The Man from the Train

The Solving of a Century-Old Serial Killer Mystery

By: Bill James, Rachel McCarthy James

Narrated by: John Bedford Lloyd

An Edgar Award finalist for Best Fact Crime, The Man from the Train is an “impressive…open-eyed investigative inquiry wrapped within a cultural history of rural America” (The Wall Street Journal). In this groundbreaking work of historical true crime, legendary statistician and baseball writer Bill James applies his analytical genius to crack an unsolved century-old mystery surrounding one of the deadliest serial killers in American history.

Between 1898 and 1912, families across the United States were brutally murdered in their sleep with the blunt side of an axe. Valuables were left untouched, bodies were staged, and faces covered. Some cases, like the infamous Villisca Axe Murders in Iowa, gained national attention—but few believed the crimes were connected. Fewer still noticed that every family lived within walking distance of a train line.

Digging through thousands of newspapers, court transcripts, and public records, James and his daughter Rachel uncovered a chilling truth: these murders were the work of one man, traveling by rail, who would go on to become one of America’s most prolific yet largely forgotten serial killers.

Riveting and immersive, The Man from the Train offers a vivid portrait of turn-of-the-century America, exposing how cultural blind spots, flawed investigations, and opportunistic detectives allowed this killer to operate undetected. Blending meticulous research with narrative drive, this modern classic of true crime nonfiction will fascinate readers of Devil in the White City, My Favorite Murder, and fans of unsolved mysteries and historical crime investigations.

Good but Dry

This book was fantastically researched and factually facilitating. However it definitely reads more like a research paper at times. There’s very little descriptive narrative, it’s almost all laid out point by point. I liked the book, but would recommend listening at 1.25x or faster to get through it.

interesting story, dubious execution

The narrator does a good, solid job so let's get that out of the way.

The topic is interesting but the writing a bit lacking. The attempts at wit and comic relief are rather annoying, their timing is particularly off. My biggest issue, however, is how derisive they're about speculations when it's others doing the speculating, while remaining very impressed by their own. Century old records and reports will of course necessitate assumptions to fill in the blanks, but is there need to be so arrogant? Worse part is they may not be, just come across that way, thus the comment about the writing.

Anyway, I wouldn't pay full price for this but if this type of stuff interests you, and you can pick it up on sale or something, might be worth it.

Awesome

very well done. I definitely recommend this book for anyone that loves a good read.

Very interesting

I very well written and interesting book. The narrator was well chosen to read it. He was excellent.

great mystery solved

The writing struggled at times. The narration was very good the story was captivating.... not just smoking out a killer they actually smoke out the crime...a100+ year old crime spree no one recognized...kudos for that!