the table. Others buried ...

True Crime Stories You Won't Believe-Omnibus Edition s brings together three critically acclaimed volumes—Books One, Two, and Three—into a single, unflinching collection of true crime stories that dig deeper than most. From forgotten killers and overlooked trials to psychological profiles and courtroom spectacles, this is a journey through the darkest corners of criminal history. Written by forensic psychologist and author Romeo Vitelli, Ph.D., this omnibus offers a sweeping look at real-life crimes that defy easy explanation. These aren’t just tales of murder—they are explorations ...

The Co-Ed Killer, Son of Sam, Hillside Strangler, and Dating Game Killer—in many ways, terrifying serial killers were as synonymous with the 1970s as Watergate, disco, and the oil crisis. This fascinating collection of profiles presents the most notorious as well as lesser-known serial murderers of that decade. Beyond Ted Bundy and David Berkowitz, it includes more obscure killers like Coral Eugene Watts, known as “The Sunday Morning Slasher,” who killed 80 women; Edmund Kemper, the "Co-Ed Killer"; and Rodney Alcala, who is believed to have killed between 50 and 130 people between 1971-1979.

Step back into the gaslit alleys of Victorian London, where a shadow known only as Jack the Ripper unleashed a reign of terror that haunts us to this day. In the autumn of 1888, the impoverished district of Whitechapel became the hunting ground for a phantom. A series of brutal, ritualistic murders of destitute women exposed the dark underbelly of the world's wealthiest empire and launched one of the most intense and frustrating manhunts in history. The killer was never caught, leaving behind a terrifying legend and a perfect, unsolved mystery. This meticulously researched book cuts through...

She baked bread, loved funerals—and poisoned her family. A meticulously researched, propulsive true-crime biography of Martha Wise, the Ohio widow who slipped arsenic into food and water in 1925—leaving three dead and dozens ill. Step into the packed courthouse. Hear the confession. See whether the Devil really “told her to do it.” If you love Ann Rule or In Cold Blood, you’ll tear through this. Includes trial details, period newspaper research, and newly clarified timelines. Reads like a thriller—documented like history. In the winter of 1924-1925, quiet Medina County, Ohio, ...

Chicago, 1923: Ten-year-old Dani Flanagan returns home to find police swarming the house, her parents dead. Michael Malone, the young patrolman assigned to the case, discovers there’s more to the situation—and to Dani Flanagan herself—than the authorities care to explore. Malone is told to shut his mouth, and Dani is sent away to live with her spinster aunts in Cleveland.

Chief Inspector Soobramania is called when three bodies are discovered in the space of twenty-four hours, with mutilations bearing an eerie resemblance to Jack the Ripper’s victims. Initial suspicion centres on an English Duke visiting Hyderabad and his friend, a powerful Deccani noble and the angry stepson of one of the dead. In the face of political pressure, Soob must ally with his rival in the British Residency Police, Inspector Wilberforce, to unearth the culprit.

Sherlock Holmes must contend with his past upon returning from the great hiatus. Unanswered questions linger in his mind. Holmes is aware that Watson is hiding something, but Watson struggles with the secret. The veil begins to tear by a visitor at their door, and what seems a simple request turns into a life or death encounter.

A warning before we begin: this book is not for the faint-hearted. There are no disguises here, no softened edges. You won’t find sugar-coated versions or incomplete accounts—only the raw, disturbing, and brutal reality of the most ruthless killers the world has ever known. Think you know the world’s most infamous killers? This book goes far beyond the usual names. From the notorious figures to the ones history barely remembers, here you’ll uncover lesser-known stories, details overlooked by the media, and the darkest, most chilling aspects of their atrocities. Each chapter delves ...

The shocking true-crime story of a U.S. Border Patrol agent turned serial killer, the four sex workers whom he mercilessly killed, and the upended border town of Laredo where his heinous crimes occurred. Twelve days is all it took. Melissa Ramirez, Claudine Anne Luera, Guiselda Hernandez, and...

Sherlock Holmes is drawn into the investigation of Jack the Ripper from letters sent to a patient in a mental institution. They may be the ramblings of a sociopath or the key to finding the most feared serial killer in London's history.

Eric Ward thinks there is something odd about Arthur Egan’s life and death. But Ward is a former police inspector and trained to be suspicious. Egan left a large sum. But Ward makes no progress tracing the dead man’s offspring. A photograph of an unknown tombstone is his only clue. He discovers Egan served a term for manslaughter and that the evidence against him may have been planted. Why had he accepted his fate so meekly?

“A tour de force of storytelling.” —Louise Penny, #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Chief Inspector Gamache series “Jobb’s excellent storytelling makes the book a pleasure to read.” —The New York Times Book Review ”When a doctor does go wrong he is the first of...

He performs his profane ceremony in a wooded Minneapolis park, anointing his victims, then setting the bodies ablaze. He has already claimed three lives, and he won't stop there. Only this time there is a witness. But she isn't talking. Enter Kate Conlan, former FBI agent turned victim/witness advocate. Not even she can tell if the reluctant witness is a potential victim or something more troubling still.